Fusion 360 Robot Post Processors

[Richard.stubley]

Did you know Fusion 360 can now control Robots to perform subtractive toolpaths. 

Watch this live stream on how to set up your ABB or KUKA robot and get milling. @alexandre.pintoAGNAU did an amazing job getting all the content together. 

Please share any issues, and even pictures of you using F360 to drive you robot. 

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

just started working with fusion and right now i'm involved in a new project.

We are printing filament with an 1mm (or 0,4mm) nozzle with an ABB (IRB 2400, IRC 5) robot right now.

We would also like to mill directly on the printed object afterwards. We used the Fusion proramm and replaced the quaternions and robotconfig (of our tool, the position at that moment where it should mill) manually, cause the ones from the Fusion programm were useless for us.
That worked in one case pretty well.

We did that (enter quaternions & robconfig), because we find no way/solution to enter our tooldata from the "real tool" on our robot into the fusion program. Is there any way to enter the tooldata into the fusion programm (in no way dependent on how the tool is mounted) ?

Thanks in advanced.

Greetings Tim

[stefanie.pender]

Hi @Anonymous 

Right now, there is not a place to insert the tool data into Fusion 360.  Usually I teach the tool using the robot's teach pendant manually - for example I teach tExtruder.  From the Fusion 360 program I then input this tool name in the Fusion 360 post process window.   Instead of the default tADSK for the tool name, you would insert tExtruder or whatever you name your tool.  Make sure that the line with your tool data (in the ABB controller side) is pasted into your Fusion posted program.  For example this tooldata code needs to be included in your program: 

TASK PERS tooldata tExtruder1:=[TRUE,[[318.77,27.4718,589.449],[0.0241187,0.92308,0.0133704,-0.383618]],[30,[156.721,-1.367,286.476],[1,0,0,0],0,0,0]];

Here is a video where I go over the entire process of the Fusion 360 to industrial robot workflow.  I teach the tool at around 22:00 in the video.  

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Learn-Rules-Then-Break-Them-Fusion-360-Industrial...

The handout for the course explains tool data on page 12 of the .pdf.  

Let me know if you have any more questions or if you need anymore clarification.  

[alexandre.pintoAGNAU]

Hi @Anonymous 

I would add to what Stefanie has said to make it extra clear.

Fusion 360 Robotic toolpaths have 2 possible tool orientations, so you must configure your tool in this way or the toolpaths you post will not work as intended. There is no way to use other tool orientations other than the ones detailed, so no way to reverse engineer a tool. I hope this is clear!

Besides the tool the part workplane (WorkObject) must be defined in the setup to replicate the workplane defined on the robot.

All this is detailed in the documentation available, so please refer to it for help.

The video Stefanie shared is very complete and clear.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

"Fusion 360 Robotic toolpaths have 2 possible tool orientations, so you must configure your tool in this way or the toolpaths you post will not work as intended. There is no way to use other tool orientations other than the ones detailed, so no way to reverse engineer a tool. I hope this is clear!"

Thank you @stefanie.pender  & @alexandre.pintoAGNAU,

the few words above are answering one of my question. Of course this was not what i was hoping for, haha....

And Stefanie mentioned i cannot add any ABB tooldata into the fusion program. So my questions are (sadly) answered.

Sadly because we are trying to mill with a post processed (5-axis) code for ABB, so without calculating orientations and robconfig "before" post processing dependend on our tool, it won't work.

None the less thank you.

Greetings Tim

[judah.ex]

Hi Stefanie,

A few days ago Alex and I had a remote meeting where we discussed all the issues.

He is currently looking in to the details.

If this interests you, you can join our next remote discussion (I just don't know when Alex would be ready).

Thanks.

[stefanie.pender]

Hi @Anonymous  -

Could you share the .f3D file with us and any other details?  Fusion 360 does support 5-axis tool paths for industrial robots for both milling and additive applications - so we are happy to take a look at this.  

If you also have a backup of the your robot controller that would be helpful.  

[stefanie.pender]

Sounds good. Happy to support as needed.

[judah.ex]

Alright. 

A question regarding 3D printing, is there a way to 3D print metal using a TIG welding robot through F360?

I looked into F360, couldn't find metals in the library.

[designingberlin]

Hi Tim,

just out of curiosity: Why would you want the tool positions input info
fusion?


From my point of view (and experience with robots), the code should
assume the tool to be known to the robot control system. The fusioncode
should only select that tool in the robot control library and perform
the manufacturing task.


Otherwise you had to generate new code in case you swap the nozzle and
have to recalibrate your TCP. That's ususally now wanted, but I might be
wrong. I'm sure there is a benefit.


If I were in the position of defining the TCP within fusion, I'd add a
line in the postprocessor to set the TCP based on 6 given input values
(xyzabc).


Thanks,

Stefan

[eddyheide]

Does this also work with older robots? For instance a Kuka KR150 with KR C1 (win95) Controller.
Because that would be awesome! 
I have such an old machine, and don't use it anymore.
But if I could use/upgrade if for milling/plasma-cutting etc. than I have a new hobby project 😄

Thanx Eddy

[designingberlin]

Hi Eddy,

I'm not familiar with KR C1, but I assume it'll understand basic KRL. In
that case you should be able to run fusion generated code on there.

filesize might be an issue - what are your limitations there?


Best,

Stefan

[koch.reto]

Hi Eddy
It does. I worked with this post and with that kind of controller as well but:
You need to manually adapt the KRL file that has been created by this post. Especially the ini sections and the file length.
I did the following:

* Creating a new file on my KRC1 in user mode (it then crates an empty .src and .dat file of the new file.
* Take this new file and adapt the speed of the PTP-home to somewhere below 15%
* Archive the new file that is saved on the drive
* Copy the new file on a floppy (yes, 3.5” floppy if you still have 😉) or if the controller is connected to a network then copy the two files from there.
* Insert the code between the two PTP-home sentences if the code is of less than 2500 lines. If the code is more than 2500 lines then DELETE the second PTP-home to avoid the robot going back to home between the sub-program changes and create additional files using the extension 1 ….x of your file. Copy the next 2500 lines in each of these programs until you have finished all the code from the post. Then insert the subprograms in each src as following. Before the ini line of each program insert the next file name using the code “ext next_program ()” (while “next_program” is you next program file name!). Before the last END command of each file, insert the call for the next sub-program’s using the command “ext_program ()”. Do this for each of the subprograms. This is one solution, the other would be to create a master file calling all sub-programs. Then you need to create a src file that contains the name of all subprogram in the declaration (before the INI line) and calling all programs, main and subprograms, before the END line. Important to know: using a master file, requires all subprograms to be loaded in the Robot RAM memory! That may cause additional issues, as the size of the RAM is limited as well. So, make a backup of your KRC-program folder and empty it to have enough space for an additive project. Then copy only the ones for the additive job in it. If the additive job is so huge that the RAM-size is too small, you need to copy as much files as possible in the RAM and then when the subprogram is finished you need to manually delete the finished programs and load the remaining ones to the RAM. 😉 That’s the WIN95 procedure 😉
* The above procedure may not involve all necessary steps, means, I wrote this from my mind as a quick reply. If this procedure is completely unfamiliar with your KRC1 knowledge, I recommend to start small with a test and then evolve to bigger projects. You can PM me and try to help as much as I can.
Good luck and best regards, Reto.

[eddyheide]

Thanks for the info
this is a great help to me.

[alexandre.pintoAGNAU]

Hi Eddy

As Reto and Stefan  have kindly added, this KUKA Fusion 360 posts is compatible with KRC1.

Memory limitation will be an issue and there might be some minor edits required on the post .

I would say that you need to use notepad ++ (free) or similar to compare the output we generate and a file you know runs correctly on your machine. 

Let us know how you get along and what application you are driving. I hope you have fun with this post.

[tobias.schmid82]

Hi,
I have questions and suggestions about the KUKA Post.
Are you planning to split up the program in the distant future? In my case I sometimes have more than 50,000 lines of code.
A selection for a subroutine for a tool change and the speed call.
But the biggest problem is the number of lines of code.

Best,

Tobi

[designingberlin]

Hi Tobi,

the original HSM post splits up the code into separate file. One per
toolpath.

That could help.


Depending on the actual geometry, you might benefit from using SPLINE
based toolpath. I'll explain that a bit this week:

You are welcome to join my AU2021 talk this week and join the discussion ...


Best,

Stefan

[alexandre.pintoAGNAU]

Hi @tobias.schmid82 

We have raised this internally with development and we know this needs addressing, unfortunately for the time being we have nothing new to announce.

50 000 points is a lot of points! Be aware that toolpath tolerance should be kept quite high as not to make things worse.

[tobias.schmid82]

Hi Stefan, hi Alex,

thank you for your answer. Yes this is a many points. Im new in this Area and we make the first Steps with Wooden Design. In this Case we make a parallel Process for finishing the Surface. In my Case i have make an hack on the Robot for more Memory, but for the Future is this not a Solution.

Best,

Tobi

[contactP4KME]

Dear Alexandre, Bom Dia ou Buenos Dias? 🙂

my name is Miguel, im from paris, France, and I work building musical instruments.

This summer I started lessons with fusion 360 to modelise in 3D our instruments in order to do CNC milling afterwards. But I want to do this using a robot, not a big CNC 5 axes.

i have several questions for you:

1. What robot and milling head motor and table do you used on your video? Great video by the way! 🙂

2. Autodesk gave me a couple of company names in France this summer to teach me fusion. I add several lessons and realized none of this providers were real engineers. Now I work with a German  engineer and it’s a completely different level. Making a music instrument like ours is very soohisticated and complex. It can’t be done by software engineers, but rather real engineers (and in our case with experience on music instruments as well).
so my question is this: after we have finished the 3D modélisation, i will need to learn CAM milling with fusion 360. Do you personally give distance lessons ? I definetly need someone with your level of experience and knowledge because I want to do robot milling not CNC milling.

I’m looking  forward for your reply, thank you very much for the generosity on posting this videos and for your reply!

miguel

[PatrickCavan8662]

I like the milling bits on the Kuka robot demo I've been trying to find them 4 years just can't find a supplier Wondering if you can forward the supplier details