Machine Controls
With the TNC 640 control, turning operations can now be enabled on a milling machine allowing the operator to easily transition from milling to turning cycles in the same program. Turning operations can be programmed in plain text, just like fa- miliar milling operations, and comprehensive turning cycles are available for frequently repeated operations, such as roughing, finishing recessing and thread cutting. The 640 CNC is based on the Heidenhain Serial Controller Interface (HSCI), the com- pany’s new, completely digital interface hardware platform, and it features an ergonomic design with a 19" (483-mm) screen, a stainless-steel front operating panel, and a specially prepared keyboard surface and screen frame to eliminate fingerprints. Two features for improving machining accuracies and part finishes, especially for five-axis machining, are Heidenhain’s KinematicsOpt and KinematicsComp, Weber said. With the KinematicsOpt feature, which uses a calibrated sphere and a touch probe, machinists can account for dynamic changes in kinematics of the machine tool and calibrate the rotary axes. With the newer KinematicsComp, which Weber says is more of a builder option, Heidenhain controls can perform 3D volumet- ric compensation to further improve machine tool accuracy. Heidenhain added another new function, Active Chat- ter Control (ACC), that allows the TNC 640 to dramatically improve part finishes during heavy cutting without slowing down. “If I’m taking a heavy cut at a high feed rate, I can set up a certain harmonic or a frequency in the machine tool based on the number of teeth that come into contact with the workpiece, and it’s going to create a resonant vibration,” Weber said. “Typically the way to counteract that is to slow down your feed rate.
“Chatter is vibration and it’s manifested as noise. You can hear chatter,” Weber added. “With our Active Chatter Control, you no longer have to slow the feed rate down because we can actually compensate for that chatter. It’s manifested in two ways—you don’t hear that noise and you don’t see the marks on the part. You get a better surface finish, and you didn’t have to slow down to achieve it.”
Make It Conversational Easier-to-use CNC technologies rank high among machin- ists that need to quickly perform programming on complex machinery. Diversity in programming options by offering op- tional conversational programming capabilities is key for many users, notes Todd Drane, marketing manager, Fagor Automa- tion Corp. (Elk Grove Village, IL).
Fagor Automation’s 8070 CNC allows operators to easily switch between conversational programming and tradi- tional G-code programming modes.
“With today’s control software, we give the customer the option of which programming format they desire to utilize based upon their own skill level and application,” Drane said. “This can be individually chosen from operator to operator; if one programmer/operator has spent his career mastering ISO G-code, he can do all of his work in that mode. If the next operator is new to CNC and would prefer a simpler format, he can simply press two keys that switch the CNC to a conversa- tional programming format.” Another feature on Fagor’s CNCs allows an operator to use a sophisticated tool inspection mode in which the machin-
April 2013 |
ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 73
Photo courtesy Fagor Automation
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