MACHINE CONTROLS
70% of what you do in making parts. For that extra software, that’s where the Okuma App store comes in.” The Okuma App Store gives its users a unique way to take advantage of productivity-enhancing third-party software that is available through the company’s Partners in THINC. “One cool app is the Part Flip Monitor,” Kosmala said. “If you fl ip your part, it’s very useful. Often, the number one source of scrap for some shops is when an operator forgets to fl ip a part, or maybe he fl ipped it twice. This is a little app that helps a lot of operators that have to fl ip a part ever 30 seconds for eight hours a day. A few hours into the day, it’s easy to lose track of whether the part was fl ipped or not. This reminds them so they won’t scrap a part.” Hurco recently released some
new control features, called AdaptiPath, Job List, and Stream Load, Cope said. “The AdaptiPath feature allows the operator to program high-speed toolpaths conversationally, and produces the same type of toolpath gener- ated by expensive CAD/CAM software packages that are equipped with high-speed programming capabilities,” he said. “This technology will greatly increase the amount of metal that can be removed in a given period of time, and will greatly reduce cycle times.” Due to the enhanced chip con- trol offered by the constant engagement cutting technology, pockets can be machined at full depth, he added, thereby eliminating the need for multiple peck cuts, and will also allow the part to be machined with air, and without the need for coolant in many cases. The Job List gives Hurco customers the ability to link together a series of programs, to run in sequence, with or without operator intervention, Cope said. Hurco’s Stream Load feature allows extremely large programs to stream directly from the machine’s hard drive, without the need for DNC or drip-feeding to the control.
While machinists all look for ease of operation, program-
ming fl exibility is especially critical, particular in job-shop environments, noted Ryan Legg, product marketing manager
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | February 2016
and Solution Partner manager, Siemens Industry Inc. (Elk Grove Village, IL). “We are also starting to see a transforma- tion in the area of the machine control HMI. Technology we have seen for a while in the consumer sector is migrating to the industrial sector, such as multi-gesture interfaces which we are all familiar with on our cell phones, tablets, etc. “We address these topics at Siemens with our Sinumerik Op- erate user-friendly standard HMI as well as shop-fl oor program- ming fl exibility with our Shop- Mill and ShopTurn shop-fl oor programming packages,” Legg said. Features such as Animated Elements make programming and operation very intuitive, he said, by more easily visualizing the machining process and being prompted to enter the appropriate machining variables. Heidenhain recently updated
The full line of Fagor Automation CNCs offers users the option of G-code or conversational programming modes.
its RemoTools software develop- ment kit (SDK) with version 3.0 for users to add proprietary protocols to their machines adding function- ality like that of MTConnect, said Julian Renz, TNC product special-
ist, Heidenhain Corp. (Schaumburg, IL). “MTConnect is a good tool, but it’s limited in terms of what you can extract from the tool,” Renz said, noting the company’s proprietary tool allows users to extract more data from the control, from PLC machine parameters to spindle speed and feed rate. The RemoTools SDK works with standard programming languages including C++ and Visual Basic.
OEM-Developed CNCs’ Advantages Only a few CNCs are developed by machine tool build-
ers specifi cally for their own machines, but those that do see distinct advantages in an OEM-built control over independent CNC developers. “In one word, the answer is mechatronics,” Kosmala said. “In order to optimize your electro-mechanical machine and control as a system, you have to engineer both the electrical and mechanical together in harmony. On a generic ‘vanilla’ control designed with the intent for use on a wide range of builders and machine types, it might be more diffi cult to achieve a similar optimization.”
Photo courtesy Fagor Automation Corp.
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