ShopOwnerMike
Posted: 1 day ago
We’re finally ready to automate one of the machines and I’m getting bombarded by sales guys.
Looking at the usual stuff:
Collaborative robots (UR, Fanuc CRX, Doosan)
Traditional 6-axis robots (Fanuc, Yaskawa)
Pallet systems
Bar feeders (for the Integrex)
Vision systems
Automatic vise / workholding changers
What’s actually working well in real shops right now? What should I avoid? Especially interested in anything that doesn’t need a full-time robot programmer.
Mike
AutoShop_Tom
Posted: 20 hours ago
We put a Fanuc CRX-25iA on our DMU 50 last year with a Schunk vise changer. Best decision we made.
Cobot is slow but dead simple. No fancy fencing required in our case, and the guys figured it out pretty quick. Vision (Keyence) for part orientation made a big difference.
For the Integrex we went old school with a LNS bar feeder + parts catcher. Way more reliable than trying to robot-load bar stock in our opinion.
Stay away from the cheap Chinese cobots. We tried one. Lasted 4 months.
Robo_Dan
Posted: 14 hours ago
Pallet pool on the DMU 50 is still king if you have enough fixtures. We run a 6-pallet system and it just works. Robot is cooler to watch but pallets are more reliable for lights-out.
If you’re doing high mix, a cobot with a good gripper + vision is hard to beat right now. Universal Robots still has the best software ecosystem in my experience, but Fanuc CRX is catching up fast and the service is better in most places.
Bar feeder is still the highest ROI automation on any Integrex. Don’t overcomplicate it.
MidwestMachinist
Posted: 6 hours ago
We run both.
DMU 50 → Fanuc robot + custom drawer system. Works great but took forever to debug.
Integrex i-200S → just a good bar feeder and parts conveyor. Simple, almost zero downtime from the automation side.
Biggest lesson: the fancier the automation, the more it becomes the thing that breaks. Keep it as dumb as possible.
Also budget for the gripper and workholding. That’s usually where the real money and headaches are, not the robot arm itself.
