Engel is celebrating the delivery of its 1,000th viper robot. In future, the robot will be used to handle inserts and prefabricated parts in hybrid applications at Seletec Plastics Products in the Austrian town of Uttendorf. Seletec has been using injection moulding machines from Engel since the 1980s, with the focus switching to automation in its new projects. That’s why an Engel viper 40, the anniversary edition robot, was delivered to the Pinzgau region as part of a complete package that includes an Engel duo 650 injection moulding machine. “With pressure continuing to build on costs, those of us in western Europe can no longer afford to work without automation”, says Gerald Rauch, head of sales and development at Seletec. “Automation guarantees stable processes, which raises productivity and enhances our production quality.”
The new large-scale machine will be used to make technical parts for a wide range of application fields, including housing components with metal threads. “When several inserts are placed into a mould at once, the speed of the robot is what counts”, stresses Rauch. “We also look for fast cycle times and maximum precision in our handling operations.”
The Engel viper robot is the ideal machine for these requirements thanks to its innovative software packages: vibration control, mass identification and efficiency control. These software packages eliminate the structure-borne vibration of the robots – even with longer axis dimensions – and optimise their movement and dynamic values. This ensures high tracking and positional accuracy and minimises cycle times. The viper robot also adjusts its movements to the respective manipulation weight and avoids unnecessary wait times outside of the machine.
Since Engel supplies both injection moulding machines and robots from a single source, full integration of the two control environments is guaranteed. “Operating the robot is simplicity itself”, says Rauch. “Our staff were comfortable with the new system by the second day of training – they can control the robot using the familiar commands on the machine itself.”
Seletec – a Klepsch Group company – has its roots in metalworking. The company started producing high quality injection moulded articles for technical applications in the 1950s. Today, as a global service provider, Seletec covers the entire value chain – from product design and development to mould production and series manufacturing. Seletec’s customers represent many segments of industry, including logistics, materials handling, mechanical engineering, agriculture, furniture production, electronics and medical engineering.
Engel viper robots are available in six sizes with nominal load-bearing capacities of 6 to 90 kg. Since the viper series was launched, Engel has significantly increased its sales in the field of linear robots. This is partly due to the fact that the linear machines are sold not only in a package with injection moulding machines, but also as replacements for old equipment or use with injection moulding machines of other brands.
