HC Series Second Home Position

Introduction

The Second Home Position incorporates a Tool Number along with the positional data.  When FORWARDING to the Second Home Position the robot controller will immediately switch to the Registered Tool number associated with it.  If the associated Tool Data file contains data that is different that the currently mounted Tool condition (with or without part) then the Force Monitor may calculate Forces that exceed the current External Force Limit file.  This can create PFL alarms that are difficult to understand and to recover from.

Details

When FORWARDING to the Second Home Position the controller will switch to the Registered Tool number associated with it.  The Selected Tool shown in the Status Bar will NOT change to the now active Registered Tool number.  This can cause confusion as well as PFL alarms that are difficult to understand and to recover from.

The above picture shows a case where the Selected Tool and the Registered Tool are different.  If the associated Tool Data files for these different Tools have values that cause the Force Monitor to calculate values that are higher that the limits set in the active External Force Limit file, this can lead to PFL alarms, including Escape from Clamping alarms that can be temporarily cleared but will return as soon as any motion is re-attempted.  One way to recover from this situation is to temporarily change the Tool Data file values (usually just the Mass value) of the Registered Tool to be similar to that of the Selected Tool.

Warning

Position Variables also contain an associated Tool number.  Attempting to FORWARD to a P-variable with an associated Tool number that has values different than the currently mounted Tool condition can result in a similar situation as described above.  Another way to recover from this condition is to temporarily change the Tool number in the P-variable to one that is correct for the currently mounted Tool condition.