HHBmUll INVENTORY OF EQUIPMENT

NISTIR 88-3810 IN THE TURNING WORKSTATION

OF THE AMRF

June 22, 1988 By:

Issued Kang Lee

June, 1989

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards & Technology

INVENTORY OF EQUIPMENT IN THE TURNING WORKSTATION

OF THE AMRF

Kang Lee

Sensor Integration

Automated Production Technology Division

National Institute of Standards

and Technology

Gaithersburg, Maryland

This publication was prepared by United States Government employees as part of

their official duties and is, therefore, a work of the United States Government

and not subject to copyright.

Certain commercial equipment is identified in this paper to adequately describe

the systems under development. Such identification does not imply

recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and

Technology, nor does it imply that the equipment is necessarily the best

available for the purpose.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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III

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IV.

INTRODUCTION

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

MAJOR COMPONENTS

Turning Workstation Controller

Turning Center

Higher-Level Machine Tool Controller

Keyboard Interface

Robot Manipulator

Robot Front-End Controller

Robot Gripper

Robot Gripper Controller

Micromanipulator

Micromanipulator Controller

Turntable

Programmable Stop

Collet Changer

Tool-Setting Station

Malfunction Detector

Load/Unload Station

Reference

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Equipment Inventory

I . INTRODUCTION TO THIS MANUAL

This manual serves as an inventory guide to all electronic and mechanical

systems in the Turning Workstation of the AMRF. It contains pertinent

information on commercially supplied equipment, as well as equipment specially

designed and built by NIST for use in the Turning Workstation.

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Equipment Inventory

II. SYSTEM OVERVIEW

The Turning Workstation consists of two large pieces of commercial equipment,

the turning center and the robot. The turning center is a Hardinge 3 -axis CNC

lathe modified to accomplish automated tool changing and collet changing. The

CNC lathe controller is enhanced with additional hardware and software for

interfacing to a remote computer or controller. A higher- level machine-tool

controller is implemented as a front-end unit for the CNC lathe controller.

Remote control of the lathe is achieved through this higher- level controller.

The robot is equipped with an interface so that the workstation controller can

communicate to it.

The rest of the components are necessary to implement automated operations in

the turning workstation. Many of these components represent advances both in

design and state-of-the-art applications.

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Equipment Inventory

III . MAJOR COMPONENTS

1. TURNING WORKSTATION CONTROLLER

The turning workstation controller, based on the Intel System 310/286

microcomputer, consists of:

a) Intel 80286/10 single-board computer

b) 40 Mbyte Winchester drive

c) 5 1/4 inch floppy drive

d) 1 Mbyte RAM memory

e) Intel 84/188 8-channel serial communication board

f) RMX86, a real-time, multi-tasking operating system

g) Motorola 68000-based AMRF network communication board

h) Application control software written in PLM86

2 . TURNING CENTER

The turning center is a Hardinge SuperSlant Turning Center with an Allen

Bradley 8200 CNC controller. It is a three-axis, two-turret, slant-bed highprecision machine, capable of a resolution of 10 microinches. In order to

fully utilize the lathe to machine precision parts, collets are used as

workpiece holding devices. In addition the turning center is equipped with a chip conveyer to remove chips from the lathe to an external container.

2.1. Higher Level Machine Tool Controller

The higher level machine tool controller, based on the Intel 86/30

microcomputer, was designed at NIST. It consists of:

a) Intel 8086 single-board microcomputer

b) Intel SBC 534 4-channel serial communication board

c) Intel SBC 519 parallel I/O board

d) Intel SBC 556 opto - isolated parallel I/O board, 2 each.

e) Motorola 68000-based AMRF network communication board

2.2. Keyboard Interface

The turning-center keyboard interface was designed and built in house, based on

the Intel 8751 single chip microcontroller. It is used for the entry of data

and commands into the CNC controller from a remote computer.

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Equipment Inventory

3. ROBOT MANIPULATOR

The robot manipulator is a Bendix model AA-160 six-axis electric robot with a

Bendix CNC controller. It is mounted on a gantry for easy access to the work

volume of the slant-bed lathe.

3.1. Robot Front-End Controller

The robot front-end controller was designed and built in house, based on the

Intel 8751 8-bit microcontroller. It functions as an interface between the

workstation controller and the Bendix robot controller. This controller

communicates with the workstation controller via a RS-232C link at 1200 baud.

3.2. Robot Gripper

The robot gripper was designed and built in house, as no commercially available

robot gripper met all the necessary specifications. The robot gripper has two

sets of fingers mounted back-to-back and is pneumatically actuated. The

gripper fingers can exert a force up to 600 lbf. Furthermore, the gripper

fingers can be changed to handle various tasks such as tool changing and collet

loading

.

3.3. Robot Gripper Controller

The robot gripper controller was designed and built in house, based on the

Intel 8751 single chip microcontroller. It interfaces with the workstation

controller to actuate the robot gripper.

4. MICROMANIPULATOR

The micromanipulator was designed and built in house. It is a hydraulically

actuated servo - controlled fine-positioning mechanical device used to enhance

the repeatability of the Bendix robot. The micromanipulator has five degrees

of freedom and is attached between the wrist of the robot and the gripper.

With the micromanipulator, complex tasks such as collet loading, collet

changing, gripper finger changing, and tool changing can be easily

accomplished

.

4.1. Micromanipulator Controller

The micromanipulator controller, based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor with an

8087 math coprocessor, consists of:

a) Intel 86/30 single-board microcomputer

b) Intel SBX 311 ADC board

c) Intel SBX 312 DAC board

d) Custom design servo valve controller board

e) Control software written in PLM86

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Equipment Inventory

5

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TURNTABLE

The turntable was designed and built in house and is a microprocessorcontrolled rotating platter used as a buffer storage device for storing tooling

and collets for the turning center and gripper fingers for the robot.

It can store up to 66 items weighing up to 200 lbs. The microprocessor -based

controller performs servo control functions as well as communication with the

workstation controller.

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PROGRAMMABLE STOP

The programmable stop was designed and built in house to provide a reference

stop-point for parts placed in the collet. It is a motor-driven leadscrew

mechanism inside the spindle of the turning center. It has a linear travel of

seven inches and repeatability of 100 microinches.

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COLLET CHANGER

The collet changer was designed and built in house to allow unattended

operation of the turning center. It consists of a mechanical system which is a clutch assembly activated by a pneumatic piston, a motor controller, and an

inductive sensor to count the appropriate turns of the drawbar. The

microprocessor-based controller has interface capability for local as well as

remote operation.

8.

TOOL- SETTING STATION

The tool-setting station, designed and built in collaboration with Hardinge

Bros., is a LVDT-based sensor system. The mechanical system consists of an

LVDT-based gage head and a hydraulically actuated, precision four-bar mechanism

for positioning the gage head. The controller hardware consists of two

specially designed, printed- circuit boards, one of which is an Intel 8088-based

computer with an Intel 8087 math coprocessor. The other board contains analog

signal conditioning circuits for the LVDT sensors.

9.

MALFUNCTION DETECTOR

The malfunction detector consists of two accelerometers, mounted on

assemblies of the turning center. It is controlled by two in house

printed-circuit boards. One board provides signal conditioning and

conversion; the other is the microcomputer.

the turret

designed

A/D

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Equipment Inventory

10. LOAD/UNLOAD STATION

The load/unload station is a remote-controlled roller table that receives and

sends trays to and from the robot cart. It is equipped with a microprocessorbased controller that interfaces with the material handling system through an RS232C link. The station accepts trays up to 22 inches square.

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Equipment Inventory

IV. REFERENCE

The equipment in the Turning Workstation are described in more details in

" The Turning Workstation In The AMRF ", NBSIR 88-3749, April 20, 1988. Copies

of this report can be obtained from U. S. Department of Commerce, National

Institute of Standards and Technology, Building 233, Room B106 , Gaithersburg,

Maryland 20899.

7
NBS-114A rev- 2 -ec) U.S. DEPT. OF COMM.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET (See instructions)

1. PUBLICATION OR

REPORT NO.

NISTIR 88-3810

2. Performing Organ. Report NoJ 3. Publication Date

MAY 1989

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Inventory of Equipment in the Turning Workstation.

5. AUTHOR(S)

Kang B. Lee

6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION (If joint or other than NBS, see in struction s) 7. Contract/Grant No.

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 8. Type of Report & Period Covered

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

9. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street. City. State. ZIP)

U. S. Navy Manufacturing Technology Program

10. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

11. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most si gnifican t information. If document includes a si gn i fi cant

b i bl lography or literature survey, mention it here)

This manual serves as an inventory guide to all electronic and mechanical systems

in the Automated Turning Workstation at the Automated Manufacturing Research Facility

( AMRF )

.

12. KEY WORDS (Six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capi tali ze only proper names; and separate key

Turning center, robot, workstation controller, equipment list.

words by semicolon s)

13. AVAILABILITY 14. NO. OF

PRINTED PAGES

^q^Ud-I i mi ted

For Official Distribution, Do Not Release to NTIS

~ Order From Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

11

15. Price 20402.

g Order From National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA. 22161 $9.95

USCOMM-DC 6043-P90