Tips & Tricks

Bar feeders are perhaps the most common automation accessories used in the metalworking industry. Generally applied to turning machines they are designed to deliver a continuous supply of raw machining stock in the form of round, hex, square, and extruded shapes for the manufacture of parts of rotation.

There are two common types of bar feeds available: hydrostatic and hydrodynamic. In hydrostatic bar feeds, the bar rests in a series of channels that clamp down on the top and bottom of the stock to hold it in place. In the hydrodynamic bar feeds, the stock is held in a feed tube surrounded by pressurized oil. This allows for faster spindle speeds, but it also increases change-over time from one bar diameter to another. Increasingly, bar feeders are being equipped with “magazine” storage units that are capable or significantly increasing the amount of stock that can be run unattended through the machine tool. In some “lights out” untended machining operations these magazine feeders can supply enough stock for a machine to run a full shift without intervention!

Historically bar feeders are applied in single spindle turning machine tools, multi-spindle machines and some rotary transfer machines. Several machine builders have recently incorporated the bar feeder on vertical machining centers. Among the drivers for this development are simplified fixturing for the machining center, continuous supply of blank material for longer production runs, and the ability to perform 5 and 6 sided machining to produce complete parts!

Lower the pressure down to minimum so actuation is slow. When you are in the middle of the stroke hit E stop. Now remove all bolts but one, leave that one on by a quarter inch and use the chuck wrench to take the chuck off the draw tube adapter. If the chuck is heavy, get someone to help hold the chuck while you turn the chuck off the drawtube adapter.

The iSpeed3 Series is a high-precision, high-speed motor spindle. The following procedure must be followed to ensure proper motor spindle operation and longevity.

• The grease inside the bearings will settle during transportation, storage or service. If the motor spindle suddenly runs at high speeds, grease will evacuate from the bearings, causing excessive heat resulting in bearing damage.
• After initial installation, repair, or long periods of non-operation, please follow the break-in procedure detailed in Table 3. For 60,000 rpm spindles, follow steps 1 through 5. For 80,000 rpm spindles, follow steps 1 through 6.

Note: This data only applies to NSK High Speed Electro Spindles. Other brand electro spindles, or NSK air driven spindles have different procedures, however the NSK is far and a away the most popular and commonly used brand of high speed spindle. The electro spindles are preferred over the air spindles due to their higher cutting power and quiet operation. Air spindles also consume shop air and can tax the air supply system especially when many spindles are in use at the same time.

Using the Z Face Measure Key, if you are not sure you are getting the correct value:

Example: 

• The correct value should be Z-15.000.
• The value after using the Z Face Measure gives you Z-25.000
• Check Setting #64 ( T. offset measure uses work ).

This means there is a value of 10.000 in the work offset.

Could save you a machine “CRASH”.

Similar to machine tools, the better that vibration is dampened and isolated from the cutting process, the greater the overall performance. These gains are realized by making accurate cuts faster, and with greater blade life. Increased blade life has two benefits: obviously the cost savings of using less blades, and with the additional production time from the saw. As an example: If a saw was bundle cutting two bars side by side with a 30 second cycle time, and a blade change takes 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes, 80 parts could have been cut, saving one blade per month could produce another 960 parts per year. Some amount of blade twist exists on nearly all band saws, twisting the blade adds fatigue and reduces blade life. Saws that have less angle on their band wheels introduce less twist, which extends the life of the blade, again saving time and money.

M109 Interactive User Input

This M code allows a G-code program to place a short prompt on the screen, get a single-character input from the user and store it in a macro variable. The first 15 characters from the comment following the M109 will be displayed as a prompt in the lower left corner of the screen. A macro variable in the range 500 through 599 must be specified by a P code. Note also that due to the look-ahead feature, it is necessary to include a loop in the program following the M109 to check for a non-zero response before continuing. The program can check for any character that can be entered from the keyboard by comparing with the decimal equivalent of the ASCII character. Here are a few common characters:

Example 1: If you want the machine to stop for one minute.

The following sample program will ask the user a Yes or No question, then wait for either a Y or   N to be entered. All other characters will be ignored.

N1 #501= 0. (Clear the variable)
M109 P501 (Sleep 1 min?)
N5 IF [ #501 EQ 0. ] GOTO5 (Wait for a key)
IF [ #501 EQ 89. ] GOTO10 (Y)
IF [ #501 EQ 78. ] GOTO20 (N)
GOTO1 (Keep checking)
N10 (A Y was entered)
M95 (00:01)
GOTO30
N20 (An N was entered)
G04 P1. (Do nothing for 1 second)
N30 (Stop)
M30

Example 2: If you want the machine to stop intermittently.

The following sample program will ask the user to select a number, and then wait for a 1, 2 or a 3 to be entered. All other characters will be ignored.

O00234 (Sample program)
N1 #501= 0. (Clear the variable)
M109 P501 (Pick 1, 2 or 3:)
N5 IF [ #501 EQ 0. ] GOTO5 (Wait for a key)
IF [ #501 EQ 49. ] GOTO10 (1)
IF [ #501 EQ 50. ] GOTO20 (2)
IF [ #501 EQ 51. ] GOTO30 (3)
GOTO1 (Keep checking)
N10 (A 1 was entered)
M95 (00:01)
GOTO30
N20 (A 2 was entered)
G04 P5. (Do nothing for 5 seconds)
N30 (A 3 was entered)
M30

For more information on this feature, please us at bfreitag@productivity.com or at 763.742.1225.