Abstract
This paper aims to identify the capability of a highly flexible industrial robot modified with a high-speed machine spindle for drilling of aluminum 6061-T6. With a focus on drilling feed rate, spindle speed, and pecking cycle, the hole surface roughness and exit burr heights were investigated using the Taguchi design methodology. A state of the art condition monitoring system was used to identify the vibrations experienced during drilling operation and to establish which robot pose had increased stiffness, and thus the optimum workspace for drilling. When benchmarked against a CNC machine the results show that the CNC was capable of producing the best surface finish and the lowest burr heights. However, the robot system matched and outperformed the CNC in several experiments and there is much scope for further optimization of the process. By identifying the optimum pose for drilling together with the idealized settings, the proposed drilling system is shown to be far more flexible than a CNC milling machine and when considering the optimized drilling of aerospace aluminum this robotic solution has the potential to drastically improve productivity.
Highlights
The aerospace manufacturing industry is always looking for ways to reduce cost, improve quality, and reduce lead time
The vibration data indicates that the robot is static in terms of drilling there are still vibrations and dynamic responses passing through the robot
The kinematics of the robot are based on Denavit Hartenberg parameters, and there are rules that the robot must follow in order to rotate coordinate frames
Summary
The aerospace manufacturing industry is always looking for ways to reduce cost, improve quality, and reduce lead time. Drilling within the aerospace sector has always been very important for the manufacture of airplanes and is the most commonly performed task in machining aerospace components. The Boeing 747 contains roughly 3 million fasteners with roughly 40,000 rivets on each wing of a Boeing [1] with Boeing drilling roughly 1.1 million holes per day [2]. In a bid to improve efficiency, the implementation of automation within the automotive sector has increased from 20 to 80% [3]. Despite the similarities between aerospace and automotive the drive for automation has not been witnessed within the aerospace sector despite the benefits that could be gained [4].
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