Anything new to talk about re: machine controls? 1

[DaveG16]

I'm starting a magazine article on machine controls.

What questions should I ask? What controls attributes would make your machining better/easier/faster?

I can think of a few questions (generic answers OK, as we can't talk brand names here):
Has there been any big advance in the last year or two?

What's better - a dedicated controller, or a PC with controller software & I/O cards?

Any element that makes CNC programming easier?

Any element that makes machining faster/better?

Thanks,
Dave G.

 

[knobhead]

'easier and faster' always seems to be at the expense of 'flexible and powerful' - I use both Gcode and Mazatrol. If I'm doing something straightforward, mazatrol is great. Quick easy, accurate. If I want to do something a bit weird, bend the rules, then mazatrol is fairly useless and I switch back to G code. Take it up a level to APT, and you can make a tool do just about anything, but APT is a nightmare to program - especially in a hurry!

What I'd love to see, and I don't understand why machine tool manufacturers don't do it, is to have a 'desktop' verson of my CNC machines. Many of them run on windows, so why can't I have the same code on my PC so I can play with a virtual version and not tie up a shop floor machine just to try things out?


Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.

 

[EdDanzer]

The real questions should be how many key strokes and how much time, is required to setup and run a single tool on a proven program. We have a new machine with a Fanuc 18i control; it takes substantially longer to set up a part than a Fagor, Haas or Fadal control.
Setting an offset requires several more steps than any other control.
To simplify programming, having a single reference book, that is machine and control specific, listing only the options in the control.
Most books have information for options that may not be in the control, causing problems when needing seldom used features.
An in control help menu for the above problem.

 

[moldcore]

Quote:
"What I'd love to see, and I don't understand why machine tool manufacturers don't do it, is to have a 'desktop' version of my CNC machines. Many of them run on windows, so why can't I have the same code on my PC so I can play with a virtual version and not tie up a shop floor machine just to try things out?"

knobhead,
I was thinking that was a program that will run on a PC for Mazatrol programing. I used to work at a place that had a dozen Masaks and they used to program them in the office, not at the machine, using some kind of software that wrote in the Mazak Mazatrol language.

I currently have my own shop with 2 Milltronics cnc's that we program 100% with Surfcam software. Much easier and faster than standing at the machine. I've also used Mastercam in the past, both are excellent programs. Ten years ago I was wasting hours imputing code at the machine before I saw the light and purchased my Surfcam. Now I can write 1,000 lines of code with a click of the mouse while the machine is doing what it was designed to do, cut metal. Mazatrol was nice when I used it 10 years ago but was limited like you said, and totally worthless for molds. A properly set up CAM program is 100 times more efficient.

With the efficiency of today CAM programs I wonder if all that is needed in a controller is the ability to read imported files and forget the conversational stuff.

Most controllers today a very fast, much faster than machines can cut safely. The biggest stumbling block seems to be the spindle speeds of the average machining center. What's the point in having a machine that can accurately cut full 3D at 300 inches per minute if the spindle tops out at 8,000 rpm? It would be nice if they would, but not very practical, offer two spindles for each machine. One for heavy machining and another for high speed applications. I've seen auxiliary spindles that you can buy that are about the size of a tool holder that run on air that would work but I'm not sure about the durability if these.

 

[BillPSU]

moldcore
Machine tools which cut at 300 ipm are not doing so with great accuracy. There is a phenomena called slide lag. If you were to end mill to a square corner at 300 ipm the tool would never actually make to the end point of the corner. Machines have improved dramatically the last 25 years and will continue to improve but they still have to deal with inertia of the slides, work piece and fixtures on the table.

 

[knobhead]

Mazak do have their own cam system, called Camware, which I do use. But the interface is different to the machine, and the backplot isn't as useful as the backplot on the machine itself.

Camware isn't the most user friendly program in the world, but your stuck with it on mazaks if you want to program offline. All I want is to bring the offline and the on-machine programming 'feel' far closer together.

Regardless of mazaks, I'd like to be able to take the post processed Gcode from my CAM, and run it through the software that the CNC itself uses and see what errors it throws out and how it backplots as if I was standing in front of the machine. It would save a lot of time on proveouts to catch all the silly typos, missed brackets, etc.


Excessive accuaracy is a sign of poor breeding. -Socrates.