What's the cheapest pick/place Robot?

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Thread Starter

Tom

We're trying to find a pick-and-place robot to move a very low-mass (1/2 pound maybe, including vac pickup end effector) part 3' to another machine. Accuracy of picking and/or placing can be a couple millimeters. The thing can be pretty slow (10 sec cycle?) Is there a pick-and-place unit available under $10K? How about under $5K?

All the "brand-name" robots would do this easily for $20-30K. I don't need 6 axes (3-4 would do).

I'm looking for the cheapo machine.

Any ideas?

I'll build one if I can't find one...
tom

 
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Charlie Griswold

I beieve making one is your best bet. You could always mount two slides together for a pick and place. If you already have a pneumatic supply I
like the PHD cantaliver type because the shafts stick out the back and you can adjust the travel with clamp collars easily.

http://www.phdinc.com/products/slides/
 
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Guy H. Looney

Have you considered a gantry robot? They're less flexible than a traditional articulated arm, but could be exactly what you're looking for.
 
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Michael Griffin

Most people just build their own. All the major pneumatic manufacturers have slide units which can be bolted together without too much adaptor hardware. Festo has a complete pneumatic pick and place, but I have only seen the brochures for it, and I don't know how much it costs. Menziken
also has a ready made unit which I *have* seen, but again, I don't know what the price is. Other pneumatic companies may have similar hardware, but I can't recall any names in particular. I have seen many dozens of pneumatic pick and places, and all except one was custom built by whoever was building and integrating the rest of the project.

You mention 3 or 4 axes. Is this really necessary? 2 axes is normal for a pneumatic P&P (horizontal, and vertical). Rotary axes are sometimes used to change the part orientation, or for double ended units.

Festo has vacuum grippers, and vacuum generators with built in blow off (to make sure the gripper drops the part when you turn off the vacuum). Festo also has a special vacuum gripper cylinder. The cylinder rod is hollow, so you can attach the vacuum gripper to one end, and the vacuum line to the other. I think the cylinder is also non-rotating.


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Michael Griffin
London, Ont. Canada
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Bob Peterson

Depending on what you need, Camco makes some really nifty and cheap mechanccal units that can pick up sopmething that is always located in the
same place and drop it off in the same place. Its programmable mechanically, but cheap and lasts forever.

Bob Peterson
 
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Kaushik Kale

I will be able to provide you a cheaper alternative to the branded robots.

Give me the complete details of the application. If we can work together, you can be assured of the best results..

Give me the details to respond to your requirement.

 
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