Offset Workobjects

ollitap

I am building a fixture with 4 stations in a square. The 4 parts are identical. I want to only program one and Offset the others. I am thinking of using a Workobject Offset. Is this my best choice? If so could someone give me a basic example?  I use a lot of basic "Pose" X,Y,Z Offsets now but they are not Workobject Offsets. 

lemster68

What are you doing with the parts?  Picking and placing?  Welding on them (MIG or Spot)?

ollitap

I am welding them

ollitap

Sorry, mig welding

lemster68

OK.  Something I did not think to ask is this:  are they all placed in a "perfect" X or Y plane from the robot or are they "imperfect" in that they are at some angle or deviate from being uniformly spaced?

ollitap

I would say that they are as good as it gets. My fixture is a Large Square with 4 smaller squares that have fixtures in them. Top left / Top right. / Lower left / Lower right.  Does that make sense?

lemster68

It does.  You could teach the first workobject and part, then teach the other three workobjects just the same and call the same points with their respective workobjects.  If you find a deviation, you could tweak in the workobject data to fine tune the other parts, if necessary.

ollitap

so you are saying make 4 workobjects?   It does make sense to me to do it that way. What about making my first work object and just typing in the numbers for the remaining 3?

lemster68

That is fine if you have good measurements for their offset from the first.  The robot is real good at measuring, btw.  I have done similar, after ensuring that I have an accurate tcp.