Welding Capabilities in KukaPrc

[tenn6064]

Hello

Question on the capabilities on the kukaprc plugin. I am trying to do some welding path planning with the plugin, and I am wondering if there is any support for automatically adding torch commands to the robot's tool path/generated code. For example, I want to simply weld along a line I have generated in GH: (https://imgur.com/a/FPpj3iD), but I only know of the ability to make the torch follow that path currently, not actually turn on the welding torch and weld along that path. I was going to try and copy the commands from a program that I have from another software that I am using (https://imgur.com/a/LxDbLZ5), but I'm very hesitant to try and hard code a KRL file, especially if I can't easily identify what commands need to be where in the one generated from the GH script. (https://imgur.com/a/4ExGyIf)...

I've tried googling and such but this seems to be an extremely niche topic, and I can't find much online about it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Johannes @ Robots in Architecture]

Hello,

Personally I'm not a welding expert but I have seen KUKA|prc used for high-end welding and metal-additive processes. From a software point-of-view your best bet would be to use the Custom KRL commands - these KRL commands taken from your reference file are written into the KRL file at the set position, but not simulated.
But as you mention, it is important to understand what those commands are actually doing. The screenshot you posted shows an in-line command, so you definitely cannot just enter ARCON to start welding and ARCOFF to end it. I would recommend taking a look at the LAYERTEST2.src and LAYERTEST2.dat file in WorkVisual or in a text editor to find out what it is actually doing.

I believe ARCON is part of KUKA ArcTech, so take a look at the documentation provided by KUKA. It looks like you might have to replace movement commands with those specific commands, which by default you cannot do. What you could do is post-process the KRL file and e.g. change every LIN command to a welding-specific movement - maybe.

Technically we could add the arc-specific commands as a postprocessor option like CAMRob and CNC, but that is not really on our roadmap at the moment. KUKA|prc grows with our own projects, so a welding project could add that functionality in the future.

Best,
Johannes

[tenn6064]

That's what I was afraid of. I actually have taken a look at similar line welding .dat and .src files generated from another program, but they are extremely hard to decipher for someone with zero experience coding in KRL (https://imgur.com/a/LWIhIKX) compared to the ones generated from kukaprc with all the folds, etc. I tried my best to copy the weld commands, but to no success when testing what I came up with. I'll take a look at the documentation though, maybe that could help me in that regard.

[Johannes @ Robots in Architecture]

Hmm... From looking at the file the main commands are Arc_On and Arc_Off. You can ignore anything with a semicolon before the line - that only provides metadata/comments/folds.
The referenced parameters (AS_WDAT3, AW_WDAT3, many more) are taken from the DAT file. They seem to be individual to each position, however I don't see any reason why you couldn't re-use them for multiple positions. DAT files need to have the same program name as the SRC file and you can only see them in Expert mode.
So I'd say it's feasible, however I cannot estimate if there is a risk of breaking something with wrong parameters. Definitely be careful if you decide to experiment!
Best,
Johannes