ZP Lateral Entry One-touch Fitting
The ZP, ZP2 and ZP3 series lateral entry adapters offer a wide variety of cup diameters, materials and designs to suit multiple applications. The adapters are available with SMC's acclaimed built-in one-touch fittings. Buffer types are available with strokes up to 50mm, depending on the series.
ZPR (U,C,D,B,UT,CT), Vacuum Pad, Lateral Entry
This vacuum cup features a rigid, non-articulating body with an integrated side-entry one-touch fitting. It accommodates multiple pad shapes (flat, ribbed, deep, or bellows) to handle flat, predictable workpieces like smooth sheet metal, curved plastic, or thin films where the presentation angle and height are consistent. Having the push-to-connect fitting integrated into the lateral body lowers the end-of-arm tooling weight, eliminates a common vacuum leak point, and allows for faster, vibration-free robotic cycling.
ZPR (U,C,D,B,UT,CT)(J,K), Vacuum Pad, Lateral Entry, w/Buffer
The buffer model merges the low-profile lateral vacuum port with an integrated spring-loaded buffer. It is engineered for automated assembly cells where parts arrive at slightly unpredictable heights on a conveyor, or where a soft-touch landing is necessary to prevent damage to materials during the robot's downward stroke. The buffer and side-entry port are integrated into a single, compact unit, keeping the air lines neatly routed to the side and shielding them from bending fatigue as the spring compresses.
ZPR-J/K, Swinging Pad with Buffer, Lateral Entry, Ball Joint Type
The ZPR-J/K is the most mechanically adaptable configuration in the lineup, combining the angular tilt of a ball joint with the height-compensating plunge of a spring buffer. It offers a definitive solution for unpredictable pick-and-place tasks, such as gripping warped injection-molded parts, organically shaped items, or unoriented pieces loosely dumped into a bin. It consolidates the ball joint, the spring buffer, and the side-entry vacuum port into a condensed mechanism, maximizing the robot's payload capacity and acceleration speeds while guaranteeing a secure grip on awkwardly positioned parts.
ZPR, Swinging Cup without Buffer, Lateral Entry, Ball Joint Type
The ball joint variant introduces an articulating swinging pad to the lateral-entry body. It's built for applications where the workpiece is sloped, sagging, or presented at an angle that is not perfectly parallel to the robotic tooling plate, but where the vertical height of the part remains consistent. Instead of rotating the entire robot arm to match a sloped surface, the built-in ball joint allows the suction cup to passively tilt and self-align for an airtight seal.