With the RobotStudio Machining PowerPac complex machining operations can now be programmed off-line with less risk – and in less time. Optimizing automated machiningMachining of parts has long been done manually in foundry industries - the irregular surfaces of the work pieces and the flexibility required were considered best achieved by hand. But robots are ideal for machining applications, with their ability to work efficiently, safely and provide consistent high quality. To ensure robots are easy to deploy in this application ABB has now developed the RobotStudio Machining PowerPac. RobotStudio uses an exact copy of the software that runs robots in production, so realistic simulations can be performed, using real robot programs and configuration files identical to those used on the shop-floor. Time and risks are reduced by programming robots off-line, and in addition more accurate paths are created.Quickly,easily and accuratelyUsing the Fluent User Interface from Microsoft Office 2007, the RobotStudio Machining PowerPac features an intuitive wizard to guide users in creating targets and paths from irregular surfaces and edges quickly, easily and accurately. Predefined path generation patterns are provided to support all possible machining scenarios. All process settings such as tool width, path overlap rate and machining angles can be defined in the wizard. These settings are then used to generate the robot targets and paths. And wizard pages can be browsed forward and backward to adjust process settings. In the final wizard page a preview is provided to show how the robot paths will look before being finally created.The Machining PowerPac includes three machining modes: 1. Normal Process, 2. Force Control Pressure Process and 3. Force Control Speed Change Process. All parameters in the modes can be customized and then re-used for different parts.Machining PowerPac fully supports the force controlled process and works seamlessly with ABB’s RobotWare Machining Force Control (FC), and the programs generated in Machining PowerPac can be easily imported into RobotWare Machining FC.Important features of RobotStudio Machining PowerPacPath programming wizardCreate/select surface or edge to be machinedSet machining process parametersPredefined path generation patternsSet path and target parameters Path and target optimization and modification Path simulation Program export as RAPID or RW Machining FC Calibration Predefined and configurable machining templates Check/heal CAD models