Flexibility and user-friendliness are keywords that characterize all products from Wemo Automation AB. We’ve been manufacturing robots for over 25 years, and have a vast pool of experience in solutions that simplifies robotization in the plastics industry.The same basic principle applies to our peripheral components, which you can use to make your robot cell into a complete solution.
Today, Wemo takes care of the whole chain from design, development and components manufacture to assembly of customized solutions and distribution of our automation components.
Wemo’s standardized components are designed by users – for users.
Advantages of WGS vacuum cups
Vacuum cups are used for parts handling in most applications in the plastics industry. This is the simpliest and most cost-effective solution when you build your EOAT. Vacuum cups have a relatively low investment cost, are easy to change and require no external sensor for checking that the parts have been gripped by the EOAT. Vacuum cups normally fall into three categories:
Flat vacuum cups
Bellow vacuum cups
Oval vacuum cups
Suspensions
If there is enough space, using suspensions is the optimum solution for coupling the vacuum cups to the gripper. This is the best way of compensating for height differences on the surface to be gripped. Another advantage is that less precision is required in synchronizing the robot’s extension motion with the machine’s ejection motion. This is usually one of the biggest problems when picking parts in injection molding machines. If the robot works faster than the tool’s ejection motion, it loses its vacuum and drops the part.
If the robot is operated too slowly, the tool’s ejection motion presses against the gripper and damages the vacuum cups and the robot’s linear bearings. It may seem more costly to fit each vacuum cup with a strut, but in the long term this can lead to enormous savings by cutting maintenance costs and increasing the useful life of the gripper and robot. NB: Many types of strut for oval vacuum cups are available in a rotation-proof version to prevent rotation of the oval surface.
About WGS grippers and cylinders
Grippers are normally used to pick sprues, but are often also used for parts picking, especially when the surfaces of the parts are not flat enough to use vacuum cups. Gripping pliers have the additional advantage that they can grip inside the part, pushing their jaws outwards.
The gripper can be activated via a compressed air circuit for closure (single-acting). In this case, the opening action is activated by a spring return. However, double-acting grippers are the most common solution. One compressed air circuit closes them, and another compressed air circuit opens them. This is the safest method, as the other compressed air circuit forces the grippers to open.
Gripping pliers fall into two main categories: Angle and Parallel grippers
About WGS air nippers
Air nippers are usually used for cutting sprues off parts or sprue channels on hot parts. All air nippers are single-acting, meaning that only a compressed air circuit is needed to activate the cutting. The opening movement is activated by a spring return. The air nippers can either be mounted on the robot’s gripper or installed in separate peripheral equipment. The air nippers are equipped with cutting blades available in various shapes. Cutting blades are available with a cutting surface that is straight in relation to the air nippers (WGS KK-R), or with blades that are angled in relation to the air nippers (WGS-KK-V). The air nippers come in three sizes and with various cutting forces. Note! Material for cutting has to be plastic parts only (not glass fiber-filled.)
