A servo gantry loader automating a VMC's material handling — worked axis-torque sizing, the automatic tool changer's mechanical sequence, two-way CNC/gantry safety interlocks, and a worked cycle-time/throughput calculation.
The project brief: automating a 3-axis vertical machining center's material handling with a 2-axis servo gantry loader that moves blanks from a magazine into the machine's pneumatic vise and finished parts out to a conveyor, replacing manual load/unload between 95-second machining cycles. This is the program's motion-control-and-machine-integration case study — the gantry has to hit precise servo positions inside a machine tool's own work envelope and coordinate every move against the CNC controller's door, spindle, and clamp interlocks.
This module walks the whole cell the way a real automation integrator would: a worked servo-axis torque calculation from a trapezoidal motion profile, the automatic tool changer's fixed mechanical sequence and its share of total cycle time, two-way interlocks between the gantry and the CNC controller, and a worked cycle-time/throughput calculation comparing automated changeover against manual load/unload. The full worked numbers, complete bill of materials, and finished design reasoning are part of the unlocked module below.