Robotic Finishing to the Rescue

Industrial robots team to ease consistent, repeatable finishing of hard-to-reach part surfaces.

Part finishing—grinding, deburring, buffing and polishing—in many cases perfectly encapsulates the 3 Ds: dull, dirty and dangerous. The monotonous process exposes humans to fine metallic particles and lubricants, sharp edges, and often heavy or awkward parts that pose ergonomic risks, along with repetitive motions that can cause injuries. Thus part finishing becomes the perfect candidate for automation. 

Well, almost perfect. Proper finishing demands access to all part surfaces as well as a deft touch. In addition, the process must succeed across differently shaped parts with different finishing needs. For these reasons, part finishing has remained primarily a manual process. However, that’s changing, as advances enable improved robot reach, simplified programming of compact tasks, and sensoring and other Industry 4.0 capabilities. And, robotics enable greater quality control and consistent manufacturing processes. The result: ever-increasing real-world applications for robotic finishing—good news for metal formers and fabricators looking for reliable finishing and the freeing of employees for other less monotonous value-added tasks.

Robots Better Option than Slides

Here’s the story of one such application: the combination of industrial robots, unique end-of-arm finishing tools and indexing tables that enable high-volume buffing and polishing of formed and fabricated sheet metal parts. As an added twist, automating repetitive and labor-intensive tasks enabled a manufacturer to reduce operational costs and improve productivity, making domestic production more viable as compared to overseas options.

Hammond Roto-Finish, Kalamazoo, MI, provides solutions for polishing, buffing and mass finishing of metal parts while also specializing in robotic design and integration. Recently, Surface Prep, a distributor of abrasive products and surface-preparation equipment, approached Hammond Roto-Finish to design a robust finishing system for a customer currently offshoring production of semi-truck components. To reshore this work, the metal former sought a solution that included American-made products and equipment, and local after-sale support.

The parts to be finished start out as a flat blanks, which then are drawn into cups, leaving the radii at the shoulder of the parts—between the tops and sides of the parts—with visible lines. These draw lines required grinding via aggressive media in a secondary operation, followed by a buffering process to deliver targeted shine.

Hammond Roto-Finish and Surface Prep conducted a comprehensive assessment to redevelop the entire production process to meet the required part finishes. Also involved: Norton Abrasives, which provided the methods and media to ensure proper surface conditioning. 

Hammond Roto-Finish initially explored the use of dedicated finishing heads on slides to hit each part, then recede, recalls Phil Hammond, responsible for automation and robotics sales, and representing the fourth generation of Hammonds at Hammond Roto-Finish.

“But building so many heads and so much other hardware would have been more expensive than any robot we could buy,” he says.