The scara robot Setpoint will be integrating into station 1 on the new MGG machine has a spindle (z axis) with an internal diameter of Ø11mm.  All cables, tubes, and wires routed to this tooling must pass through the spindle.  Specifically, the tooling must have one sensor cable, one Ø5/32 airline, and two Ø1/4 air lines – one for vacuum and one for exhausting air.

Obviously, this will not all fit through the spindle – we recognized this issue early in the design stage.  This resulted in a drastic redesign to develop an end effector that can function under either 80 psi pressure or 10mmHg vacuum while being plumbed through the same port.

We have now designed, prototyped, and tested a configuration of the tooling that is fully functional and all wiring/tubing fits through the unforgiving 11mm spindle shaft.  Central to the success of our first solution is vacuum generator M20A6-BN made by PIAB.  All prototype components were printed on Setpoints 3D printer out of natural ABS plastic.  Initial testing of this prototype unit is complete and ready to mount to the Scara robot.  We are now refining the design further to improve upon those points of the design that required compromise during critical redevelopment phase.