Autorun & Alignments

[[Me...]]

I've never used Autorun and know almost nothing about it. Searched help and the forum and I think I have a pretty good grasp of how it works.

My questions are related to pallet and part alignments. I have a pallet that is rectangular and has a 12 hole array. From what I understand, I create an alignment to the fixture, load that in Autorun, and load my program to palletize. How does it know where location 1 is on the pallet for the part program? Trying to understand the relationship between the pallet alignment and the program alignment.

All tips, tricks, docs, and/or comments welcome!

Robert

[[Ja...]]

This document should help. The 1st part location is set by the part program base alignment. DO NOT use the CNC version of the base alignment.

Autorun.pdf

[[Me...]]

Thanks for the reply and document, Jason. Much appreciated!

So.... the part must be run the first time in the fixture, after the fixture alignment has been created at that location, so that the location of the 1rst part is saved in the BA relative to the fixture. If I setup the fixture in the same place every time after that, I can just load and run parts as long as the fixture doesn't move. What if I use the program as a standalone in a different location? Then I would need to make sure I run the part again in the fixture before I do another pallet run. And if I move the fixture I need to rerun the fixture alignment program and then the 1rst part again in the fixture before doing another pallet run. Is that correct?

[[No...]]

I never really tried it, but I think no. At the time when you enter pallet and part alignment, Autorun calculates the offset between both and stores it in the Autorun file. So it should remember where the part is relative to the fixture, even if you measured the part elsewhere inbetween. But you've got to check for yourself if this is really true.

Be careful however if you intend to edit the Autorun file on another machine (especially an offline seat). Because when you edit such a setup, Autorun re-calculates the offset, but uses the alignments stored on the other machine! Dangerous.

[[Ja...]]

You will create a program for your fixture with an X,Y,Z locations and create a base alignment for the fixture. As long as there is no wiggle room in your fixture mounting you will not need to re-run the Fixture Alignment.

For your part you will need to locate it in the home position of the fixture and run the program under Manual Alignment. This will locate the base alignment that Autorun will use to set the other positions. If you do a single run in any other location you will need to repeat the Manual Alignment in the Fixture Home Position. Any time I do a single run from the program I usually position my part in the Home location of the fixture to do my run. You could create a separate alignment for an alternate position and that would preserve your part's home alignment for the fixture.

It's been a few years since I have moved a fixture so I don't remember if I re-ran the part alignment as well as the fixture alignment. I may have done both just to be safe but I think it may calculate the offsets, you have to go into the Pallet Parameters to recalculate the offset.

I only have one machine but I believe if you have multiple machines you will need to create an alignment for each machine and they each would need there own Autorun Desks.

[[Me...]]

Everything seems to be working well here. Thanks again for all your help. It's much appreciated!

Robert