Re: IMTS 2006 by the numbers

On 31 Aug 2006 20:15:23 -0700, "jon_banquer"
<jon_banquer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hurco is going to show their new WinMax control software at IMTS. I
also see Okuma hinting of Windows running in their control.

Perhaps the time has finally come where more programming will be done
at the control with more powerful options than have been available
previously.

In my view Fanuc, Haas and FADAL have dropped the ball in delivering
the kind of control I believe should have been available by now.

I hope you have a good IMTS and sell some machines into the Phoenix,
market.

Jon Banquer
Phoenix, Arizona
==================
You raise an important point.

How desirable is it to program at the machine?

I can see editing a few values/parameters at the machine, but
from the get/go programming? Possibly for a simple step and
repeat hole pattern, but it appears that most of the pros in this
group [people that actually cut metal for a living], work on jobs
that are far beyond this.

There is also the problem of utilization. If the controller can
edit one program while running another that's one thing, but if
its either edit or run, then you are using a 100,000$US machine
to do what a 250$PC should be doing.

Many shops have [lists of] standard tools/offsets, and it would
not seem that standing at a machine while attempting to
read/interprate a print, plan operation sequences, tool changes,
etc. would be conducive to good programming practice and minimum
errors. Use of macros would only compound the problem.

Additionally, reference materials must [or at least should] be
consulted when programming such as tap drill sizes for the less
common threads. [e.g. metric in US, inch in Europe], and there
may be considerable op sheets, routers, change orders and other
documentation that should be referenced.

What are the thoughts of our money players on this? How much of
a programming workstation do you have, and how much programming
do you do, at the machine(s)?
Unka George (George McDuffee)
=============================
When you give power to an executive
you do not know who will be filling
that position when the time of crisis comes.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), U.S. author.
"Notes on the Next War: A Serious Topical Letter,"
in Esquire (New York, Sept. 1935; repr.
in By-Line Ernest Hemingway, ed. by William White, 1967).
.

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