Brother opens a valve to automated machining

From 2019 to the present, turnover at Oswaldtwistle-based Ross Pneumatrol doubled to £7m with growth across most industry sectors into which it supplies its pneumatic and electro-pneumatic valves, actuators and other products. The oil and gas industry is proving especially buoyant currently and sales growth in Asia has exceeded expectations, raising exports to more than 60% of turnover.
This success was putting pressure on the prismatic machining department, which was using six 40-taper, 3-axis VMCs of various makes and three Brother 30-taper machining centres with twin pallet change supplied by Whitehouse Machine Tools. To meet the increased demand for valve bodies and pilot end caps, Ross Pneumatrol returned to WMT CNC for two more Brother 30-taper machines, this time with automated component handling.
The first cell, installed in the aluminium machining section in September 2022, comprised a Brother Speedio S700X2 VMC equipped with a Feedio robotic system, including vision equipment, for handling components. Designed to automate, the plug-and-play unit communicates with the S700X2 via a Profibus interface and incorporates a 6-axis robot. A camera vision system and built-in PC allow the robot to detect where on an upper conveyor a workpiece has been placed. After machining, components are returned to an output conveyor.
Tommy Cooney, Ross Pneumatrol’s Operations Manager explained: “We liked the ability of the Feedio unit to handle components in and out of a second Brother VMC when the need arises in the future. No other supplier was able to offer that facility.”
Encouraged by the success of the first cell, Ross Pneumatrol installed a second to produce similar components in stainless steel. Whitehouse proposed a Brother Speedio F600X1. Rather than choosing another Feedio for automation, the manufacturer chose a CubeBox from the Turkish OEM Tezmaksan, for which Whitehouse has recently been appointed a UK sales agent and integrator.
As with the Feedio unit, CubeBox has a 6-axis robot to handle parts directly, rather than basing the automation on a more expensive exchange of pallets with fixtured components. Moreover, as the 20 or so variants of stainless steel valve body and pilot end cap are fundamentally cuboid in shape, the parts are easy and quick to grip for transfer to and from a machine tool.
Mr Cooney commented: “The F600X1 fits well with our production pattern, as stainless steel products account for about 10% of throughput, so we can maximise the F600X1’s utilisation by cutting aluminium as well. The entire cell did not cost much more than fitting a cobot to a 40-taper machine would have done.”

Cycle times on the two latest Brother high-efficiency machines with their higher specifications are about 40% shorter than on the older 30 and 40-taper machines on the shop floor. Aluminium pilot end caps and bodies take seven minutes and 10 minutes respectively to complete, while cycle times for the stainless steel versions are 15 minutes and 18 minutes.
Ross Pneumatrol values the engineering support from Whitehouse who has been closely involved in time studies, applications engineering, provision of mainly Ceratizit carbide tooling, and off-line programming strategies using Fusion 360 CAM software.
A Tezmaksan CubeBox increases production output by up to 50% compared with manual loading and unloading and additionally allows long periods of unattended machine running, including overnight. It is 20% less expensive than a company-specific robot integration system. The plug-and-play solution can be implemented on a shop floor the same day as it is delivered, without the need for robot programming knowledge. The unit installed at Ross Pneumatrol is a CubeBox Blues DR whose FANUC M10ID12 robot has a maximum payload of 12kg.