3D Linear Actuators / Handling Device

[CarbonDE]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks for accepting me to the forum. I have been reading a whole bunch of threads so far and finally I registered.

I need to set up a demanding littel machine, where I hoped you could help me, even though it is not purely related to composites (part of the bigger assembly is).

I need to screw bolts in different plates at different locations, where I have the CAD Data of the positions avaliable. As the diversity i high I want to automate this procedure, which means the poistion and the depth of the screws are loaded to control software and the screw driver is brought into position (X-Y layerwise), then the bolt is screwed into the plate (defined z-translation and number of rotations around z axis).

I have been thinking a while on this, and the only thing I found so far is using handling tables like this one:
http://www.igus.de/wpck/12148/spacegantry?C=DE&L=de

Unfortunately it does not included controllers for the stepper driver and I need to write a flexible software for it, so CNC is not really an option as far as I see.

Do you have any low-cost automation set in mind which included the linear actuators, the stepper motors, the controller and an open software architecture?

I need an accurancy of around 0.5-1mm, speed is of secondary interest.

Thank you

[Zebra]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks for accepting me to the forum. I have been reading a whole bunch of threads so far and finally I registered.

I need to set up a demanding littel machine, where I hoped you could help me, even though it is not purely related to composites (part of the bigger assembly is).

I need to screw bolts in different plates at different locations, where I have the CAD Data of the positions avaliable. As the diversity i high I want to automate this procedure, which means the poistion and the depth of the screws are loaded to control software and the screw driver is brought into position (X-Y layerwise), then the bolt is screwed into the plate (defined z-translation and number of rotations around z axis).

I have been thinking a while on this, and the only thing I found so far is using handling tables like this one:
http://www.igus.de/wpck/12148/spacegantry?C=DE&L=de

Unfortunately it does not included controllers for the stepper driver and I need to write a flexible software for it, so CNC is not really an option as far as I see.

Do you have any low-cost automation set in mind which included the linear actuators, the stepper motors, the controller and an open software architecture?

I need an accurancy of around 0.5-1mm, speed is of secondary interest.

Thank you

Either I don’t understand what you are trying to achieve or I don’t understand why you can’t use a CNC machine. They definitely sell CNC screw driver attachements and there is plenty of open software and hardware solutions to drive it.

One thing I can tell you with 100% certainty is that there is nothing that is both low cost and high quality available off the shelf with tools like this. I went through the process of looking for a low cost CNC solution recently and even the low cost diy kits sucked. It is however possible to build your own from fairly high quality parts for a reasonable price.

Of course, we may have different ideas of what expensive is. I got used THK rails off eBay and most of the rest from Automation Technologies.