Robots for machine shops and job shops

Ten to two hundred people, CNC lathes and mills, part families that repeat mixed with one-offs that do not, and a second shift you cannot staff. This is where most first robots go in, and where most bad ones get parked.

Free, about two minutes, no phone number. You get an honest no when a robot is the wrong answer.

Who this is for

You run mills or lathes and an operator loads a part, closes the door, and waits. Spindle utilization is lower than it should be. Turnover in the second shift is chronic. You have families of parts that repeat weekly or monthly, even if every job is different.

What automates first here

• CNC machine tending: the first robot in most shops, a collaborative arm on a cart or pedestal loading and unloading a machine that already has an automatic door
• CNC lathe tending: bar feeders solve the easy half; the robot handles chucked parts and the second operation
• Deburring machined parts: the job nobody wants, and one where force control has matured
• Grinder and saw tending: long cycles, hot parts, an operator standing by
• Automated dimensional gauging: a robot presenting parts to a gauge is inspection that keeps up with the machine
• Press brake tending for small parts: if you bend as well as cut

Machines that usually make the shortlist

Collaborative arms in the 5 to 30 kg class dominate this work, and our matrix holds them from Universal Robots, FANUC, Doosan, ABB, Dobot, Kassow and more than forty other makers with figures checked against the datasheet. The cell is the arm plus a gripper, a part presentation table or drawer, and the machine interface. The arm is the smallest decision; the interface and the part presentation are where cells fail.

Every machine named on this site is in the published matrix with figures checked against the maker's material and no prices, because a price before an engineer has seen the job is a guess.

What has to be true before anyone quotes

• Cycle time versus load and unload time: a 40 second cycle with a 10 second load is a different project from a 6 minute cycle.
• Part families and changeover: how many programs, how often they change, and who writes the next one.
• The machine door and interface: automatic door or an opener, and a signal the robot can read.
• Chips and coolant on the part and on the gripper, and where the finished part goes.
• Who owns the cell at 2 a.m. when it stops.

When a robot is the wrong answer here

• Your work changes every hour and never repeats.
• The machine cannot be given an automatic door or an interface signal.
• One machine with a very short cycle and an operator who is doing three other things anyway.
• Nobody in the shop will own the robot's programming after the integrator leaves.

Someone has already done this

Common questions

Can a robot load my CNC overnight?

Yes, if your parts run in families that repeat and your machine has an automatic door or can be fitted with one. Lights-out running is where the payback lives, and it is also where the part presentation and the finished-part handling have to be engineered, not improvised.

Do I need a new machine?

Usually not. Most machines from the last fifteen years have or can be given an automatic door and a signal interface. Older machines can be tended with a door opener and a retrofit, at a cost that belongs in the quote.

Who programs it when the part changes?

Your operator, after training, on a collaborative arm with a modern pendant. The honest test before you buy is a timed changeover on a demo unit with your own part: if it takes an hour, plan for an hour.