Fanuc arc welding downloader

Introduction

The Fanuc arc welding downloader is derived from the Fanuc downloader.

Both the Fanuc and the Fanuc arc welding translator are delivered with the FASTSUITE Edition 2 installation.

The Fanuc arc welding downloader complements the Fanuc vendor downloader with a technology specific implementation. In addition to arc on/off and calibration methods such as touch sensing are also supported. Below is an overview of the supported functions in this Fanuc arc welding Python downloader:

* Should be; equal to touch sensing, but has not been evaluated.

Arc on

In addition to the welding program number, the weaving of the welding gun can also be switched on as an option. During the computation, the operating attributes are transferred to the event (see event sheet field at the first welding point).

During the post-processing, the event attributes are then translated to robot language.

The arc on event is managed in the HandleEvent() function.

Arc off

The arc off command has no further attributes. If the weaving was turned on, an additional command is given to turn off the weaving.

The arc off event is managed in the HandleEvent() function.

Touch sensing

Touch sensing is a tactile method for calibration of a weld seam. The Fanuc robot moves from a starting position to the nominal collision point. When the wire makes physical contact with the part, the robot holds and determines the offset to the nominal collision position.

There are two methods to define the touch sensing motion.

The Fanuc standard touch sensing only supports the touch in the base frame direction. This touch sensing in base frame direction is implemented in the already existing downloader FANUC_RJ_6AXIS_TS_ARC_BASIC.xml. Therefore, this touch direction is not managed inside the Fanuc Python downloader.

Touch cycle output

The touch sensing cycle consists of a reference point and cycle points. The reference point is used here only as a "holder" for the cycle points (normally the point directly on the surface.). The touch sensing cycle points are created and marked by an event. This event is automatically placed in the background on the reference point. The TouchSensingEvent is managed in the HandleEvent() function.

For the Fanuc touch sensing event, only the start approach point, the collision point and the start retract point have been implemented.

Set the calibration offset for welding

The offset of each connected touch sensing sequence is stored in a position register. The position register number is the same as the Touch connect ID number from the programmed situation. The start of the numbering can be set using the Pos. register start attribute.

During computing, the Touch connect ID is automatically incremented and written to the touch operation. The information on the touch operation is transferred to various places in the robot program.

The ConnectTouchProcessPoints event establishes the connection between the touch sensing operation and the weld. The events are automatically applied to the appropriate toolpath elements according to the connection type setting and are tagged with the appropriate Touch connect ID.

This event is then translated into robot code by the compiler before the welding seam begins. The ConnectTouchProcessPoints event is managed in the HandleEvent() function.

Constants & settings for additional customizing

Position Register to store touch sensing points

These two attributes can be used to define the number of the position register PR[x] in which the start point and the collision point for calculating the touch offset are stored in the macro.

Touch sensing macro name

With the self.TouchSensingMacroName the name of the macro can be adjusted.

Touch sensing signals

The touch sensing signals can be reconfigured accordingly by a further derivation.

The number used can be configured directly within the FASTSUITE Edition 2 user interface.