CNC machine suppliers underscore accuracy, safety

The latest releases adopt ball screws and linear slide guiding rails, and have emergency shut-off switches.

TOP TRENDS

• Stepper motors lead: Most suppliers employ such mechanisms because they are less costly and widely available. The presence of 50 to 100 magnetic poles also makes stepper motors easier to control. Topping 2,000rpm, however, these are not suitable for high-speed production. Servo types, meanwhile, are capable of 80 to 90 percent accuracy at rapid rates but require a position encoder. These are often sourced from Japan and used in upscale machines.
• Increased precision: For drive screws, companies are adopting ball types as the components are suited for fast-paced operation and withstand heavy load. Makers are also incorporating linear slide guiding rails from Japan's THK and Taiwan’s AMT, which have high speed, accuracy and movement sensitivity, and low resistance.
• Safety features: Most CNC machines are equipped with an emergency shut-off switch in case of a malfunction. Some units may have more than one. Several also feature pressure mats that halt operation automatically when a person comes too close to the machine. Dust- and sound-resistant enclosures to block flying debris are common as well.
• http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/CNC-machine/a/9000000129383.htm

VERICUT is at the heart of the CNC manufacturing process

At MACH 2014 the latest version of VERICUT, V7.3, will be featured on CGTech’s stand 4021, Hall 4. VERICUT CNC machine simulation, verification and optimisation software simulates all types of CNC machining, including drilling and trimming of composite parts, water jet, riveting, robots, mill/turn and parallel kinematic/hexapods. It operates independently, but can also be integrated with leading CAM systems. 

A common feature of all recent releases of the software has been the focus on full integration with the CAD/CAM and machine tool industry. As a result VERICUT is now at the heart of the  CNC manufacturing process for many of the world’s leading engineering businesses in all industry sectors, including aerospace and defence, oil and gas, power generation, petrochemical and fluid processing, motorsport, automotive and transport, medical device and implant, as well as general precision and heavy engineering.

Machine simulation with VERICUT detects collisions and near-misses between all machine tool components such as axis slides, heads, turrets, rotary tables, spindles, tool changers, fixtures, workpieces, cutting tools, and other user-defined objects. Setting up ‘near-miss zones’ around the components to check for close calls, and detect over-travel errors. Machine movements can even be simulated while stepping or playing backwards in VERlCUT‘s Review Mode.

With VERICUT Reviewer shopfloor personnel, suppliers, customers, and other production engineers can view animations of the CNC machining process. It is a stand-alone viewer that does not use a license that can play forward and backward while removing and replacing material. New for MACH, the Reviewer files will also be able to operate on an iPad.

Integration with CAM CNC Programming

As an independent system, VERICUT can run standalone and simulate the CNC process driven by post-processed NC code. However, in practice, most manufacturing companies use a CAM system to create CNC part programs. VERICUT can be integrated with all leading CAM systems including Dassault Systemes CATIA, Siemens PLM NX, Delcam PowerMill and FeatureCAM, Vero EdgeCAM, DP Technologies Esprit, CNC Software MasterCAM and Open Mind HyperMill.

The verification provided by VERICUT enables users to view and analyse the geometry of the cut part. Models can be cross-sectioned multiple times at any orientation, to check areas that would be impossible to see in a solid model (such as the intersection of drilled holes).

Integration with cutting tool suppliers and Tool Management Systems

As with all software programs the accuracy of the data input will directly affect the output. So, an accurate model of the cutting tool and holder is required for the effective and accurate simulation of the machining process. Leading cutting tool manufacturers, such as Sandvik, Kennametal and Iscar, now make 3D solid model data available to users and VERICUT has tools to read in this model data for use in the simulation process. VERICUT also interfaces with tool management systems such as TDM Systems and WinTool for access to databases holding cutting tool information. Pre-setting suppliers including Zoller and Speroni can also interface to the software, so tool offsets and exact dimensions can be applied to the simulation process.

Simulation of all types and machine tool brands

CGTech has worked with end users and machine tool manufacturers and distributors to create accurate and effective Virtual Machine Tool configurations. These range from simple 3-axis milling machines to multi-axis machining centres; simple 2-axis lathes to complex mill-turn centres with sub-spindles and robot loading; water jet and laser cutting, and machining/polishing robots.

VERICUT simulates every machine tool brand, including DMG Mori-Seiki, MAZAK, Makino, Matsuura, Hermle, Chiron, Starrag, DS Technologies, WFL, Nakamura-Tome and more.

Other Products

With the growth of the various additive manufacturing processes CGTech has developed programming and simulation of the CNC processes used in this technology area, including automated composites fibre placement and tape laying.

The automated drilling and fastening machines used for the production of aero-structure components are also supported by VERICUT Drilling & Fastening (VDAF). It allows the user to visualise and simulate CNC drilling and fastening machines using the same NC program code that will be run on the machine. Simulation is independent of programming, and VDAF can simulate NC programs from any programming system for any CNC-automated drilling and fastening machine.

With the modular format of VERICUT the software provides flexibility, so companies purchase only the capabilities they need. It is easy to add modules as required as CGTech provides a license that gives immediate access. VERICUT runs on Windows platforms and is delivered as both a 32-bit and 64-bit application. G-codes and CAM centre-line (CL) formats are supported.

Tool Changers for CNC Machine Tools

Our extensive range of Tool Changers and Tool Storage Systems offers machine tool designers, builders and retro-fitters a simple, yet dependable and cost effective solution to accommodate multiple tooling requirements for a wide variety of CNC machine tools.

Tool Changers for CNC Machine Tools

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With over 25 years of experience and technical know-how, our extensive range of high speed mechanical cam driven tool exchangers and tool storage systems have evolved.

From the original range of fast cycling CTM and CTA series to the latest "Ultra High Speed" HTC units, our comprehensive product range offers a tool exchanger solution to accommodate most any tool management requirements.

Only a cam driven tool exchanger system can offer the unique and desirable features such as simple control requirements, optimized and pre-engineered acceleration and deceleration rates, longevity, low maintenance and consistently repetitive performance.

Whether your application is for an exchanger system that will utilize CAT, ISO or HSK tool holders, on a horizontal or vertical spindle Machining Center, in a Flexible Manufacturing Cell, Transfer Line, Turning or Grinding Machines, we have a proven track record of successful installations that we can share with you.

The hot new manufacturing trend: CNC machining

CNC machines are the star of the modern factory floor.

Computer numerical control machines, known as CNC for short, use computers to control machine tools that perform factory tasks such as grinding or milling. The machines reflect the increasingly high-tech nature of manufacturing, a step up from manually operated machines of the past.

On Erie Community College’s North Campus in Amherst, the college’s CNC program has hit a sweet spot in the local economy. Six students enrolled in 2003. This year, there were 100 graduates.

Students who complete the program have 100 percent job placement, said Nathan Witkowski, program chairman and professor of industrial technology.

Witkowski estimated that the 85 students who start the program this month will finish the one-year certificate program by the end of 2014, ready to enter the workforce. Some students will follow up with a second year of education to earn an associate degree, sometimes on a part-time basis after they get a job.

Graduates have jobs making pacemakers at Greatbatch, aerospace parts at Moog Inc. and even custom mouth guards for orthodontists.

“There’s just such a wide variety of places to work,” Witkowski said. “It’s an amazing list of things that are still made here that nobody even knows.”

ECC revamped its Industrial Technology Department and focused on machining about a decade ago, when ECC got $750,000 worth of money and equipment from the closing of the Metalworking Institute of Western New York.

Witkowski said enrollment in the ECC program has surged as local manufacturers expand, creating new opportunities for workers. And a “graying” manufacturing workforce has opened the door for younger people to replace retiring workers.

“There’s no one in the pipeline to fill their spots,” Witkowski said.

The promise of an immediate job paying $12 or $15 an hour to start and plentiful options for local work appealed to brothers Michael and Pat Badaszewski, both returning Marine veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

The brothers didn’t finish their one-year certificate until last month, but they both had jobs in August.

“It’s great,” Michael said. “It’s kind of a mental challenge.”

– Michelle Kearns and Matt Glynn, News staff reporters

http://www.buffalonews.com/business/prospectus/the-hot-new-manufacturing-trend-cnc-machining-20140126

High-end CNC machines can't be moved without manufacturers' permission

On Practical Machinst, there's a fascinating thread about the manufacturer's lockdown on a high-priced, high-end Mori Seiki NV5000 A/40 CNC mill. The person who started the thread owns the machine outright, but has discovered that if he moves it at all, a GPS and gyro sensor package in the machine automatically shuts it down and will not allow it to restart until they receive a manufacturer's unlock code.

Effectively, this means that machinists' shops can't rearrange their very expensive, very large tools to improve their workflow from job to job without getting permission from the manufacturer (which can take a month!), even if their own the gear.

According to posts in the thread, many manufacturers have introduced this lockdown feature because their goods have found their way into Iran, violating the embargo. So now these machines can't be moved at all without the manufacturer's knowledge and consent, a situation that the manufacturers have turned into a business-opportunity by using the technology to assist in repossessing machines from delinquent lease-payers -- and requiring permission for privilege of deciding where to place their key capital assets.

I'm interested in the security implications of this. Malware like Stuxnet attacked embedded systems on computerized machines, causing them to malfunction in subtle ways. A subtly weakened or defective part from a big mill like the NV5000 might find its way into a vehicle or a high-speed machine, with disastrous consequences.

And since the mills are designed to be opaque to their owners, and to actively prevent their owners from reverse-engineering them (lest they disable the gyro/GPS), an infection would be nearly impossible to detect. Criminals and saboteurs are a lot less worried about voiding the warranty on your $100K business-asset than you are, and that asymmetry, combined with the mandate for opacity in the operations, presents a serious risk to machine shops and their customers (and their customers' users -- that is, everyone).

http://boingboing.net/2014/01/06/high-end-cnc-machines-cant-b.html