WAAM Fanuc Robot Operation

Safety & Loss Prevention

There is significant amount of information regarding safety procedures, therefore a separate SOP will be created. Please reference that before taking any action with this system.

'Special thanks to the WAAM 2020 Q&P Team For helping flesh out the steps seen below!'

Operation Procedure

Setup

1. Sand surface of the substrate to be welded. Use belt sander in the lab to remove flash rust
2. Clean the surface of the substrate to be welded. Use Brakekleen or other surface cleaner and wipe to remove impurities
3. Make sure the robot is in Teach Mode. There is a keyed switch on the front of the cabinet that will indicate what mode the robot is set to.
4. Turn on the robot. This is done by turning the dial on the cabinet to the “ON” position.
5. Wait for the Teach Pendant to boot up.
6. Make sure the Teach Pendant is enabled. If it is not, turn the black knob on the upper left of the teach pendant to the “ON” position
7. Ensure that the proper welding wire is setup on the machine. If not do the following.
   1. Process to be updated soon
8. Jog robot out of the way to set up substrate if necessary.
   1. Choose desired coordinate system. Press the “COORD” button on the Teach Pendant until desired coordinate system is selected.
   2. Decrease the robot speed to ~10% by pressing “-%” key on Teach Pendant
   3. Depress & hold the Deadman Switch
   4. Make sure there are no other faults in the system. If there are no other faults, the “Fault” indicator will be green.
   5. While holding the “SHIFT” key, press and hold the directional key of the direction desired.
9. Position substrate and secure as desired.
10. Select Program
    1. Press the “SELECT” key on the Teach Pendant
    2. Scroll to desired Program
    3. Press the “ENTER” key on the Teach Pendant
11. Press the “FCTN” key on the Teach Pendant and select “Abort All”
12. If program uses a User Frame, do the following:
    1. Select the “World” Coordinate System
    2. Press Menu
    3. Select the “Setup” option
    4. Select “Frames”
    5. If the frame type that is displayed is not “User Frames”, Press “Other” and select “User Frame”
    6. Select desired user frame
       1. NOTE: User frame must match the user frame the program was programmed in.
    7. Scroll to Origin
    8. Jog robot to desired origin and press “Record”
    9. Scroll down to X-Axis
    10. Jog robot in positive X direction a few inches and press “Record”
    11. Scroll up to Origin and press “Move To”
    12. Wait for robot to move back to origin point
    13. Scroll down to Y-Axis
    14. Jog robot in positive Y direction a few inches and press “Record”
    15. Jog Robot out of the way
13. With welding equipment disabled, perform a dry run of the first few lines of the program to make sure the robot path is free of obstructions.
    1. Press edit to return to the selected program
    2. Scroll to the first line of the program.
    3. Depress and hold the Deadman Switch
    4. Press and hold the “SHIFT” key on the Teach Pendant
    5. Press the “FWD” key on the Teach Pendant
    6. Release the Deadman Switch if the the robot is going to collide with an obstruction or after ensuring that the robot will clear all possible obstructions
14. Jog the robot to a safe location where the nozzle on the Mig Gun is easily accessible
15. Remove the nozzle from the Mig Gun
16. Remove slag from inside the nozzle and in the contact tip
17. Reinstall the nozzle on the Mig Gun
18. Jog robot to a safe location where it will not collide with anything when the program begins to run.
19. Connect ground to the Welding Table
20. Connect Rapid-X Feedback cable to the Welding Table
21. Ensure proper wire is on the spool holder
22. Turn on Welding Machine by flipping the power switch to the “ON” position. The power switch is located on the front of the welding machine
23. Turn on shielding gas by opening the valve on the top of the bottle
24. Move the Teach Pendant to the outside of the cage.
25. Close the cage door and lock it into position
26. Turn on the exhaust fan by pressing the “START” button. The switch for the exhaust fan is located on the back wall near the corner of the cage
27. Position UV curtain in front of the lab door
28. Increase the robot speed to 100% by pressing the “+%” key on the Teach Pendant
29. Enable Welding Equipment
    1. Press and hold the “SHIFT” key and press the “WELD ENBL” Key on the Teach Pendant
    2. The “Weld” indicator on the Teach Pendant will be green when the welding equipment is enabled

Welding Operation

In Teach Mode

1. Move behind the UV curtain
2. Scroll to the first line of the program
3. Depress and hold the Deadman Switch
4. Press and hold the “SHIFT” Key on the Teach Pendant
5. Press the “FWD” key on the Teach Pendant
   1. Program will begin to run at this point
   2. NOTE: Both the “SHIFT” key and the Deadman Switch must be pressed at all times for the program to continue. As long as this condition is met, the program will run through to the end.
6. Disable Welding Equipment
   1. Press and hold the “SHIFT” key and press the “WELD ENBL” Key on the Teach Pendant
7. Decrease the robot speed to ~10% by pressing “-%” key on Teach Pendant
8. Jog the robot out of the way

In Auto Mode

1. Scroll to the first line of the program
2. Disable Teach Pendant. This is done by turning the black knob on the upper left of the teach pendant to the “OFF” position
3. Turn the Key Switch on cabinet to “Auto”
4. Press the blue button labeled “Reset” on the cabinet to reset faults
5. When ready to start the program, press the green button labeled “Start”. At this point, the program will begin to run
6. Move behind UV curtain
7. Allow Program to run
8. After the program ends, turn the Key Switch on cabinet to “Teach”
9. Enable the Teach Pendant. This is done by turning the black knob on the upper left of the teach pendant to the “ON” position
10. Press the “RESET” button on the Teach Pendant
11. Disable Welding Equipment. Press and hold the “SHIFT” key and press the “WELD ENBL” Key on the Teach Pendant
12. Decrease the robot speed to ~10% by pressing “-%” key on Teach Pendant
13. Jog the robot out of the way

Clean Up

1. Allow sufficient time for part to cool. Parts could potentially be too hot to be handled with insulated gloves. Use caution when removing part and substrate from welding table
2. Remove Part and substrate from welding table
3. Shut off Shielding Gas
4. Shut off Welding Machine
5. Shut off Ventilation Fan
6. Jog the robot to a safe position
7. Shut off the robot
8. Hang the Teach Pendant on the front of the cabinet in the designated location
9. Return any tools used to their proper location
10. Turn off lights and close door to the lab upon departure