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CNC improves aerospace shop's multiaxis machining
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Ron Patlian, manufacturing manager for aerospace job shop Turbine Engine Components Textron (TECT, Santa Fe Springs, CA), was looking for a cost-effective CNC solution that wouldn't tie his plant to a traditional proprietary system. With a busy shop producing thousands of parts each year, Patlian needed to increase the shop's manufacturing capacity without spending from $500,000 to $2 million each for new machine tools. Tired of having production stopped by obsolete and expensive-to-repair proprietary NC controts plagued by frequent breakdowns, Patlian needed a different kind of control, one without constraints on memory, program manipulation, and availability of repair parts. The control would have to be simple and easy to install, operate, and maintain. What Patlian found was OpenCNC software, an unbundled, all-software CNC package from Manufacturing Data Systems Inc. (MDSI, Ann Arbor, MI) that could not only handle the demands of complex, five-axis aerospace machine tools, but also help cut cycle times and increase uptime. With MDSI's software, overall machine performance greatly improved, and Patlian recently set up a plan to upgrade several other five-axis machines that currently use older controls. After installing MDSI's OpenCNC on a dual-spindle Rigid five-axis mill and a Sundstrand five-axis Omnimi1 machine, Patlian discovered significant productivity improvements. With the software, Pathan and his crew realized they could increased manufacturing capacity at a significant savings and reduce cycle times. The team also was able to link a string of machine tools on a network for remote diagnostics, DNC, and data collection. In addition, they freed up an aging fleet of NC machines from obsolete proprietary controls, so they could manage them the way they wanted to. Patlian actually didn't know he was looking for a software CNC when he first began searching the Internet, but he knew that he wanted a better alternative than a traditional CNC. "I didn't want to be tied to a proprietary product, so I started surfing the Internet and came across MDSI's Web site," Patlian recalls. "Once I saw it, I knew that was what I had been looking for. "The great thing about the MDSI control is that you can install it yourself [or have a local electrician help] and you're not tied to anyone's product," he adds. "It gives you the freedom to customize at a modest cost with the flexibility of Windows NT running on a 45-MHz PC." TECT is an independent job shop for production-critical, gas turbine engine, and airframe components. Typical projects include machining centrifugal compressor parts for helicopter engines, locomotive turbocharger compressor wheels, and parts for commercial airplanes and jet attack fighters. Machining compressor rotors for fighter planes presented a major test for OpenCNC on two five-axis Omnimils. Each part cost up to $65,000 in value added and took several weeks to machine, so scrap was not an option. "We gave OpenCNC a try and it delivered smooth continuous fiveaxis motion from the very start," Patlian says. "We do some very critical five-axis contouring and our machines need to perform right at the peak. MDSI delivered the servo control that worked." By choosing the all-software OpenCNC, Patlian solved several problems at once. First, the switch increased the shop's capacity due to improved machine performance. If a machine tool runs 12 months a year when it only used to run 10-11 months due to electronic failures, manufacturing capacity is increased. In addition, several machine tools began running faster and better with OpenCNC. For example, a Rigid five-axis mill with OpenCNC ran nearly 50% faster than it did with a previous control. Higher feed rates could be set. "It now runs faster and cuts smoother," reports Moe Zagha, TECT's CNC development and R&D machinist. "The Omnimi1 axes used to wait for commands. Now the control processes data so fast the machine is too slow for the control." Changing controls increased capacity at a lower cost. Instead of purchasing a new $2-million fiveaxis mill, Patlian bought two older Sundstrand Omnimils for $125,000 each, and completely rebuilt and retrofitted both machines for less than $750,000. The big mills have a 60 x 60 x 60"(1.5x1.5x1.5mm) envelope and full five-axis, continuous-path milling capability. "Even completely retrofitting all the electronics, we saved money," Patlian notes. "You can get new servo and spindle drives, plus a new electronic cabinet with OpenCNC, at a price we were quoted for the control alone." Today, with several more OpenCNC machines, Patlian feels he's made a sound management decision. "We can acquire machines, at a modest price, that nobody else wants to touch, then modify and retrofit with MDSI controls to end up with a piece of equipment that will provide added capacity at a quarter of the cost of new machines," he says. "It reduces the cost of capitalization, thus improving return on investment." Part and program changeovers also are no longer an issue. "Changing part programs is simple," Patilian says. "Just point, click, and move the program from your network into the machine-tool directory, and you're done. It's a quick setup and total accessibility. Our operators go back and forth between machine and programming functions using touch-screen programmable switches." Common controls also save money on operator training. Learning how to use OpenCNC was straightforward, reports Zagha. "Very logical. Just a couple of days and I was ready to go," he says. And for a manager, the benefit of having a common CNC across several machine tools is enormous. "If an operator has to deal with four or five different controls, he can't be as efficient," Patlian says. "Our operators now learn one system across several machines." TECT's crew also enjoyed getting instant DNC with the all-software CNC. "You don't need to buy DNC software," Patlian says. "With a couple of PCs, you can run to Radio Shack and buy some cabling and a hub, and link as many machines as you wish using Microsoft's network software. What we say now is that with OpenCNC, we have a network of PCs that just happen to have machine tools connected to them." Textron now has seven machines at the Santa Fe Springs plant running with OpenCNC, with plans to convert 18 more five-axis machines to OpenCNC. With the machine tools on OpenCNC running on Windows NT, the path is clear for remote machine diagnostics and maintenance via the Internet-or for taking advantage of OpenCNC's patented real-time datacollection technology. Circle 400. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/ |
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