Four college students from the Saratoga region who have worked at Guyson through their winter break are highlighted in a local news story in the THE SARATOGIAN newspaper published on Monday, January 9, 2012.
The full story and photographs can be found at The Saratogian web site at
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/01/09/news/doc4f0a53743fe34515284322.txt?viewmode=fullstory
The International Thermal Spray Conference and Exposition returns to the U.S.A. in 2012, May 21 – 24, and Guyson Corporation will once again participate as a supporting exhibitor.
You will find members of the Guyson factory applications team in Booth 517, where some of the latest developments in automated and robotic surface preparation will be showcased, including compact robotic grit-blasting equipment that is sized for the coating work cell. We look forward to discussion of your blast cleaning and precision roughening requirements, whether they be in a laboratory setting, the coatings shop or a higher-production work environment.
To get full details on the ITSC Technical Conference program, as well as free expo registration information, visit the official web site of the ASM Thermal Spray Society at http://www.asminternational.org/itsc
Guyson Corporation has extended its range of robotic surface treatment equipment to include a 7-axis direct pressure blast machine with a work envelope of 30 x 40 x 30 inches and a small overall footprint for lean, workcell-based component processing.
A 6-axis robot is securely mounted on a rigidly welded pedestal attached to the rear of the blasting cabinet, so that the range of motion of the articulated arm can be used for manipulation of the pressure-blast nozzle. A sturdy safety barrier with an interlocked access door surrounds the back of the machine to exclude workers from the vicinity of the moving robot. The 24-inch diameter turntable of the rotary blast machine is servomotor driven and controlled as an auxiliary axis of robotic motion.
To isolate the robot from the potentially abrasive environment of the blast chamber, the rear wall opening in the blast enclosure is sealed by a custom-tailored skirt made from coated and laminated fabric, with a snug-fitting collar at the end of the arm. Side-hinged swing doors with safety interlocks are provided on the side and front of the robotic blast machine for the loading of parts and to allow
inspection and maintenance access.
In operation, the precision robotic blast system is capable of constantly and accurately maintaining the correct blasting angle, stand-off distance and surface speed, even as it follows the contours of intricate-shaped components. This enables repeatable production of identical surface conditions from one area of the part to another and from part to part.
When a variety of different components are to be processed in the robotic blasting machine, part-holding fixtures can be quickly interchanged, positively located and locked in position by utilizing T-slots and guide pins in the rotary table. No other set-up or adjustment is normally required, because specific component orientation is included in the coordinated motion program for each different part, and other blasting process parameters, such as blast duration and pressure, can be stored and automatically recalled at will.
The size and elaboration of the media reclamation and delivery elements of the robotic blast system depend on the requirements of the impact treatment application. The smallest pressure-blast module is less than four feet in height and is hung on the blasting cabinet itself. For technical surface preparation, a 15-foot tall reclaim stack-up may be needed that includes a cyclone separator, a vibratory screen classifier and a pressure pot with the capacity to hold extra blast media.
To maintain negative pressure in the blasting enclosure and balance the air flow for media reclamation, the robotic pressure-blast system is completed by a reverse pulsing cartridge-type dust collector with an extraction capacity of 1,000 cubic feet of air per minute.
Prospective users of automated or robotic blasting equipment are encouraged to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at the Guyson design and manufacturing center in northeastern New York State.
Did you know that Guyson maintains large stocks of all kinds of blast media for a wide variety of blasting applications?
Guyson is widely recognized as a manufacturer of cabinet-blasting machinery, but besides an entire family of alternative media for non-destructive blast cleaning, we also have shot, grit and bead media for surface preparation, satin finishing, shot peening, deburring, stripping, deflashing, descaling and other blasting operations. Just about the only category of media we do not carry is disposable grit for outdoor blasting.
Along with our applications experience, we have steadily expanded our media offerings. Increased volume and high turnover have improved Guyson’s bargaining power with suppliers, and it enables us to offer the highest quality media, including special-purpose media, at competitive prices.
If you are considering a change of media in your Guyson machine, or if you need media for other blasting operations, whatever the application, please contact our customer service team for recommendations or a prompt quotation of price and delivery.
Call the Guyson Owner Hotline toll-free from anywhere in the U.S.A. or Canada at 1-800-633-6677 (international customers call 518-587-7894), use the Customer Service Contact Page on this web site, or send e-mail to custsvc@guyson.com for a prompt response.
Guyson Corporation has introduced a wide body industrial pressure-blast cabinet with two operator work stations, each having its own view window and independently adjustable blast nozzle. The customized dual station Model 7 shot blasting system allows a single user to change positions and conveniently reach all aspects of a five-foot-long component, or two people can blast simultaneously.
The overall dimensions of the shot blast chamber are 36″ H x 60″ W x 36″ D. A full width side-hinged door allows frontal access, with a slam-shut 19 x 19-inch door on the right side of the cabinet. Additional height for loading tall components can be gained by raising the top-hinged upper section of the cabinet front. All doors have safety interlocks that prevent operation of the blast machine until securely closed. Two sets of padded armholes with shoulder-length attached gloves are provided .
Stainless steel shot is collected at the base of the blast cabinet and pneumatically conveyed up to a cyclone media reclaimer that separates dust and fines before feeding reusable shot to the system’s 3.5 cubic foot capacity pressure vessel. The pressure pot automatically recharges with fresh shot whenever both foot pedals are released. Two metering valves are located at the bottom of the pressure vessel to enable control of the shot flow to each pressure-blast nozzle. The blasting pressure of each nozzle is also individually regulated.
The shot-blast system is completed by a dust collector with an extraction capacity of 1,000 to 2,000 cubic feet of air per minute, which maintains negative pressure in the blast cabinet and balances the flow of air to the media reclaimer. The optional wet dust collector illustrated is suitable for collection of potentially flammable dusts that may be generated when processing components made of titanium, magnesium or other reactive metals and their alloys.
Abrasion protection features supplied to resist the harsh mechanical forces of shot blasting include bonded rubber lining of the blast enclosure, cast urethane ducting to the reclaimer, lining of the cyclone inlet elbow, body and cone, as well as boron carbide lined blast nozzles.
Prospective users of industrial cabinet-blast equipment are encouraged to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at Guyson’s factory in northeastern New York State.
A group of high school seniors in the New Visions Engineering program toured Guyson Corporation’s Saratoga Springs plant on October 14, 2011, to gain insights into machinery design and manufacturing and to see the central role engineers play in the process.
Engineering Manager Alex Thomson explains how the Fanuc M-710iC robot will be integrated in a robotic grit-blasting system under construction at Guyson's Saratoga Springs plant for an aircraft engine overhaul facility.
The students started their visit in the Design Engineering offices, where they saw CAD/CAM software in use, talked about the day-to-day activities of engineers and saw some examples of documents that must be produced before an automatic blast machine can be built. The group then progressed to the Machine Shop and saw CNC machine tools being used to make precision components, the Weld Shop to observe blast equipment taking shape and all the other areas of the manufacturing floor, essentially following the steps of assembly that lead to a complete and operational automated or robotic blast system.
In the application engineering laboratory, the group witnessed a demonstration of a Guyson RB-9 robotic blasting machine, in which the robot serves as a precision manipulator of the blast nozzle, then they went to the Assembly Area and had a close-up look at a larger industrial robot that is about to become part of a robotic grit-blast machine that will be used by an aerospace customer.
One of the Career and Technical Education offerings of the area Board of Cooperative Educational Services, the New Visions Engineering program includes rigorous academic elements, but it also give the college-bound students practical perspectives on engineering by visits to technology companies the in Southern Adirondack and Capital Region. To learn more about the New Visions Engineering program, visit the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES web site at http://www.wswheboces.org/CTE.cfm?subpage=119 .
Guyson Corporation now offers its Model TR-900 through-belt conveyor blast systems with an oscillator to provide reciprocating motion of the blast guns, reduce the number of nozzles required for uniform coverage and lower the blasting machine’s
compressed air requirements.
In the pass-through TR-900 finishing system, components are conveyed in and out of the blast chamber by a rubber or steel mesh belt, which may be fitted with guide rails to ensure the parts are properly aligned for single or multiple lane media-blast treatment. The belt can also be made with cleats or part-holding fixtures attached to orient the components. Conveyor belt speed is adjustable
from zero to approximately twenty feet per minute. The stroke length and speed of the gearmotor-driven oscillation mechanism can be adjusted and synchronized with the belt feed rate.
Up to 14 blast guns are rigidly mounted on multi-adjustable brackets at the correct angles and distances to direct their blast stream onto targeted component surfaces. After impinging on the processed parts, blast media particles are collected in a hopper at the base of the finishing enclosure, fed into return ducts and pneumatically conveyed to the inlet of the system’s cyclone separator and media reclaimer, where dust and fines are removed from circulation and effective-sized media are channeled back to the blasting guns. The track extensions on the in- and out-feed ends of the machine are fitted with vacuum return catch trays to reclaim media carried out of the blast chamber. A full width side-hinged door provides access for gun inspection, adjustment and maintenance.
The TR-900 conveyor blast system may be used with a wide variety of blast media, so it is suitable for many different in-line impact treatment applications, including deburring, deflashing, surface preparation and cosmetic finishing. When components must be finished on all sides in a single pass, the machine can be configured with an alternate routing of the conveyor belt to permit positioning of fixed or oscillating blast guns under the component, however, only parts of a certain minimum length can be processed in the “S-belt” version of the machine.
An energy-saving option for the TR-900 is the addition of an electronic sensor to detect the presence of components on the in-feed conveyor and signal the programmable logic controller (PLC) to activate the blast guns. When the feeding of parts is interrupted, the blast guns can be turned off automatically. Another popular option for continuous production with the through-belt conveyor
blasting machine is media level sensing with automatic blast media replenishment.
All settings and control functions are accessed using via a compact touch-screen interface that is normally mounted on a freestanding console electrical enclosure. The touch-screen panel also displays data on monitored blast process parameters and system status indicators, including faults such as a full dust drum or low air supply pressure.
Prospective users of automated or conveyorized blasting equipment are encouraged to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at Guyson Corporation’s 80,000 square foot factory in northeastern New York State.
For information on other styles of conveyor blasting equipment designed and manufactured by Guyson Corporation visit http://www.guyson.com/blast/airblast/conveyor.php send a brief note about your requirements to info@guyson.com .
Guyson Corporation has integrated a machine-tending robot to automatically load and unload its RXS-900 rotary spindle blast system in an unmanned or lightly-attended blast finishing work cell. The component-manipulating robot and automated spindle-blast system are capable of supporting a faster pace of blast treatment and higher production volume than a human operator could handle.
Based on the size and weight of the components to be processed, the end-of-arm gripper tooling and the range of motion required by the tended machine and the layout of the cell’s external material conveying equipment, a Fanuc Robotics Model M-10iA robot with six axes of motion was selected for the application.
To enable 360-degree blasting of both the top and bottom aspects of the cylindrical components, custom component-holding fixtures were designed to positively locate and securely cradle the parts in either face-up or face-down orientation. A three-jaw gripper was chosen for the robot end effector that can grasp the work piece by the inside or outside diameter of the part, and an auxiliary rotary actuator with a pneumatic O.D. gripper was mounted on the front of the blast machine, acting as a precise, high-speed “flipper” to invert the component between finishing of the first and second sides.
The six rotary spindles of the RXS-900 are exactly located around the perimeter of its 42-inch diameter turntable, which is rotated between blast cycles in precise 60-degree steps by a robust cam indexer that offers positional accuracy of +/- 39 arc seconds. Guyson design engineers advise that this level of indexing precision is a critical requirement for robot tended blasting machinery.
Inside the finishing enclosure, components are exposed to the timed media blast from a pre-arranged group of suction guns or pressure-blast nozzles at two blasting stations as the satellite spindles are rotated at controlled and adjustable speed. The blast cabinet is provided with a separate chamber for blow-off of residual media and dust before the finished part is delivered to the front unload position.
The zone around the front of the automated blast machine that is occupied by the robot loader is completely surrounded by a sturdy wire mesh barrier with safety interlocks on all doors, windows or access points. Other robot guarding options compliant with ANSI/RIA R15.06 and international robotic safety standards are available at the preference of the individual customer.
Prospective users of automated or robotic blasting equipment are invited to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at Guyson Corporation’s Saratoga Springs factory in northeastern New York State.
Guyson Corporation now offers a rotary table wheel-blast system with one blast wheel over each half of a 4,000 pound capacity, 70-inch-diameter turntable. The Model GWB-702T, with this blastwheel configuration, is especially suitable for batch processing of molds, dies or work pieces that are essentially flat or have limited vertical surfaces.
The GWB-702T was one of the first wheelblast machine models to be fitted with optional fire suppression features to detect and extinguish combustion in the blast machine or the dust collector.
Each blast wheel is directly driven at a speed of 3,000 RPM by a 10 HP motor and is capable of throwing approximately 220 pounds of metallic media per minute in an extended blast pattern up to 36 inches long. The blast pattern of the individual blast wheels is adjustable, so the twin wheels are aimed to provide rapid and through coverage of components on the entire surface of the turntable.
The table of the wheel blast machine is heavily armored with abrasion-resistant cast iron alloy plates, and protective armor of the same material is hung on the interior ceiling and walls of the blast chamber to cover all areas directly in line with the blast wheels. The entire inside of the blasting enclosure is lined with thick rubber sheeting for abrasion protection, which offers the side-benefit of reduced sound levels during operation of the blast machine.
GWB-702T wheelblast machines come standard-equipped with an enhanced shot reclamation system that includes a tunable cascade airwash separator to remove dust from the working media mix, as well as an independently adjustable cyclone separator to capture and reuse good shot or grit that would otherwise be carried over to the dust collector. The sensitive multi-stage reclaim enables the use of microscopic shot media for nondestructive cleaning or satin finishing applications.
To maintain negative pressure in the blast machine and balance the air flow through the media reclamation system, the wheel blast machine is supplied with a freestanding Guyson Model D2000 cartridge-type dust collector that has an extraction capacity of two thousand cubic feet of air per minute. The efficiency of the D2000’s filter cartridges is maintained by automatic reverse pulsing.
A new option has been engineered for Guyson’s wheel-blast machinery to assist customers who are concerned about compliance with NFPA 654 standards on combustible dusts or the potential for a fire in the blasting machine or dust collector. The available fire suppression package is designed to quickly sense and automatically extinguish a fire by flooding the entire system with carbon dioxide.
The GWB-702T now features a streamlined human-machine interface (HMI) that replaces an array of separate switches, push buttons and indicators with a sleek touch-screen panel that displays data on the status of all system functions and simplifies use of the controls. The compact HMI graphically represents touch-and-select control functions, includes prompts or text instructions related to fault indications and allows convenient direct entry of process parameters, such as blast cycle time or air wash blow-off cycle time, to the system’s programmable logic controller.
Prospective users of air-blast or wheel-blast equipment are encouraged to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at Guyson’s Saratoga Springs factory in northeastern New York State.
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MULTI-MODE ROBOTIC BLAST SYSTEM
Guyson Corporation has designed and built a robotic pressure-blast machine that operates either as a seven-axis rotary table surface preparation system or as a horizontal roller blasting system for preparing inside and outside diameter surfaces of hollow shaft components. The multiple-mode concept makes a separate roller blast machine unnecessary.
With roller drive assemby installed on servomotor-powered turntable, the multi-mode robotic blast machine includes a lance for grit-blasting ID of hollow-shafted components.
The multi-tasking robotic blast cabinet features a 12-foot-long track extension with a powered transfer cart on which a servomotor-driven turntable of 1,000 kilogram weight capacity is mounted. The table is 84-inches in diameter and provided with T-slots and quick-change fixture locating hardware to enable processing of a wide variety of parts of different shapes and sizes. When the roller drive unit is needed for grit-blasting long cylindrical parts, it can be lowered into position by overhead crane and bolted to the table in less than thirty minutes.
For ID surface preparation in the roller blasting mode of operation, the component is rotated at controlled and adjustable speed, while a lance with an angled pressure-blast nozzle enters the bore of the part, advanced in programmed increments by a linear ball screw / ball nut actuator. The OD of the component can be simultaneously grit-blasted by the robotically manipulated blast nozzle.
Two blast pots, each feeding two pressure-blast nozzles, allow the operator to choose between two different blast media specified for separate surface preparation processes. The media reclamation system separates the recirculating grit by means of two vibratory screen classifiers that deliver only media of the specified size to each pressure pot. Dual media capability further extends the versatility of the multi-mode robotic blast system.
In the rotary table mode of operation, with the rollers removed and one of the interchangeable part-holding fixtures locked in place to positively locate and orient the component, the turntable is controlled as a seventh axis of coordinated robotic motion as the six-axis articulated robot arm executes the nozzle motion program. The correct blasting angle, nozzle stand-off distance and surface speed are precisely and constantly maintained throughout the surface preparation process, even as the robotic nozzle manipulator traces the contours of complex-shaped components.
If desired, control of other blasting process parameters, such as blast pressure or grit flow rate, can be included in the recipe for each component and automatically recalled whenever that part program is selected. The power and the tremendous flexibility of the robotic blasting system is demonstrated by its ability to store hundreds of pre-programmed blasting process recipes for different families of dissimilar components and consistently duplicate the surface finishing results any time each of those parts is blasted.
Prospective users of automated or robotic blasting equipment are invited to submit sample components for free laboratory testing and application engineering evaluation at Guyson’s factory in northeastern New York State.