Robotic waterjet trimming
KMT Robotic Solutions, the Robotic Business Area of the KMT Group, has launched the new Cutting Box Original V, the company’s top-of-the-range system for three-dimensional, pure waterjet cutting applications.
Waterjet cutting systems based on KMT’s Cutting Box concept are in use in the vehicle manufacturing industry around the world. A waterjet is formed by forcing a fine jet of water through a nozzle at a very high pressure. The jet, guided by the robot, is used to trim headliners, carpets, trunkliners, dashboards, insulation products and other vehicle components made from soft materials such as foam, fabrics, fibreglass and reinforced composites. Well over 450 systems of this type have been installed over the last 20 years and with the Cutting Box Original V, KMT Robotic Solutions is offering customers a new route to increased productivity and lower maintenance costs.
The Cutting Box Original V is a high quality, turnkey robotic system featuring a turntable with a 300 kg loading capacity both sides for off-line loading, for cutting three-dimensional parts with waterjets, ideally suited to three shift production work. The part to be cut is positioned on a special fixture on the cutting table and kept in place by vacuum suction. Though suitable for very high capacity applications, the Original V still provides more flexibility and lower costs for pre-production runs.
The Cutting Box Original V is fully compatible with the previous Original IV series, allowing fixtures and programs to be exchanged between the systems. New innovations include an improved Human Machine Interface (HMI), a complete family of tailor-made vacuum systems for specific requirements, enhanced stiffness in the mechanical structure to further guarantee high accuracy in the trimming process and design improvements to enhance maintenance and refurbishment.
The Cutting Box Original V can be easily customised to meet specific trimming applications. It comes equipped with the latest IRC5 robot controller from ABB offering both single and multi move operation. The Cutting Box Original V can be equipped with six different and pre-designed robot configurations, providing customers with more original equipment choices and retrofit alternatives. The unique WaterjetWare robot software from KMT Robotic Solutions is a standard feature that helps customers to reduce on¬line programming time.
Another new aspect of the Cutting Box Original V is the new Sponder system, a revolutionary IT-based package for continuous process control, system maintenance planning, failure detection and storage of electronic documentation. Sponder also enables live technical support via the internet, giving certified KMT system technicians the ability to see (via a live video stream) and communicate with plant floor maintenance personnel to quickly resolve any issues. Sponder captures the events, alarms and production data from machines and reports them to administrators so they can analyse and look to provide production improvements.
