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Installation and Setup

Overview of Installation and Setup of your Beacon welding robot

Matt Bush avatar
Written by Matt Bush
Updated over 5 months ago

Cobot Welder

When the system arrives it will be contained on a single 4' x 4' pallet almost ready to use. The CW202 system will ship with the robot arm on a separate pallet.

CAUTION: This is a cloud-connected product and will require a network connection to complete installation, please ensure you have an active network connection before attempting to power on the robot and move to the home position. Very few of the installation steps are performed using the teach pendant of the robot and the program that is loaded on the robot should not be modified during this installation process. If you have any questions about any of these instructions please reach out to your distributor or Hirebotics prior to completing the installation.

What's Included in the Box

  • UR10e or UR20 Robot Arm in UR Box

    • UR20 arm will ship on a separate pallet, UR10e is in the system box

  • UR10e or UR20 Control cabinet installed in the Siegmund table

  • Welding power source and wire feeder installed in the Siegmund table

  • Welding Torch with Hirebotics Over the Arm Cable Management System

  • Hirebotics Smart Puck for Free Drive and Teaching

  • Hirebotics Operator Button Box

  • Siegmund Inch Series 48 x 32 Workstation with the mounting plate and isolation disk installed

  • Starter pack of consumables in the table drawer

Installation

Installation and setup of the system is as simple as

If you have followed all of the instructions the system should now be ready for operation. Congratulations on the installation of your Cobot Welder, Powered by Beacon™.

Now that you have installed the system, there is one final task to perform and that is securing the touch pendant on your system to prevent accidental changes to robot programs and settings. You can learn how to do that in Securing your Cobot Welder.

Unpacking the Pallet

When the system arrives it will be on a 4' x 4' pallet. The first step is to inspect the system, if you see any damage at all please report it to the freight company upon receipt of the shipment.

The system should arrive with a cardboard sleeve and a lid on the pallet.

Remove the lid and sleeve from around the pallet.

Next, remove the bands and shrink wrap from the cart and boxes. Remove the boxes on top of the table and set to the side.

CAUTION: The box containing the robot arm is heavy and not well balanced, use two people to lift the box from the pallet.

Remove the braces that are attached to the pallet top securing the fixed casters in place.

Using an 18mm open-end wrench loosen the lock nut from each leveling foot and then raise the leveling feet.

Using a fork truck, gently lift the table from the pallet and place it on the floor.

CAUTION: The table is not balanced as the welder is on one end of the table and the feeder is on the side. Use caution when lifting to ensure the load is secure before lifting.

Installing the UR10e Arm

Open the box containing the arm and remove the box labeled Robot Plate Hardware. These are the M8x1.25 SHCS bolts that will be used to mount the arm to the phenolic spacer on the table.

Once you have the hardware available remove the arm from the box and place it on the table. Note the orientation of the dowels in the plate as they will align with holes in the underside of the robot. The cable exits the side of the table from under the robot. The bolts are installed using a 6 mm Allen Key with a torque wrench. Tighten the bolts to 15 ft-lb (177 in-lb).

CAUTION: The arm is heavy, the UR10e is approximately 80 pounds and most of the weight is on the base end, use two people when lifting the arm from the box and placing it on the table. When securing to the table use one person to balance the arm while the other installs the hardware.

Installing the UR20 Arm

Open the box containing the arm and remove the bag labeled Robot Plate Hardware. These are the M10x1.5 SHCS bolts that will be used to mount the arm to the phenolic spacer on the table.

Mounting on the 5'x 10' Table

If you have purchased the additional table, you will want to remove the robot mounting plate from the small workstation table and place it on the larger table. Simply remove the 4 bolts that attach the plate to the table, it will come off as an assembly, no need to remove the plastic insulator from the steel plate. Note the orientation of the dowel pins, the should align with the back edge of the table. They are offset to one side of the centerline of the plate, they should be located on the side of the plate near the edge of the table as shown below

Once you have the hardware available remove the arm from the box and place it on the table following the example instructions below using the lifting strap installed on the arm.

Note the orientation of the dowels in the plate as they will align with holes in the underside of the robot. The cable exits the side of the table from under the robot. The bolts are installed using an 8 mm Allen Key with a torque wrench. Tighten the bolts to 33 ft-lb (396 in-lb).

CAUTION: The arm is heavy, the UR20 is approximately 140 pounds and most of the weight is on the base end, use the included lifting strap when lifting the arm from the box and placing it on the table. When securing to the table use one person to balance the arm while the other installs the hardware.

Connect Robot To Power and Internet

Connect the communication and power cable to the base of the robot. The main cable is secured to the back of the table with enough slack to connect to the pigtail at the robot base. To connect align the connectors and press them securely into place. Ensure that the locking connector ring is unlocked prior to attempting to install the cable. Once the cable is fully seated, rotate the locking ring to lock the two connectors together.

There is an ethernet cable attached to the network port on the robot cabinet, if a longer cable is required, unplug this cable and plug the new cable in its place.

Plug the other end of the cable into your company network. The robot is already configured for a DHCP connection. If a static IP address is required, check out this article to see how to configure the robot for a static IP address once the system is powered on.

Using the attached power cord, plug the robot into 120V main power.

Remove the teach pendant from the cabinet and remove the protective wrap and cardboard shipping screen protector.

Emergency Stops

The keys to the keyed emergency stop button will be located in the button box holder beside the button box. To release the keyed emergency stop, insert a key and turn to the right, this will release the emergency stop if it is depressed. The UR teach pendant also has a small emergency stop at the top of the pendant. To release this, twist to the right and the button will release.

Powerup and Initialization

Press the power button on the robot controller to start the controller at the top of the teach pendant. Once the robot has powered on, follow the prompts on the screen to initialize the arm. You can learn more about initializing the robot here

Registering the Robot for Beacon

Before you can use the robot for welding on Beacon you will need to create the robot in your organization. If you have not created an organization within Beacon please do so now using the instructions for creating your organization. Using the team that you created when you created your Beacon organization you will create a new robot and use the registration code from the Beacon URCap to register the robot.

Teaching the First Part Flow

To enable the installation of the torch assembly onto the arm it's important that the arm be placed in the default start position. To accomplish this we are going to learn to create a part flow on the robot using the Beacon app.

If you have not already done so, download the Beacon app onto a phone or tablet or access it on a computer via beacon.hirebotics.io. Before entering an email address, ensure that address has been added to the Beacon app by your company administrator. This will ensure that you are logging into your organization.

Once you have logged in, navigate to the team where the robot has been registered and click on robots. Follow along in the video below to see how to create this simple first part flow.

Install the Hirebotics Smart Puck

Now that the arm is in the home position you can install the Hirebotics Smart Puck system. This will already have attached to it the Tregaskiss gun mount for mounting the torch.

To install the Smart Puck, remove it from the box. Using the supplied Torx key remove the 6 screws from around the perimeter of the puck and separate them into the two halves. Using the (4) supplied short head cap screws and an M4 Allen key install the tool flange adapter onto the robot.

Tighten the bolts to 8 Nm (70 inch pounds).

Insert the lower portion of the puck onto the tool flange by aligning the cable with the slot in the lower portion. Secure with the (6) Torx flat head screws that you removed in the prior step.

Once you have secured the lower half onto the robot, plug the blue cable into the port on the end of the robot arm.

CAUTION: DO NOT overtighten this connection as the port on the robot can be damaged. The cable should easily attach using your fingers, no tools required.

Installing the Torch Supports and Torch Assembly

Remove the Over the Arm Cable assembly from the box. There will be two assemblies in the box. The lower clamp mount will be mounted on the lower arm in the middle of the arm and the upper arm mount, the "Shark Fin".

Using a deep well 7/16" socket, open the clamp that is attached to the lower mount and position it in the middle of the lower robot arm on the back of the arm. Using the socket tighten the clamp onto the robot

Using the 7/16" socket remove the nut from the two clamps on the "Shark Fin" and install it on the upper arm. It needs to be installed as far to the rear of the upper arm as possible to guide the torch over the elbow of the robot in the orientation depicted in the photo below.

Installing the Shark Fin on the UR20 is slightly different as there is a spacer that will need to be installed, please see the instructions at UR20 Over The Arm Installation

Proper Orientation of the Shark Fin on the UR10e

Proper Orientation of the Shark Fin on the UR20

Install the working end of the torch into the Tregaskiss torch mount and secure it with a 5 mm Allen Key using the two M6 bolts on the side of the torch holder.

Using an M4 Allen Key open the white guide blocks and place the torch lead into the guides. Close the guides and secure with a 4 mm Allen Key. The white stop block installed on the torch lead should be placed above the lower guide block. This prevents the torch from falling through the guide block and makes sure that the torch lead feeds properly during operation.

On the UR20 there is an additional cable that needs to be attached to the puck. This cable is installed within the torch lead. This cable activates the free-drive functionality on the robot when the green puck button is pressed. Please connect the end of the cable to the port on the top of the puck, the other end of the cable will connect under the robot cabinet to the port on the bottom of the robot cabinet

Bottom of Robot Control Cabinet

Wiring the Welder

The welder comes with a pigtail that can be connected to your building power either through direct wiring to a disconnect or via a twist-lock style plug. The decision on how to wire the welder is up to the customer. Ensure that the welder is wired to the appropriate voltage and amperage limit per the welder manufacturer's recommendations. The user manual for the welder will be located in the drawer in the table when the system arrives along with the drive wheel kit from Miller.

Configuring the Welder for Pulse Welding

If you will be using the Pulse process settings for your welds you should ensure that the welder is configured correctly for your material type, wire diameter and gas type, you can learn more about how to do that using here.


What's Next

Now that you have the system setup, online and ready to weld let's head over to the Exercices section of the support site and learn how to use the system.

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