Newbe seeks Information about Robots and/or CnC for woodworking

[Handler]

Hello,

I’m a manufacturer of wood products and am doing some research to find out if there is a CnC or robot platform that can be put to use to dramatically increase production. I make mostly handles for things by hand. Each requires many steps. Key steps are to finish the ends of the handles in different ways. For the sake of the conversation, let’s say they are rounded off to a semicircle. The sizes of what I work with vary greatly and can range from about 1/8” in diameter and up to about 2” The length can vary between about 4” and up to about 12”

My ideal goal is something that can pick up the handle stock from a hopper and at the very least round 2 ends and possibly scribe or etch some lines or dimples as decorations on one end. When it's done, it can drop the handle in another hopper.

I know nothing about the CnC arena and would appreciate any feedback about recommended manufacturers plus where to find training for this kind of equipment

Thanks!

Bill

[ger21]

Can you post a picture or two of your product?
How many of these do you make?
Robots are very expensive, and would require very high production levels to be affordable.

[Handler]

Thanks for the reply. I’d rather not post a pix. I currently make about 1200 a week and would like to increase that to about 3000 to 5000 per week and plan or hope to increase beyond that in the next year or so. I understand robots come at a high cost. So does adding 3 to 5+ people on payroll.

[ger21]

Hard to give advice without knowing what you are doing.

My guess is that any robot would be far out of your budget range.

Probably a few CNC machines with maybe 2 employees would be the way to go. Sounds like a lathe my be what you are looking for?

[awerby]

It sounds like something a sort of pencil-sharpener machine could do. I don't see a robot doing a better job of using it than a person, and implementing something like that wouldn't make economic sense at the level of production you're talking about. It's usually done with a round-over bit in a router table, using a jig like this one: Woodworking Tips, Tool Reviews & Recommendations: Making Round End Pegs for a Coat Rack using 3/4" Dowel & Table Router
But you'd need a different setup for each size of dowel you were rounding over.

[Handler]

ger21

You wrote:>My guess is that any robot would be far out of your budget range.

It may be. I don’t know. Can you name some makers and I’ll find out.

You wrote:>Probably a few CNC machines with maybe 2 employees would be the way to go. Sounds like a lathe my be what you are looking for?

I don’t know who makes CnC machines for this kind of application. Would you name some?

A lathe will definitely not work for my application.

[Handler]

awerby

You wrote:>It sounds like something a sort of pencil-sharpener machine could do.

You are partially correct, a suitable pencil sharpener like machine would do part of the job. If it was high speed, accepted a wide variety of sizes, did not use a crank and could round rather than cutting at a single angle. I did talk with a machine shop whose services I use about making something for me. They had some suggestions but it was a kludge.

You wrote:>I don't see a robot doing a better job of using it than a person, and implementing something like that wouldn't make economic sense at the level of production you're talking about.

You may be right. I don’t know. I’d like to find some who make these and develop conclusions based on that.

You wrote:>It's usually done with a round-over bit in a router table, using a jig like this one…But you'd need a different setup for each size of dowel you were rounding over.

I looked into doing that a while ago. That last sentence is part of the issue with that solution, but even that would not approach the speed or volume I need.

[ger21]

I don't really know much about robots, as they are generally far out of the realm of hobbyists and small businesses. Prices probably start somewhere between $250K-500K??

Without seeing your parts, I really don't even know what the application is??

[awerby]

Setting up ten or so router tables like the ones in that link, with different sized round-over bits and jigs, would be a lot cheaper and simpler than buying even one industrial robot with its associated software and programming it to do this job for you on all these different parts. Robot arms aren't the same as super-productive employees who can accomplish a range of different tasks at multiple stations; they are best at simple repetitive tasks in a fixed location. Your goal is to do 1000 of these parts per day, which would be 100 each of 10 different sizes. That doesn't seem like a workflow that would justify a robot, let alone ten of them, which would be required to service 10 different setups, although it seems like something a couple of people could do in the course of a day. But talk to some of the big robot companies and get price quotes if you don't believe us. This list should get you started: https://www.technavio.com/blog/top-2...obotics-market