Manor Tool & Manufacturing is passionate about meeting the needs of our clients, no matter how many components they need or how unique the end-use application is. Recently, we collaborated with the Chicago, IL, Taft High School robotics FRC team, the Mechanical Mustaches, to fabricate a component for their robot.
The Mechanical Mustaches had an upcoming regional competition in Wisconsin and needed to build a large and powerful robot. Manor Tool worked with the team to develop and fabricate a part that met all their performance requirements, with delivery that met their timeline requirements. The team’s instructor Anthony Schmidt said in an interview with the Technology & Manufacturing Association that their robot performed well in the Wisconsin FIRST® Regional.
Robotics FRC Team
The Mechanical Mustaches are an FRC team, which stands for FIRST® Robotics Competition. FIRST is a global organization that encourages students to build their technological and scientific skills. The acronym is an abbreviation of “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” The organization holds an annual international competition among high school students to build robots that compete in field events involving tasks like balancing on beams, holding onto bars, and other challenges.
To enter this competition, Taft High School’s robotics FRC team needed to build a robot that weighed up to 150 lbs and was upwards of 6 ft. tall. It required a significant amount of design and programming skills to bring the project to life, including a variety of high-quality stamped metal parts. After collaborating with Manor Tool to obtain a specialized component, the robot was completed and was fit to compete in this prestigious competition.
Metal Stamping with Robotic Automation from Manor Tool
At Manor Tool & Manufacturing Company, whether you need to develop a single part or a large production run, we can fabricate your component quickly and cost-effectively using our robotic automation tools. We deploy a robotic arm to automate the movement of stamped parts as they move among various machines during the fabrication process.
We used this technology during our project for the robotics FRC team. The process is as follows:
- First, raw material is fed into a press for the initial metal stamping.
- After the part is formed, it slides down a chute and is inspected by a vision system for accuracy.
- Next, a robotic arm picks up the part and places it on the die in the second press where the final stamping is performed.
- Finally, the robotic arm separates the finished part from the scrap material.
Our automation technology significantly reduces cycle times and allows us to produce as many as 500,000 stamped parts annually. For customers like the Mechanical Mustaches, it ensures they receive their part as fast as possible, and at a highly competitive price.
Metal Stamping from Manor Tool & Manufacturing Company
Since 1959, Manor Tool has been fabricating expertly-crafted metal components. We specialize in bending, punching, forming, and deep-drawn stampings as well as hard tooling. After every production run, we conduct die maintenance within our facilities and carry out inspections on every component to ensure reliability in the process and quality. You can learn more about our die maintenance process on our website. If you have any questions, reach out to our team.