Pickup from pallet
Combi gripper uses its Vacuum suction feature for picking the part from the Pickup pallet to placing it on the Centering table.
When flat parts are picked up from a pallet, the following parameters influence this process:
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The position of the pallet in the machine cell.
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The position and orientation of the part stack on the pallet.
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The position and orientation of the suction gripper on the part.
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The suction cup configuration of the gripper (which cups are turned on/off, and what type of cups are mounted in each socket).
Panels
The panels used to edit all these settings are displayed below - they are all interconnected by up/down navigation links leading to other panels in a logical sequence.
As the image above shows, these panels can also be accessed easily by just clicking on various objects in the simulation:
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To open the Pallet panel, click on a pallet.
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To edit the part-stack on a pallet (the Pickup panel), click on the blanks lying on the pallet.
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To edit the gripper position on the blank (the Gripper panel), click on the gripper.
Pallet panel
The Pallet panel is used to select a pallet and position it in the cell. You can open this panel by just clicking on a pallet; FlexCell CAM will also position the simulation timeline so that the robot is posed at the point of picking up the part from the pallet.
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Use the Name choice to select a different pallet. Normally, only pallets that are usable for this blank are listed, but you can turn off the Filtered check and then all available pallets are listed.
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Moving the mouse over a name in the names list displays a quick summary of that pallet, along with a thumbnail:
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Use the Position inputs to position the pallet in X and Y axes direction and use Lift input to position the pallet in Z axis direction.
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Use the Angle input to rotate the pallet in R axis direction.
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Use Tilt X angle and Tilt Y angle to tilt the pallet about the X and Y axes direction respectively. As you move or rotate the pallet, the part stack on the pallet, and the gripper/robot all follow the movement.
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Use Align corner to align the part to the origin of the pallet (the corner used for positioning the pallet in the cell). The parts may align to the origin corner depending on the part size and shape.
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Use the Next and Prev buttons to navigate to the other pallets in the cell.
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Use the Pickup navigation button to edit the position of the part-stack on the pallet.
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Use the Save Config button under the Advanced section to save this cell configuration (including all pallets) as a default for this machine.
Pickup panel
The Pickup panel is used to edit the position of the part-stack on the pallet. You can open this panel directly by clicking on the stack of blanks lying on the pallet. (You can also access it using the Pickup link from the Pallet panel).
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Use the Position inputs to position the stack on the pallet; these coordinates specify the center of the part in X and Y axes direction, relative to the corner of the pallet, and are in the pallet’s local coordinate space.
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Use the Angle input to rotate the part around in the pallet.
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Use the Flip part checkbox to flip the part over. Note that this will usually mean that an additional regripping operation will be necessary before the first bend can be processed (this will be added by FluxBeta CAM automatically).
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The Waypoints link brings up the Waypoints editor where you can fine-tune the robot trajectory during pickup.
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The RG-Stations link brings up the Regrip Station panel where you can configure the position of the regrip station during the pickup operation. As the part is moved around on the pallet, the gripper remains stuck to the part and the robot follows the movements.
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Enable the Centering Table checkbox (if required) to align and position the sheet metal accurately before the robot picks it up for bending. This ensures that the material is correctly oriented for the bending operation. See Centering table for more details.
Gripper panel
The Gripper panel is used to select a different gripper, or to change the position and orientation at which the gripper picks up the part.
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Use the Position inputs to move the gripper-center relative to the part-center, and use the Angle input to rotate the gripper, relative to the part’s orientation.