CHICAGO (July 28, 5:05 p.m. EDT) — With two new families of robots and expansion of production machinery, the past year has been a busy one for Ranger Automation Systems Inc.
Ranger introduced a line of four servo robots as well as a Value line that is part servo, part pneumatic, for the molder that does not want to spend the money for a full-servo machine.
The Value series´ lower cost can be attributed to the movement of the vertical arm and its horizontal base.
"It´s high speed in and out of the mold, the rest is air drive," said John Campbell, national sales manager.
The typical servo arm saves time and money for molders, but some molders don´t necessarily need an entire servo robot.
"It gives buyers a choice. You get some of the performance of a high-speed robot but at a lower cost," he added.
The Performance series is just the opposite. Everything about this family of robots is fast.
The arm retrieves a part in 0.5 seconds and the robots can work with 75-ton to 5,000-ton machines, Campbell said.
Each robot is equipped with the T-Beam option that allows the robot to reach both sides of the press. A programmable servo wrist can rotate up to 360 degrees.
"It´s used to pick tough parts out of the mold that need to be twisted to get out," Campbell said.
All these characteristics are common to the servo family but the largest of the group comes with a triple telescopic arm that allows for lower ceiling height inside the plant, he said.
Ranger robots also feature a new control system, Campbell said, which includes real-time pictures of the machine as it works on the plant floor.
Formerly, each robot came with its own version of a control panel and had a text-only format, he said.
"(Molders) can program any motion sequence they want," or use the quick start option already permanently logged into the control panel, Campbell said.
Aside from the birth of two new product lines, Ranger has added new production machinery to its Shrewsbury, Mass., plant during the last 12 months, Campbell said.