Accessories

The tool and the Spin Bridge alone drive a screw that is already in the hole. The accessories below hold the tool on the robot, hold the screw on the bit, present the next screw to be picked up, and let the bit be changed without a person.

Spin Mount

The Spin Mount attaches the tool to the robot. It bolts to the robot flange once and stays there; the tool itself twists in and out of it by hand.

That is worth having because the tool comes off without disturbing anything. A dowel pin holds the mount in one orientation, so a tool that is taken off for service, or swapped between two robots, goes back in exactly the same place — and the positions taught into the robot program still hold. The flange interface is ISO 9409-1 Type 50-4-M6.

Bit Collars

The bit collar is the part that keeps the screw on the bit. Without it the screw would drop off somewhere between the feeder and the hole; with it, the robot can carry a screw across the cell and arrive with it still sitting straight on the tip.

A collar is matched to the screw, not to the tool, so changing to a different screw usually means changing the collar as well. Magnetic collars come in three outer diameters — 6 mm, 8 mm and 10 mm — and the one you need follows from the size of the screw and its drive recess. The selection table gives the combinations. Whichever collar you use, it takes ordinary 1/4” (6.35 mm) bits, 50 mm long as standard.

Vacuum Bit Collars and Mouthpieces

Magnets only work on steel. If your screws are stainless, brass or plastic, a magnetic collar has nothing to hold on to, and vacuum is the way to carry them: the screw is held against the bit by suction instead.

A vacuum assembly is three matched parts — the bit, a vacuum collar that carries the suction down from the tool, and a mouthpiece, the suction cup that meets the screw head. Because the mouthpiece seals against the head, it has to suit the shape of the head you are driving. The vacuum itself comes from your own supply, through an M5 push-in fitting for 6 mm air tube. Selecting the Bit, Collar, and Mouthpiece lists every supported combination.

Teach Pointer

The Teach Pointer is a plain steel point that goes into the tool in place of the bit and collar while you teach the robot where the screws are.

It earns its place by making the target visible. Its tip sits exactly where the tip of the bit will sit later, so you can rest it in the head of a screw and see that it is in the right spot — instead of judging the position past a collar and a safety shield that are in the way.

Screw Feeders

A screw feeder is what makes the cell run unattended. It presents one screw at a time, always in the same place, so the robot can fetch its own screws instead of waiting for someone to hand it one. The robot is taught that pick-up position once, and the feeder puts every screw that follows in the same spot.

Any feeder that presents the screw in a fixed position can be used. Spin Robotics supplies the OM26R, NJRL and NRS feeders as the standard choice, and their manuals — including the mechanical adjustment for a given screw — are on the downloads page.

Bit Changing Station

A Bit Changing Station lets the robot change its own bit in the middle of a program. It is a rack the robot parks a bit in and collects another from.

It is what you need when one product takes more than one kind of screw. Without it, a second screw type means stopping the cell and changing the bit by hand. A first system does not need one — bits can always be changed by hand.