Enclosure and sheet metal finishing has been one of the areas robots make sense. From blending the finish or grinding weld lines they are fast and flexible. One of the first issues you run in to when working with formed or fabricated parts is ...

I had a few good questions sent to me on the last entry so I am going to give a bit of detail on one application to better show the process. The project was for finishing air tanks and gas cylinders. The parts ranged from 14" tall to 49" tall with a ...

I thought I would share some more of the questions I get and the answers to them. Keeping in mind each application is different some of the general ideas are universal. I welcome your questions so please feel free to ask any you have no matter how ...

Working with an extrusion is one of the things that seems easy but the devil is in the details. Its a product where the final finish can make or break its acceptance. In some cases it can be as difficult or more than mirror polishing. As you tend to ...

A question I get often is robot vs CNC for finishing work. While there is not a clear yes or no type answer there are a few points that can help to guide the person faced with the question. For detailed parts a robot tends to be a better choice. The ...

Small parts are one of the challenges most shops face at some point or every day in some cases. They can be tough to manage and tend eat up a lot of time while in some cases being dangerous. Most will try to send them through the old belt sander ...

I thought I would share some of the most common questions I get and the related answers. This will not be a deep dive by any means but rather a few of the most common. The first is more a statement than a question. I have a single belt sander so I ...

Automating a finishing process is one of the more complicated things you can take on. When it comes to finishing the definitions tend to be more in the eye of the beholder. There is not one clear standard for finishes and in some cases the end user ...

One of the tasks that tends to be problematic is the OD finishing of tube material. From hand finishing to placing tubes in a lathe there are all manner of ways people try to work with tubes. In reality there is a much more simple and fast way to do ...

Dealing with tasks that require a lot of labor or hand work is a way to improve processes and trim costs. This is not to say eliminate jobs but rather put the staff to tasks that better use their skill. Helping to make the people more efficient by ...