Page 48 - Robot Builders Source Book - Gordon McComb

2

Concepts and Layouts

2.1 Processing Layout

In designing any automatic manufacturing system, the first step is to determine
the general, basic concept of the manufacturing process. This concept includes the
general nature, shape, and type of the tools taking part in the manufacturing process,
their action or operation sequence, and the conditions under which manufacturing
must take place.
This concept must be properly determined until the object is comprehensively ana-
lyzed. Selecting any optimal manufacturing or production process sometimes involves
interfering with the design of the object being produced and maybe even modifying
it; thus, one may need to reconsider the material of a given part (plastic instead of
metal, say), or its precision, shape, and so on. In other words, the manufacturing process
dictates the design of the product. Let us now consider a number of examples that
illustrate this important point. (Recall that the same object or part can usually be pro-
duced by different manufacturing processes, tools, and techniques.)
At this stage in the design of our automatic machine, we need to visualize the
concept underlying the manufacturing process. The best way to do it is to express this
concept graphically. Our sketch must show:

• Every processing and auxiliary operation;
• The tools or elements which carry out these operations;
• The special conditions or requirements which must hold during processing;
• Basic calculations—speeds of displacement and rotation, linear and angular
displacements, forces and torques, dimensions, etc.

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