Horesham-based
Oberon Performance Ltd has gained a global reputation for the premium quality of its range of motorcycle accessories. Established in 2000 as an engineering sub-contractor, rather than rely on other business for work, the directors knew that the only way to gain complete control over the company’s destiny was to establish a successful, in-house designed and manufactured product line.
The origin of the new product occurred on a fateful day in 2000. Having just bought a new Suzuki 1200 Bandit motorcycle, a company director returned to the factory, only to discover that his paper tax disc — remember them? — was now totally unreadable due to the ingress of rain into its holder. Following a session on the company’s CAD software a superior waterproof tax disc holder was soon designed and Oberon’s first successful product was created.
Among many other high-quality motorcycle accessories, the company now manufactures, adjustable levers, billet headlights, brake and clutch lever protectors, clutch slave cylinders, mirror extenders, footpeg kits and handlebar risers. So successful have Oberon’s products been throughout the world, the business no longer performs sub-contract work and concentrates solely on the design and manufacture of its popular motorcycle related products.
To ensure that the company’s busy
Haas multi-axis CNC milling machine was able to reach its full productive potential and keep pace with demand for the company’s products, Oberon director Steve Evans recently investigated the available machine tool automation aids. Having compared the products of several leading providers, a recently installed Robo-Trex automation system was purchased from
Lang Technik UK.
Mr Evans said: “To help satisfy ever-increasing demand for our products, we recently considered the purchase of another multi-axis CNC milling machine. Although, the lack of shopfloor space meant that we needed to find an alternative, equally productive solution. We found the answer in a highly-efficient Robo-Trex automation system that is now feeding our existing Haas multi-axis CNC milling machine.
“When compared to the new machine tool we contemplated purchasing, the recently installed Lang system occupies a much smaller footprint, it cost a fraction of the price and it has helped us to achieve the same increase in production as the new machine would have provided.
“Operating unattended and fed by the Robo-Trex systems, our Haas machine now runs unattended throughout each shift. Then, when required, at the end of a working day, we are able to restock our Robo-Trex trollies with batches of workpiece blanks, allowing the machine to maintain unmanned production in a ‘lights-out’ mode throughout the night.
“In addition to aiding our production planning and releasing an operator for other work, the fact that the Robo-Trex system allows uninterrupted production for long periods of time has given us another advantage. As many of our parts have demanding dimensional specifications, when involved in shorter, stop/start production runs, component features with tight tolerances can sometimes drift out of specification. As our new Robo-Trex system allows extended machining runs without stoppages, this continuity of machining has helped to reduce our already low scrap and re-work levels.”
The Robo-Trex robot system uses two high-capacity trollies that act as mobile storage mediums for multiple Lang vices that hold workpiece blanks. The system’s operation is logical and trouble free; a robot picks a vice from the trolly, loads it into the machine tool and when the workpiece is fully machined, returns the vice holding the completed component to the trolly. The cycle is then repeated. When filled with fully machined parts the trolley is removed and a replacement loaded with ready-to-machine workpiece blanks is added.
Two types of Robo-Trex systems are available, each with two capacity options. The smaller version, the Robo-Trex 52 trolly holds 30 vices, maximum part size of 120 x 120 x 100mm — while the larger capacity Robo-Trex 52 trolly holds 42 vices, maximum part size of 120 x 100 x 70mm.
The larger version, the Robo-Trex 96 trolly has two standard trolly options, the first has a capacity of 15 vices — max part size: 205 x 205 x 90mm — while the second has a capacity of 16 vices — max part size: 205 x 150 x 150mm. Each Robo-Trex system has an option to accommodate four trolleys. Therefore, depending on part size, the available storage capacity increases to 60/64 vices or 120/168 vices.
A simple-to-operate touch panel display enables the easy set-up and control of the automated system. Access to each trolley is possible at any time, therefore production remains seamless as machining cycles do not need to be interrupted. While control of the system’s zero-point clamping system can be made pneumatically through the machine tool, or mechanically through the system’s robot.
Lang Technik UK director Gareth Barnett said: “After ensuring that we fully understood Oberon’s automation requirements, we were confident that our highly-efficient Robo-Trex systems would enable the company’s Haas machine tool to achieve the required production volumes and a cost-effective quotation was presented. Following a trouble-free installation, Oberon’s Robo-Trex system is now providing the promised levels of automation and productivity that will result in a rapid return on the company’s investment.”