Labeler for Shopbot - Process Improvements

[bstern]

Hi All.

Nine months of writing proprietary CAD software and setting up a shop from scratch and my Custom Closet business is almost ready for full operation.

I have no experience in woodworking as a business. I have a background in manufacturing and have come at it from that angle. Many of my non standard ideas have paned out and some have not.(The tech installing my edgebander shakes his head and says: I ain't never seen a cabinet shop that doesn't have a table saw!) I am hoping this is an advantage but, do not want to reinvent the wheel either.

After some tweaking the shopbot is going to be able to do exactly what I need out of it. I have installed a 2nd Z with a 3 drill aggregate for 32mm systems holes. I am in the process of installing an air drill and raising the table about 3 to 4 inches. This should decrease the Z flex I am getting by pushing the machine a bit hard. I can now cut 3/4 Melamine accurately with 2 passes and after raising the table I expect to cut large pieces at 8ips in one pass.

My goal is to process at least 5 sheets per hour from the Shopbot to the trailer, ready for install. This includes all setup and clean up. I am currently achieving 3 and see 5 as a reasonable goal.


After producing my first couple of jobs I have identified some areas that could clearly stand some improvement.

I can use all the help I can get on these issues!

1. Labeling parts is taking quite a bit of time and is a place for errors.

Right now I print labels and use a layout sheet from Cabinet Parts Pro as a map for labeling.
I am using CCP for my Nesting before import to my software. (To keep production up, I am now applying the labels while the machine is still cutting the last pieces. I cringe at the thought of a shop employee doing this!)

QUESTION: Is there a device that can be mounted on a CNC that prints and applies labels?

2. Cleaning. While the top of the panels are clean after running a sheet there are lots of chips left in the kerf(comprssion bit). I am thinking of putting a trough at the end of the table attached to the DC so I can collect the mess at the time of parts removal.

3. Cleaning Part 2: I have a clean up routine that cleans the spoil board but, with the existing dust skirt it takes too long. I think with some mods to the dust skirt and routine I can cut this time in half. ANY SUGESTIONS?
I feel it very inportant to keep dust under control so, blowing the table off while quick, is not an option for me,

4.Cleaning Part 3: Final Cleaning of panels. While the tops are relatively easy to clean the bottoms that were on the spoil board are a bit more time consuming due to finer particles and static. I am thinking of building a machine, basically a box with a static eliminator bar followed by a blower to speed this process. I am thinking of trying a Shop-Vac or Fein as a blower and self contained dust collector. ANY SUGESTIONS?

Thanks for reading this long post.

Happy Holidays to all!

[benchmark]

Hi Bob
You seem to have covered most bases. For the clean up when doing multiple panels we use a 3mm sacrificial sheet of MDF under the material after cutting the parts out we slide out the sacrificial sheet and parts on to a trolley, we then slide in another sacrificial sheet and material while this is being cut it gives us time to sort the parts and clean up ready for the next sheet.
The trolley is in fact a hydraulic hospital bed we got on eBay, we fixed a wood top to it… it comes in real handy for raising and lowering.

Paul

[bstern]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your response.
This sound interesting.


I just checked with my supplier in Charlotte and they don't carry lightweight MDF in less than 3/4. Can you use regular since it is so thin?

How are you cleaning the spoilboard after removal from the machine?

Bob

[benchmark]

Bob,

We are the same lightweight in 3/4 and above, regular MDF works fine with our vacuum.
To clean up we have a wooden rake with no teeth and rake the bulk of the dust into a bin then wizz over with a vacuum fitted with a wide nozzle.



Paul

[beacon14]

Bob,

You do seem to have done your homework. I can cut 3-4 sheets per hour, 5 seems ambitious but with your approach I'll bet you can do it. Does your drillhead drill 3 holes at a time? That would speed things up for sure.

I use a Fein vac with a floor attachment to clean the spoilboard. (Not the same vac as the ones that power the vacuum table.) I used to scrape the bulk of the dust off into a trash can but decided that didn't really save any time. I do a quick back and forth pass with the floor attachment to push most of the dust onto the floor, then vacuum up whatever remains.

[myxpykalix]

Regarding printing and applying labels. The thought occurred to me that possibly you could jerryrig up some type of inkjet printer head that you rig up however with the amount of dust around i would think any type of carriage mounted printing device would get clogged pretty quick?
But that would be cool!

[david_white]

Would it not be possible to have the bot mark each part in some nondescript place like on the inside of a but joint.

[bcammack]

A couple of thoughts:

First, use either a DLP projector or a laser projection system. (the DLPs come up on woot.com pretty regularly for < $700) and project the cut lines onto the sheet goods before the ShopBot starts cutting. Then you can stick down your labels in the middle of what will eventually be the parts while the surface is clean and free of dust. The Z-Laser system from carterproducts.com is what we use over each of our six big CNC routers used for granite and Silestone countertops.

Second, I've designed an annular ring device to mount in the hole in the ShopBot dust collector and blow several *strong* streams of compressed air at the bit and the kerf to not only cool the bit, but to scour and turbulate the waste material from the kerf so that it can be more effectively collected by the dust collection system. I plan to use some steel brake line tubing and some brazing to implement this after the holidays. Pictures will be posted.

We use a rotary compressor system that gave us nothing but fits until it was explained to us that we were way under it's designed duty cycle. We actually have an open air hose buried in back of the building to bleed enough air constantly from the system to make it happy. IOW - I've got compressed air to burn for this project.

[rhfurniture]

A thought. Totally unresearched.
What would be involved in fitting a low powered laser as an accessory to a shopbot? Personally I am thinking of something that can cut .6mm veneer thickness in wood and other stuff for inlay etc. Currently I get this stuff done by sub-contractors, but... Any pointers, usefull web sites or full stops on this idea would be welcome.
It might of course do bar codes most elegently.

R.

[jseiler]

http://www.nilno.com/laser_intro/

Good luck.


John

[bstern]

Wow - thanks for all the great responses.

I have though about having the bot mark the parts but, honestly don't think I could make it large enough to be be easily read.

Brett, you have got me thinking. If I could mount a cheap laser marker on a head of the bot, I could have the bot point to the middle of the part in the order the labels were printed. When running the label designation program, I could have it pause on the middle of the part and wait for input to move to the next. Maybe using a wireless presentation type mouse to tell the program to move next. I will research this more.

Your compressed air jets are something I also have been thinking about. I was thinking 4 jets from both sides of X and y as I cut 99% rectangles. It sounds like you are way ahead of me on this. Please keep us informed of your progress. (been toying with the idea of a small maybe 5hp rotary screw)

David, Yes my aggregate has 3 drills. I have been very disappointed with its performance. Being a total newbie I asked Eckstrom Carlson for help. They recommended a 3500 rpm tool. This would work fine for brad points but I am using through bore bits. They seem to need some higer rpm or they chip out if you plunge too fast. I am getting some improvement in throughput but, not the 50% I would have if it had been 10 to 12k rpm. I am working on tweaking my drilling routine. Now I am fast plunging to the top of the material then going to .02 ips for 1/4" then back to fast plunge then slow again for 1/4 through the bottom. I an going to play with shortening the slow plunge to the last 1/8 inch of bit point. I may get some small improvement there.

[bstern]

Hi All again!

After that last post I mailed a letter and applied the stamp (read preprinted label) using a device that peels the backing and apples the stamp by pushing down on the device(read plunging.)

What about preprinting the labels for a sheet and feeding them into such a device attached to a air drill actuator.

A quick look on the web turned up lots of possibilities. I will look into this as time permits.

Bob

[jseiler]

Having the bot mark labels could be done with thermal labels and a relatively low powered laser. Just a thought.