With Heidenhain’s Programming Station, users can easily learn to program CNCs with the company’s ma- chine control learning system, which teaches machin- ists using a PC equipped with a special keyboard that is the same as the keyboards on the TNC and other Heidenhain controls. This system mimics the machine control unit, emulating the actual control’s accelera- tion and simulation of metalcutting processes.
Precision Machining “It is defi nitely a ‘do-more’ market for CNCs at this point in time,” said Todd Drane, marketing man- ager, Fagor Automation Corp. (Elk Grove Village, IL). “Things previously handled by either programming technique or an ancillary function, customers want solved in process by the CNC algorithms instead.”
fi ve-axis machining systems during setup or main- tenance, Drane added, and virtual axis, a fi ctitious axis that always moves in the direction in which the tool is oriented. “For movements perpendicular to the plane, you just activate the virtual axis and the CNC will adapt the position of the rotary axes accord- ingly,” Drane said.
In the mold-and-die market, improved high-speed cutting (HSC) algorithms enable machinists to achieve smoother shapes and lower machine vibration, result- ing in better part fi nishes, Drane noted. The higher accuracy on current controls helps resolve CAD/CAM- generated points more accurately, he noted, offering average machining accuracy improvement of 30%. “Depending on the demand of the parts, ma-
chining time is considerably reduced thanks to its new microprocessors, with a block processing time well under 1 ms and look-ahead between 300 and 2400 blocks, depending on the CNC model,” Drane said. Fagor’s latest CNCs have also
been improved and enhanced with Renishaw probing products. Fagor also has announced MTConnect connectivity for the company’s 8055, 8060 and 8065 CNCs, Drane said.
The Fagor Automation line of CNCs offers many advanced software programming functions including kinematics calibration for fi ve-axis machining setups.
Image courtesy Fagor Automation Corp. Some of these new CNC innovations include
Fagor’s 3D Compensation, which Drane said allows compensating in 3D machining for problems due to CAD/CAM generated programs, with machining tools not available in the shop. This feature corrects 3D toolpaths to obtain the same fi nal part with a differ- ent size tool, he said. The CNC lineup from Fagor includes kinematics calibration, which performs automatic calibration of
SS18
AdvancedManufacturing.org
Easy but Powerful Machinists are looking for sim- plicity combined with capability, without asking for it, Drane said. “In our experience, machinists’ great- est desire is to have the ‘technology make sense.’ They expect the capa- bility to already be there,” he said. “Machinists hate learning that their CNC is not capable of a particular operation, and that they have to
either purchase an upgrade or fi nd another means of creating the solution. They are incredibly logical, and they want their shop-fl oor partner to be logical, too.” When operators make a mistake in programming, they want the CNC to tell what they did wrong, he added, through on-board diagnostic assistance. Much of the programming today is done with
offl ine programming versus at the CNC, Drane said, but it mostly depends on the application. “Produc-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172