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CNC-milling with the Fanuc M-20iA/35M Robot and R30iB controller

#1
Dear all,

I am new to RoboDK and milling using a robot arm.
The robot that I have is the Fanuc M-20iA/35 with an R30iB controller.
I currently have created some milling programs, and am able to run them from my computer in teach mode. 

   

As you all can understand I don't want to sit next to the robot holding the deadman switch on the teachpendant for hours. Therefore i want the robot to run in auto mode. Is there a way to run the program (.LS) directly from the computer while being in auto mode? 
I couldn't find a way, because i can't run the RoboDK driver on the teachpendant while being in auto mode.

So my solution was making a .TP program and place it on the robot. This works fine for small programs, but the parts that I want to mill do require a lot of lines, and the teachpendant simply does not have enough memory to load those large .TP files.
Does anyone have a solution for me, so I can run programs on the Fanuc without being limited in the amount of lines that my program can have?

Thank you in advance

Kind regard,

Marco
#2
I'm very new too, but to my best knowledge you will need to right click on the operation in robodk, then "Generate program as" and save it as an LS file. From there, you should be able to put it on a usb, and load it into the R30iB via USB port. Menu/File>Util/ Set Device "Or something"> pick your USB Drive, then DIR to create a list, find yopur program and press "LOAD". After that, you should be able to access the program through the teach button as you do for other programs.
#3
(09-17-2019, 05:35 PM)Thappy Wrote: I'm very new too, but to my best knowledge you will need to right click on the operation in robodk, then "Generate program as" and save it as an LS file. From there, you should be able to put it on a usb, and load it into the R30iB via USB port. Menu/File>Util/ Set Device "Or something"> pick your USB Drive, then DIR to create a list, find yopur program and press "LOAD". After that, you should be able to access the program through the teach button as you do for other programs.

I already found out how this works, but with this method i am limited to a maximum file size of +- 600kb (memory on the teachpendant), which is not sufficient for my projects. So i am looking for a solution for this problem.
#4
We have a post processor that allows you to split a program and load it via FTP (sometimes called drip feeding). You don't need any specific option other than FTP (available since Fanuc RJ3 controllers I believe).

To use the drip feeding for Fanuc robots you should follow these steps:
  1. Activate the FTP server on the robot controller. This should be activated by default with modern Fanuc controllers: 
    https://robodk.com/doc/en/Robots-Fanuc.html#FTP-Fanuc
    I recommend you to use FileZilla to make sure the FTP connection works and you can load files to the controller.
  2. In RoboDK, select Connect-Connect Robot.
  3. Enter the IP of the robot (if you need a user name and password you can enter it in the "More Options" section)
  4. Right click the robot and click Select Post Processor
  5. Select the Fanuc_RJ3_DripFeed post processor (make sure to use a recent version of RoboDK)
  6. Right click a program and select the option Send Program to robot
RoboDK will automatically split long programs in sub programs and trigger a Python script that will load and unload programs via FTP. You just need to manually start the main program and this script will automatically load the next program and remove previous programs as your execution proceeds. Once the script is triggered you can still use RoboDK for other purposes or close it. You can also start this script on another computer (make sure you have RoboDK installed but this won't require a license).

   

More information about converting Fanuc LS program files to TP files here:
https://robodk.com/doc/en/Robots-Fanuc.html#LSvsTP

Albert
#5
Hello all,

I just discovered this thread and it is also relevant for my project. 

MarcoW : Have you found a way to increase your controller's memory? I found this page, but it does not say much I'm affraid : https://www.fanucamerica.com/products/cn...management
I wish there was a way to plug an external hard drive on the controller with large memory and run the programs from it. Do you know if such thing is possible?

Question for Albert : is Drip Feeding possible / available for other robots? I am using a Fanuc m-20iB/25 with controller R-30iB Plus, so I am using the Fanuc_R30iA.py post-pro. If not, do you think I can modify my post-pro with the functions of the Fanuc_RJ3_DripFeed.py post-pro?

Regards,

JF
#6
Hi JF,

Yes, you can use the Fanuc_RJ3_DripFeed post processor on newer Fanuc robot controllers such as Fanuc R30 controllers.

Albert
#7
@Albert
I am just exploring ROBODK and have 2 RJ3iB that we want to run in sync (opposing tool center points). Does the dripfeed over ftp protocol allow controlling 2 stations at the same time? Let me know if that needs clarification. We are also wondering if we can import toolpath from sprutcam or if we need to rebuild in robodk. Very excited after finding this software a couple days ago!

Jacob
#8
Hi Jacob,

Yes, you can run the dripfeed post processor on any number of Fanuc robots at the same time (two or more). Just make sure that each program has a different name (or you save them in different folders) and, of course, each robot has a different IP address.

If you have Sprutcam, you should generate your machining toolpaths from Sprutcam, load them in RoboDK and simulate and generate the robot programs from RoboDK.

Albert
#9
@Albert Sounds great, I saw the sync python example. For sprutcam I didn't see a method for importing sprutcam files(.sto I think). Do you have any experience with the file type or method for importing paths from sprutcam. Would we need to use an actual mill so it kicks out g-code or are we ok using Sprutcam Robot.

We also have some legacy .ls or .tp files that would be nice to edit in RoboDK. Is there a way to import those? We can post text files to .ls from Sprutcam if that is an easier way to import. I am sure that would be useful info for any of your other fanuc folks.

Thanks
#10
Update: I was able to drop a .ls file that I post processed from sprutcam into robodk. I will need to follow up on the coordinate systems to see why one robot was able to use the program and one was not, but that will answer the feasibility question for anyone else using fanuc bots and legacy files or cam softwares with postprocessors.
(11-26-2019, 01:49 PM)Jacob Wrote: @Albert Sounds great, I saw the sync python example. For sprutcam I didn't see a method for importing sprutcam files(.sto I think). Do you have any experience with the file type or method for importing paths from sprutcam. Would we need to use an actual mill so it kicks out g-code or are we ok using Sprutcam Robot.

We also have some legacy .ls or .tp files that would be nice to edit in RoboDK. Is there a way to import those? We can post text files to .ls from Sprutcam if that is an easier way to import. I am sure that would be useful info for any of your other fanuc folks.

Thanks
  




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