PCMDIS/NC Expereinces?

[Danny]

Hi all,

Have been given the task of getting PCDMIS NC going on one of our machining centres for an demonstration here in Australia.

Would love to hear from anyone with prior experience using this software, and more importantly the NC server application.

Have been trying in vain to set up comms between the PC and M/C, followed the instructions and succesfully verified comms using HyperTerminal, but upon opening NC Server and defining a machine and specifying the serial type interface, I get the error message "Cannot Open Serial Port".

As far as I can tell, I have followed instructions to the letter, but to no avail.

Would appreciate anyones comments on the possible solution to this problem.

Cheers, and have a lovely weekend.

Danny

[pcdmisNC]

Connection

Danny, I sent you a document describing the last conenction to a Mazak Fusion machine. I hope it helps.

Regards

Jon Kimber

[Danny]

Hi Jon,

Just got your email. Much appreciated and has given me some good insite.

Maybe I have a handshake problem, will check the windows com port settings.

Cheers,

Danny

[pcdmisNC]

Problem now solved, according to Danny.

I got an email from Danny...

Thanks for the prompt reply. It seems the problem I was having was that when I opened NC Server, it was opening PCDMIS in the background in ONLINE mode. After renaming the interface.dll file to interfac1.dll I now have successful comms between the M/C and NC Server.

All is well, case closed!

Jon Kimber

[kiddo]

What is it??

Hello guys..

Sorry for asking..but what is the application for PC-DMIS NC any body knows or anybody use it... if so for what??

[Jan d.]

I am using it.

If your problem is part set-up (refine work offsets or rotary table angles), there are many more solution other than PC-DMIS. If your issue is buying hardware directly off of the machine tool, PC-DMIS is a very good tool for you.

But before you get started, you have to know how accurate your machine tool really is. If you do not regularly calibrate, forget to use your machine tool and stay with your CMM.

If you know what your machine can do and you find parts that require complicated prcessing, NC can help you a lot.


Jan.

[kiddo]

Thanks jan

Sorry for asking jan, but what do you use it for ls it to indicate or find the setpoint or is it similar to the probe that Mazak machine's have?

Thanks

[Jan d.]

What I found was that Inspection+ (or similar applications; I am not familiar with MAZAK but I know Mitsui has them) is quite adequate for part setup. PC-DMIS NC can do the same but the problem is that I want my program to automatically update my specific work offsets (no chances for operator typos etc). If you run PC-DMIS NC over RS232, you will have to do this manually. And that introduces many other challenges if you do that in production (a solution is to run the communication over Ethernet with the FANUC FOCAS option; I will upgrade all my machines later this year to this).

If a customer is ONLY interested in setup routines, PC-DMIS NC (where it stands today) seems like a huge gun to hit a small target.

What I use it for - and found there to be few real competitors - is to measure a completed part (or finished setup) and then generate a true measuring report that can be submitted for quality review. In our processes (we're in aerospace), this eliminates very costly quality steps.


Jan.

[kiddo]

thanks for the reply jan:

by saying that u mean that u inspect the part on the machine once it is done cutting and is that result good enough for quality purpose I mean by doing that do you eliminate the first piece inspection done by quality... or else is that result good enough to provide to the customer ... just asking....

thanks

[Jan d.]

Yes, our ultimate goal is to eliminate inspection steps on all many of our parts, including first piece. We currently do CMM inspection on all parts right now. Based on the tolerances on the print, we intend to select a random number of parts that will be fully inspected on the CMM. That number will be based on the uncertainty, accuracy etc that we find the machines to provide us.

In our environment, we are finding that the machines make some very amazing measuring devices. Our biggest issue is spindle shrink (cooling of the spindle as the machine cools down).

The key is that you characterize your machine uncertainty. Run lasers, repeat tests and even gauge blocks in different orientations. When know what your machine can do, you will be able to find parts you can use as candidates for elimination of first inpsection steps.


Jan.

[kiddo]

just out of curiosity what's the usual tolerance that u work with.

[Jan d.]

I have machines that can hold 0.0001" repeatability (particularly in X and Y (non spindle axes)) with an MP700 and a 200mm stylus. My measurements agree with the CMM to within 0.0005" per meter.

All my machines are in a highly temperature controlled environment. The room we keep our machines in is probably better than most CMM rooms.

Typically, our parts have profile tolerances in the 0.001" range and TP as low as 0.0002" (all MMC) on mostly aluminum parts.

If you have accurate parts that you also want to measure accurately on your machine, your machine MUST be in an environment that is as good as your CMM. If you do not have that, you MUST really investigate what kind of uncertainty you will can expect due to excursions in temperature. Measure Invar master gauges to find out what the real accuarcy is.

Another solution, if your machine is not in a controlled environment, is to create a golden part. Measure this part on your CMM and use it on your machine as a reference, before measuring the part that got just machined. The problem with this is that it doubles the measuring time. A reduced featured artifact may also work for you, but that will also take time away from producing chips (just what management wants to hear).

A lot of people have said that you can not measure on machines. We have done it for 20 years. The problem is that our early measuring reports (post-it notes with sketches, or manually generated Excel spreadsheets etc) were never acceptable to our quality department. Now, with PC-DMIS, we can create acceptable reports that measure the features as they are called out on the print. V4.0 is very helpful in that regard.

Another company that has done a lot of work with measuring on machine tools is obviously Renishaw. Attached is a good article about their setup.

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/059901.html

Jan.

[kiddo]

Thanks jan:

Just one more question. Is pc-dmis nc worth on a 3 axis gantry? I mean does it work. I suppose you use it on a 4 or 5 axis machine.

[Jan d.]

I use it ONLY in 3 axis mode on 4 and 5 axis machines. When I need another axis, I do a re-datuming. I treat every angle as a separate part program. My fixtures have features machined on them that allow me to track back to the original datums. I have never tried to use the rotary axis in a part program, just because I do not need to.


Jan.

[kiddo]

Thanks for the reply Jan:

Are you a machine shop person or an inspection person. Just out of curiosity.