Monday, 31 October 2016

www.anglo-krempel.com/Solutions/Technology

Various Welding Products Offered

Esab Welding and Cutting Products will have live arc demonstrations of its Rebel welder line, which now includes a MIG-only model (Rebel EM 215ic) and MIG/stick model.

The company will also unveil the ET 141i AC/DC, the first 120-V inverter that provides an AC TIG output for welding aluminum and HF (high frequency) non-contact arc starts for AC or DC TIG welding. For welding thicker materials and full control over TIG and stick welding performance, Esab offers the ET 186i AC/DC TIG/stick and the ET 201i DC TIG/Stick welding

Esab Cutting Systems introduces the Smart Plasmarc m2-200, a plasma system for heavy-duty mechanized cutting. The system cuts a range of material types and thicknesses using air, oxygen or nitrogen gases. It delivers high productivity piercing and cutting in mild steel ranging to 1.25" (38 mm) thick, with capacity to edge start and sever materials ranging to 2" (50 mm) thick reliably. A 100 percent duty cycle at 200 A enables the system to handle demanding production requirements with high reliability. High cutting speeds improve efficiency and enable more cut parts per hour.

According to the company, Esab’s m2-200 system is more than four times faster on ½" (12-mm) mild steel when compared to oxy-fuel cutting. Quick setups and process changes also contribute to its productivity. The system is designed to provide high-quality cuts with minimal dross, reduced warping and a small heat-affected zone, resulting in fewer secondary operations and a lower per-part cost than oxy-fuel cutting.

A built-in process database features optimized cutting parameters that help to ensure consistent cutting results. Parameters are selected and controlled in one step. Simple and intuitive operator controls reduce the need for operator training, minimize errors and shorten setup time, Esab says. Advanced diagnostics simplify troubleshooting and maintenance. The plasma cutter’s design requires fewer wear parts than similar plasma torches, reducing parts inventory and handling, and saving time and expense. Torch geometry promotes consistent cut quality and long service life.

Fiber Laser Leverages Air-Assist Cutting

Cincinnati Inc. (CI) will feature the CL-960 fiber laser, the Maxform high-speed hydraulic press brake and the Goform electric press brake. The CL-960 laser has a 6,000-W light source and offers a number of new features. In addition to the fiber laser’s fast cutting speed and precision, the CL-960 leverages air-assist cutting technology to further reduce production costs. The Goform is a 40-ton, portable electric press brake with six-axis back gaging. The system is equipped with the same HMI control that comes with other CI press brake models.

Cincinnati Inc. (CI) will feature the CL-960 fiber laser, the Maxform high-speed hydraulic press brake and the Goform electric press brake.

Ultrasonic Cleaner Handles Large, Heavy Parts with Pneumatic Lift

Omegasonics, a manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems, has introduced the PowerLift 4560, large-capacity ultrasonic cleaning system with 6,000 W of peak ultrasound.

Omegasonics, a manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems, has introduced the PowerLift 4560, large-capacity ultrasonic cleaning system with 6,000 W of peak ultrasound. The system is designed to clean heavy parts by enabling the operator to lower and lift parts out of the tank with an assisted pneumatic lift. The lift is available with an optional agitation feature controlled by a touchscreen. Agitation moves the basket up and down with a 3" stroke to remove any loose dirt remaining in crevices after the ultrasonic process.

The PowerLift 4560 is an ideal ultrasonic cleaning tool for those cleaning large, heavy items such as transmission cases, large castings and molds, and heat exchangers, the company says. The 120-gallon tank measures 38" × 29" × 19". The machine is designed with the piston outside of the bath, providing increased space utilization to save on wasted cleaning detergent costs.

Custom Tools for CNC Lathes

Heimatec now offers custom tooling in addition to its standard tooling line.

Heimatec now offers custom tooling in addition to its standard tooling line. The company designs and builds tools to suit specific requirements for CNC lathes, regardless of application, brand or size.

Tooling experts at the company work directly with customers to design tools for specific manufacturing needs, such as exotic materials, depth of cut, extensions, rotary table and fixture positioning and other machine tool arrangements. On-site testing is offered to validate the designs.

Machine Control Eliminates Need to Know ISO Programming Languages

NUM has launched an advanced control solution for CNC milling machines that features an intuitive, conversational-style user interface. Known as NUMmill, the CNC hardware and software provides a fully scalable control system and is supplied as a complete “off-the-shelf” package. NUMmill is designed specifically for CNC milling machine manufacturers and control retrofitters and is suitable for a range of precision milling applications in metalcutting and high-precision machining, among other markets. Based on NUM’s market-leading Flexium+ modular CNC platform, NUMmill is typically configured with three or four linear axes and a single rotary axis, though it can scale to suit any size and type of milling machine application.

The system offers an extensive suite of canned cycles, ranging from simple center drilling, boring and threading to pocket cycles and complex profile milling cycles, all with 3D simulation for pre-process verification. The software also provides functions for material removal of basic pockets; these can be defined as circular, oblong, reticular and square. Milling operations can be performed on circular, oblong, rectangular and square pockets. It can also provide measurement and probing cycles to help users meet precision and quality targets.

The conversational user interface is said to enable users to operate machines without any prior knowledge of ISO code programming techniques. The Windows-based software provides graphical shopfloor programming screens that depict the tool, the workpiece and all associated setup data concisely and unambiguously, the company says.

NUMmill is supplied as a complete, ready-to-run package that includes the Flexium+ CNC system, software, and a 19" touch-sensitive machine control panel. The system is also equipped with NUM’s MTConnect interface, which simplifies the integration of CNC machine tools with third-party manufacturing software

From Manual To CNC Mills: A Three-Phase Transition

Dynamic Machine & Tool, Inc. of Marble Falls, Texas, uses high-end VMCs and CNC mills and employs skilled machinists and CNC operators to support the development of new instrumentation and technology for the semiconductor industry.

When Volker Steffen founded V & G Dynamics in 1988, the company was doing mainly repair work using two manual mills. Mr. Steffen knew that if he had CNC there was the promise of longer runs and production of complex parts—giving access to new markets and increasing sales and profitability. But these benefits come with a cost in terms of capital, training and learning. Mr. Steffen was looking for a way to implement CNC gradually—a transition that took the characteristics of his shop and people into consideration.

He discovered an opportunity at an open house held by his local dealer. "I was at an open house at a machine dealer one weekend, and I saw a manual mill with some sort of external motors mounted on the table," Mr. Steffen says. "The dealer showed me how the mill was doing CNC work by having the power feeds move the table, under the control of a PC. Best of all, I didn't have to start using a computer right away. I could just use the power feeds in the 'Teach Mode.' You move the table to a desired position, press 'set' on the pendant, move to the next position, press 'set' again, and so on. At the end of the sequence you press 'run,' and the machine plays back exactly the moves you told it to execute. It's that simple."

On seeing this, Mr. Steffen first began considering doing more than just manual mill work. V & G had grown to include a lot of small-volume (1 - 500 piece) production work, but Mr. Steffen was not at the point where he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single CNC. So in 1993, he decided to first retrofit one of his manual mills with the "intelligent power feeds"—a basic two-axis Servo II automated control system with the "Teach" pendant, made by Servo Products Company of Pasadena, California—which he mounted himself on a Summit manual mill with a Sargon digital readout. The cost of the retrofit was well within his reach, and the promise of increased production made the whole deal attractive. Within days, production was at levels he had never seen before, and both he and his machinists were using the "Teach Mode" feature without problems.

Such use of a basic retrofit package makes sense for shops where owners and operators don't have prior experience with CNCs. In the case of V & G, its manual mills had essentially become three different machines with one simple retrofit: one that still does manual work, one that uses the Teach Pendant and one that can perform CNC work (when connected to a dedicated PC). The DRO interface adds accuracy to the Acme lead screw by using the scale for positioning accuracy instead of the encoder on the motor. In addition, the DRO enhances the machinist's productivity.

With the Servo II control system used for the retrofit, one-of-a-kind or production run parts can be machined, and the table can be moved either using the pendant or handwheels. The "taught" programs are limited to straight line and angle cuts. The system cannot be taught to machine a circle. Subroutines can be called up, and program steps can be changed, added or inserted. It's easy to delete entire programs from pendant memory, or delete a subroutine call—which is useful when "programming" on the fly. An operator also can set, clear or drag axes travel limits (for example, reset limit beyond current position) and can playback a program held in the pendant's memory.

The Servo II control system can be made more productive by hooking up a PC, which simply can be used to transfer programs between the PC and the pendant; with Servo CNC software and a dedicated PC, the machine has full CNC capabilities. This comprises the second step in the gradual conversion to CNC machining. Programs "written" on the pendant can be transferred to the PC for storage and for re-use at a later time. The transferred pendant programs are converted to common CNC codes. Conversely, programs can be written and edited on the PC and transferred later to the pendant, though only a limited set of CNC codes are available. This means two things: Operators can generate CNC code without knowing programming, and they can execute previously written CNC code without using the control (it's done via the pendant). Production goes up, and accuracy and repeatability improve. The absence of a steep learning curve makes training the operators brief and inexpensive.

V&G began by doing most of its CNC work using the conversational mode programming on the control. By going through a step-by-step process, the operator answers simple questions about the current job, and the control automatically develops a program, which is then seamlessly translated into G-code that can be used on any Servo CNC machine. Even if the operator makes a mistake in the programming, he or she can easily edit the specific line that needs correction.

However, after a while Mr. Steffen realized that the next step for the company would have to be a full-fledged migration to CNC. The use of CAD systems had by then become common, and for that he needed a CNC mill. But he also still wanted to be able to perform manual work on his mills.

"After having converted several manual mills, the workload picked up significantly, and about that time CAD systems really began to matter. CAD systems made molds with complex curves and radii possible, so without a real contouring CNC we couldn't do that kind of work. We needed a machine that would do it all—do CNC work but still let us perform manual milling. We needed a machine that was easy to operate." Had Mr. Steffen purchased a CNC machining center with no manual functions, he would have had to learn and absorb into his plant all of the complexity of the CNC process before getting a return. His selection of a machine with manual capabilities that was upgradeable to full CNC allowed him to get an immediate return and make the transition more gradually.

When Mr. Steffen started shopping around in 1997, he realized that many entry-level CNC mills have comparable features and fall into a similar price bracket. Servo Products manufactured a CNC mill that included the manual milling and the Teach Pendant. The Servo 5000 three-axis bedmill with the Servo II control system facilitated the three-in-one operation he was already used to, and that feature sealed the deal. Also, since the Servo II control uses the same PC-based, bi-directional programming (pendant to PC and PC to pendant) he used before, he could continue to use the same programs and procedures he had developed for the Servo II retrofit mill.

For shops like V & G, the most immediate benefit of going to true CNC milling is the ability to download CAD-generated tool paths into the CNC control. The fact that the Servo CNC control is a PC-based system made the switchover easy for Mr. Steffen. "Having a PC-based control means that menus on screens look familiar, and replacement components are readily available. Servicing was easy, as I once found out by changing the board on the control myself," he says.

Concerns over how his CNC mills would fare over the years worried Mr. Steffen. "We really had to have the confidence in what we buy. Having used Servo power feeds for years before, I had the confidence in the company, and so going to them when we decided to go CNC made total sense."

The combined benefits of V & G's migration to CNC include sustaining a 99.9 percent on-time delivery rate and a 99.9 percent part acceptance rate. Today, V & G specializes in doing work for the semi-conductor industry. "Our company manufactures parts utilizing CNC milling as well as CNC lathes on all types of conventional and exotic materials. Today our shop is computerized with many CNC machining centers, but we still manufacture parts with our Servo Machines," says Mr. Steffen.

Many job shops still rely solely on manual mills, not by choice but because CNC is a big jump in terms of investment and training. A CNC machine capable of manual milling maximizes production flexibility while reducing the amount of space required by two separate mills. Most importantly, this shift from manual milling to CNC machining can be gradual, affordable and easy to implement and learn.

Services

Services manufacturs

We make a master model by SLA or CNC milling process and then apply whatever surface finish which is needed for the master model. We then pour liquid silicone rubber around the master model in a casting box. Once we split the silicone rubber mold, we use it to cast up to 20 PU parts per silicone mold.
UP4280 is our most popular ABS simulant; PX522HT is best for clear parts; UP8400 is our rubber simulant. All can be colored to any Panton Number or RAL.
Also we can simulate a full range of thermoplastics and elastomers.
We can have one material over-molded with another to simulate, for example, rubber over ABS, or opaque plastic over transparent plastic. It is also possible to over-mold threaded inserts. Painting and printing after casting is also common technology we use here.
Vacuum cast prototypes can be colored and textured in the mold.
To produce high gloss clear parts, normally we use Acrylic master model which is CNC machined and then polished by hand.

For plastic prototypes we use good quality ABS, PMMA , PC, ABS, POM (Delrin), PTFE (Teflon), Ultem, Noryl, Nylon etc., for better results.
For metal prototypes, we can machine aluminums, stainless steel, brass, copper based materials, and even hardened tool-steel. We use heat-shrink cutter holders for our high-speed spindles to ensure cutting accuracy.
Delivery time is typically from 2 to 5 days plus Fedex or DHL shipping – normally 2 days. We often do projects with 25 to 500 sets of components by CNC machining – this is simply because a simulant material will not suffice for the application.

Basics Every CNC Machinist and CNC Programmer Should Know

Basics Every CNC Machinist and
CNC Programmer Should Know

We were impressed at how many readers can write g-code programs from scratch. In fact the overwhelming majority read, write, or tweak programs on a regular basis. If you're not yet able to do that, you should learn. If you're at the "Read or Tweak" stage, you should advance to being able to write programs from scratch.

Armed with a good understanding of g-code, you can:

- Avoid having to run back to your CAM program when simple changes to the g-code would do the job.

- Learn how to improve the g-code the CAM program puts out for better results.

- Understand better how to tweak your CAM software's post processor so it produces better code from the start.

- Get a second opinion on the CAM's g-code before you find out something's wrong at the machine.

- Figure out what's wrong when your CAM generated g-code isn't doing what you'd expect.

- Make it faster and easier to fix the g-code when you run into a problem due to a bug in the CAM or post processor.

- Create quick and dirty g-code programs that allow you to get on with machining faster without having to sit down with your CAD/CAM.

- Develop a greater facility for working at the console of the machine directly.

These are all valuable skills that increase your productivity as a CNC machinist. According to the survey, many of you have already figured that out!

CNCCookbook's G-Code Tutorial and Course

G-Code is an important CNC skill that's easier to learn than it looks...Looking to learn CNC G-Code? Need a quick and easy G-Code Tutorial or G-Code Course? Want some easy G-Code Training? Maybe you just want to learn more about a specific G-Code related topic or see particular G-Code examples. If so, you're in the right place with the CNCCookbook CNC G-Code Course. It's free, it's easy, and it's chock full of good information. This page is the syllabus. The articles are all listed below. There's no need to register, just get started learning at your own pace.What is G-Code?G-Code is the language used to control CNC machines. It's one type of CNC programming that CNC programmers use, the other type being CAM programming. Your machine's CNC controller probably executes g-code, although there are other possibilities--Heidenhain, Mazak, and others have proprietary formats. Some machines with proprietary formats can also run g-code. It is the Lingua Franca (working language) of CNC.In order to make a part on a CNC machine, you tell it how to make the part using a G-Code Program.

Equipment sheet metal

Punch Press
Perforation is generally the most severe operation performed in a die. That’s because the punch press applies forces ranging from a few tons to more than 1000 tons. Proper press alignment is essential. While die set has some effect on alignment during operation, it cannot offset poor press alignment.

Simple Die
A simple die typically perforates holes in a part or blanks out the part using punches in conjunction with mated lower die components (matrixes). Simple dies also commonly produce basic forms as well as perform notching and lancing operations.
Simple dies require a press operator to load and unload parts and part material before and after each press cycle.

Compound Die
A compound die blanks and perforates a part at the same time in the same station. In most cases this operation perforates a hole or holes down, while the part blanks up. This allows slugs from those holes to fall through the die. This method leaves the part in the die, requiring some means of part removal.
Compound dies commonly run as single-hit dies. They can run continuously with a feeder, provided you can remove the part in a timely manner. Open Back Inclinable (OBI) presses - in the inclined position along with an air blowoff - aid in part removal.
Advantages of a compound die include:
• Minimal space in the press
• All burrs in one direction
• Superior accuracy between holes and trim edges
• More economical to build than a progressive die
A disadvantage of a compound blank die is its limited space that tends to leave die components thin and weak. This concentrates the load and shock on punches and matrixes, resulting in tooling failures.

Progressive Die
Progressive dies provide an effective way to convert raw coil stock into a finished product with minimal handling. As material feeds from station to station in the die, it progressively works into a completed part.
Progressive dies usually run from right to left. The part material feeds one progression for each press cycle. Early stations typically perforate holes that serve as pilots to locate the stock strip in later stations.
There are many variations of progressive die designs. The design shown here illustrates some common operations and terminology associated with progressive dies.