Big Boxes? No Problem With Festo’s New Heavy-Duty Palletizing Gantry

A common manufacturing challenge: how do you get your product from point A to point B consistently in the right orientation and in a reasonable amount of time?

Festo has provided engineers and OEMs with a simple yet heavy-duty solution. Festo recently released its new cartesian gantry systems with a variety of different actuators, customizable to suit unique palletizing needs.

 

Festo’s palletizing gantry provides a smaller footprint and a more cost-effective solution for palletizing products up to 440 pounds. Image used courtesy of Festo

 

Efficiency, Precision, and Customization

When it comes to palletizing, sorting, or other pick-and-place applications, cartesian gantry systems are commonly compared to six-axis robots, yet each with its place in the manufacturing industry. One main selling point of cartesian gantry systems is the ability to reduce the work envelope necessary in order to increase efficiency within that workspace. Gantry systems also do not lose accuracy or lift capacity at the periphery of their work envelope. This allows the gantries to maintain speed and accuracy across the entire work area. Cartesian gantries can also be a lower cost when compared to six-axis robot counterparts of equal range and payload.

Festo has given integrators multiple options for a range of flexibility while using off-the-shelf servo drives and motors to allow for quick and easy replacement. Their gantry systems can have Z-axis stroke lengths in excess of 8 ft, allowing loads to be moved overhead while maintaining impressive feed rates of up to 5 ft/sec. Integrators can also select from a variety of actuators to customize their gantry solutions.

 

Festo’s actuators rack and pinion and toothed belt actuators can be combined for a variety of different applications to suit your needs. Image used courtesy of Festo

 

· EHMH: Cantilevered Z-axis rack and pinion actuator that can manage loads up to 440 lbs.

· ELCC: Z-axis toothed belt actuator with ball bearing guides that can manage loads up to 220 lbs.

· EGC-HD: Toothed belt or ball screw actuator for any heavy-duty X-axis application.

 

Designing Made Easy

Along with providing a high-capacity gantry system, Festo has also provided customers with a fee online design tool: Handling Guide Online (HGO). Designers can follow the straightforward guide by entering size, speed, torque, and weight requirements and HGO will choose a system based on performance and cost. HGO will then provide the designer with a unique part number, 2D and 3D CAD files, a parts list, and a custom quote for their system including both the structural components as well as electrical control devices.

 

Save time and money with the Festo Motion Control Package (FMCP). Let Festo’s software design your pre-built enclosure. Image used courtesy of Festo

 

· CPX-E: Festo’s Codesys-based controller can communicate with third-party controllers and manage multiple synchronized gantries.

· CMMT-AS: Servo drives with multiprotocol capabilities: Ethernet/IP, PROFINET, EtherCAT, and Modbus TCP protocols.

· CDPX HMI: Festo’s own HMI that features an IP67 rating.

To further simplify the process, if customers want a semi-plug-and-play system, they can use the Festo Motion Control Package (FMCP) software which designs a control panel. The control panel arrives prebuilt and can be programmed using function blocks, minimizing setup time from weeks to a few hours. Festo also provides customers with the tools necessary to adapt the system to their own systems.