SINGLE POINT INCREMENTAL FORMING . COMPARISON BETWEEN TECHNOLOGICAL EQUIPMENT BY AN OVERALL PROCESSING TIME POINT OF VIEW

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) can be unfolded on various technological equipment. CNC milling machines and industrial robots are usually chosen for this purpose, both having advantages and drawbacks. The most obvious advantage of the industrial robots relies upon their superior kinematic, due the superior number of axes, especially when compared with 3-axis CNC milling machines. However, most of the parts manufactured by means of SPIF have simple shapes, which usually do not require more than 3-axis equipment for processing. Thus, it is arguable if using industrial robots for SPIF process could be justified by an economic point of view. The approach presented in this paper compares, by means of simulation, three processing strategies used for manufacturing a simple truncated cone shaped part, using a 3 axis CNC milling machine and an industrial robot. Moreover, the kinematic of the industrial robot is further improved by using a special positioning unit, which add two supplementary axis to the equipment. In order to run the simulation process, kinematic models for both equipment were developed. The processing regime (speed and feeds) was kept the same for all three simulated strategies. The main goal of the proposed approach was to test if the use of an equipment with superior kinematic (industrial robot) adds any advantages to the process, when manufacturing simple parts.