With the popularization and application of integrated CAD/CAM technology and local area network technology, most companies have now clearly improved the efficiency and quality of new product design and development, process planning, and CNC machine tool programming. Production management has entered the era of networking.
1 Main issues before CNC machine networking
1.1 Program Transfer For some numerically-controlled machine tools with relatively few program requirements, the most primitive manual keyboard input method has been adopted. The disadvantages of this method are: low efficiency; long machine time; error-prone.
For some CNC machines where the input of the program is large, a desktop computer is used at the machine side for program transmission. The disadvantages of this method are:
1.1.1 The environment is harsh and computer maintenance is difficult.
1.1.2 The communication software is DOS version. It is difficult to upgrade.
1.1.3 A computer is a waste of equipment resources for a CNC machine tool.
1.1.4 The operation method is complicated and requires high quality of operators.
1.1.5 Many people operate a computer and the management of program files is confusing.
1.2 Program Management In order to make the program number and the part number correspond to each other, there must be a person responsible for the record management of the program, this work is complicated and error-prone. It seriously affects the production efficiency of CNC machining of our company. Therefore, we urgently need to find an effective method to improve the status of CNC machine tools and manage them systematically.
2 Formulate solutions to problems <br>Through multiple investigations and studies, we believe that the internal LAN of our company has developed to a certain scale. CAD/CAM integrated application is already very common. Therefore, the path of CNC machine tools to go through network management is Solve always the best choice.
2.1 System Components The machine tool networking system includes: network server, LAN cable, CAD/CAM computer, CNCLINK-4.0 management system, networking system master computer, remote communication interface, communication cable, and numerical control machine tool. Among them, the network server, LAN cable, CAD/CAM system and number control machine tool are existing resources of the enterprise; CNCLINK-4.0 system management machine is an industrial-grade PC computer installed with networking special software, and can install the client management software. In any LAN computer, running the UNIX operating system, its role is to accept the scheduling of each workstation, send commands to all CNC machine tools on the network to achieve unified management of machine tool information; remote communication interface device is dedicated to the main control machine and machine tool Inter-communication multi-serial port splitter, which features remote transmission without loss of signal; communication cable is a common 4-core shielded cable with opto-isolators at both ends to avoid interference signals.
2.2 Main Functions of Machine Tool Networking System
2.2.1 completely get rid of the manual input program and stand-alone input program, realize long-distance automatic program transmission.
2.2.2 The PC used for management can be placed anywhere on the LAN without being affected by distance. The maximum distance of the master from the CNC machine tool is allowed to reach 1500m.
2.2.3 Parallel transmission procedures, ie, a master controller can face my unit at the same time: Currently, 16 CNC machine tools are used for data communication.
2.2.4 The operation is simple, without the help of other equipment or programmers, the operator can upload or download the part processing program by inputting the corresponding instruction on the operation panel of the machine tool.
2.2.5 The master computer operates 24h, and at any time implements the management and data communication of the CNC machine tools on the network. It will not affect the three-shift operation of the machine tool or overtime operation on holidays.
2.2.6 The transmission reliability is high, and the dedicated software itself has a data verification function. Therefore, no errors usually occur in the transmission process. If there are errors under special circumstances, the computer will immediately report an alarm. The software also has the function of uploading and downloading files. After each file is uploaded, it can return a check file to ensure the security of the data.
2.2.7 The program can implement long file name management on the WINDOWS platform, which can achieve a unified file name and part number management method, completely changed the program number to the NC program management constraints.
2.2.8 The log function of the software can be used to check the data transmission date, time, file name, upload or download, etc. to record the operator's operation process and error information.
2.2.9 Each NC machine tool can access or download the NC program under this machine directory and public directory.
2.2.10 For DNC-enabled CNC systems, DNC machining can be implemented on the network.
2.2.11 The number of CNC machine tools is not limited. From the schematic diagram of the system, it can be seen that the master computer of the networked system is installed on the enterprise LAN. In principle, any number of master controllers can be installed on the Internet, and each master controller can connect 32 CNC machine tools.
3 After the implementation of the program <br> After the NC machine tool networking, our company has improved significantly in the NC program management and program transmission.
After CNC machine tools are connected to the Internet, they rely on the functions of the dedicated network management software. All the prepared programs are placed on a high level in the directory of each machine tool. Each program is compiled with the part number according to the part number, and no duplicate name phenomenon will occur. The operator can understand the program on the network at any time through instructions and download and use it.
Before and after networking, there are obvious changes in the following points:
3.1 Shorten the time for transferring programs, that is, save the cost of expensive CNC machine tools.
3.2 The accuracy is high, and even if the part program is reused, it can be absolutely correct even if it is retransmitted.
3.3 When the operator's labor intensity is reduced, the program transmission is completed simply by inputting a simple command on the machine tool panel.
3.4 easy to modify, the first time the program used to modify the scene, upload the next call.
3.5 The program management has been unified.
3.6 Responsibility is clear. Once a problem arises, it is easy to analyze the reason for programming or the reason for the operation.
4 Conclusions Currently, the CNCLINK4.0 CNC machine networking system we run is a network system based on RS232 serial communication technology. With the development of CNC machine tools, CNC systems running on Ethernet have gradually been widely used. Therefore, the future CNC machine networking system will become a unified system with the internal LAN, and its maintenance and management will become faster and more convenient.
1 Main issues before CNC machine networking
1.1 Program Transfer For some numerically-controlled machine tools with relatively few program requirements, the most primitive manual keyboard input method has been adopted. The disadvantages of this method are: low efficiency; long machine time; error-prone.
For some CNC machines where the input of the program is large, a desktop computer is used at the machine side for program transmission. The disadvantages of this method are:
1.1.1 The environment is harsh and computer maintenance is difficult.
1.1.2 The communication software is DOS version. It is difficult to upgrade.
1.1.3 A computer is a waste of equipment resources for a CNC machine tool.
1.1.4 The operation method is complicated and requires high quality of operators.
1.1.5 Many people operate a computer and the management of program files is confusing.
1.2 Program Management In order to make the program number and the part number correspond to each other, there must be a person responsible for the record management of the program, this work is complicated and error-prone. It seriously affects the production efficiency of CNC machining of our company. Therefore, we urgently need to find an effective method to improve the status of CNC machine tools and manage them systematically.
2 Formulate solutions to problems <br>Through multiple investigations and studies, we believe that the internal LAN of our company has developed to a certain scale. CAD/CAM integrated application is already very common. Therefore, the path of CNC machine tools to go through network management is Solve always the best choice.
2.1 System Components The machine tool networking system includes: network server, LAN cable, CAD/CAM computer, CNCLINK-4.0 management system, networking system master computer, remote communication interface, communication cable, and numerical control machine tool. Among them, the network server, LAN cable, CAD/CAM system and number control machine tool are existing resources of the enterprise; CNCLINK-4.0 system management machine is an industrial-grade PC computer installed with networking special software, and can install the client management software. In any LAN computer, running the UNIX operating system, its role is to accept the scheduling of each workstation, send commands to all CNC machine tools on the network to achieve unified management of machine tool information; remote communication interface device is dedicated to the main control machine and machine tool Inter-communication multi-serial port splitter, which features remote transmission without loss of signal; communication cable is a common 4-core shielded cable with opto-isolators at both ends to avoid interference signals.
2.2 Main Functions of Machine Tool Networking System
2.2.1 completely get rid of the manual input program and stand-alone input program, realize long-distance automatic program transmission.
2.2.2 The PC used for management can be placed anywhere on the LAN without being affected by distance. The maximum distance of the master from the CNC machine tool is allowed to reach 1500m.
2.2.3 Parallel transmission procedures, ie, a master controller can face my unit at the same time: Currently, 16 CNC machine tools are used for data communication.
2.2.4 The operation is simple, without the help of other equipment or programmers, the operator can upload or download the part processing program by inputting the corresponding instruction on the operation panel of the machine tool.
2.2.5 The master computer operates 24h, and at any time implements the management and data communication of the CNC machine tools on the network. It will not affect the three-shift operation of the machine tool or overtime operation on holidays.
2.2.6 The transmission reliability is high, and the dedicated software itself has a data verification function. Therefore, no errors usually occur in the transmission process. If there are errors under special circumstances, the computer will immediately report an alarm. The software also has the function of uploading and downloading files. After each file is uploaded, it can return a check file to ensure the security of the data.
2.2.7 The program can implement long file name management on the WINDOWS platform, which can achieve a unified file name and part number management method, completely changed the program number to the NC program management constraints.
2.2.8 The log function of the software can be used to check the data transmission date, time, file name, upload or download, etc. to record the operator's operation process and error information.
2.2.9 Each NC machine tool can access or download the NC program under this machine directory and public directory.
2.2.10 For DNC-enabled CNC systems, DNC machining can be implemented on the network.
2.2.11 The number of CNC machine tools is not limited. From the schematic diagram of the system, it can be seen that the master computer of the networked system is installed on the enterprise LAN. In principle, any number of master controllers can be installed on the Internet, and each master controller can connect 32 CNC machine tools.
3 After the implementation of the program <br> After the NC machine tool networking, our company has improved significantly in the NC program management and program transmission.
After CNC machine tools are connected to the Internet, they rely on the functions of the dedicated network management software. All the prepared programs are placed on a high level in the directory of each machine tool. Each program is compiled with the part number according to the part number, and no duplicate name phenomenon will occur. The operator can understand the program on the network at any time through instructions and download and use it.
Before and after networking, there are obvious changes in the following points:
3.1 Shorten the time for transferring programs, that is, save the cost of expensive CNC machine tools.
3.2 The accuracy is high, and even if the part program is reused, it can be absolutely correct even if it is retransmitted.
3.3 When the operator's labor intensity is reduced, the program transmission is completed simply by inputting a simple command on the machine tool panel.
3.4 easy to modify, the first time the program used to modify the scene, upload the next call.
3.5 The program management has been unified.
3.6 Responsibility is clear. Once a problem arises, it is easy to analyze the reason for programming or the reason for the operation.
4 Conclusions Currently, the CNCLINK4.0 CNC machine networking system we run is a network system based on RS232 serial communication technology. With the development of CNC machine tools, CNC systems running on Ethernet have gradually been widely used. Therefore, the future CNC machine networking system will become a unified system with the internal LAN, and its maintenance and management will become faster and more convenient.