Production Machining

AUG 2017

Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.

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:: A connection with an industrial PC, installed in the control cabinet, enables access to applications such as Virtual Machine on Board and various simulation modes. These can be coupled with or run independently of the machine's operation. foundation for the Xpanel concept. By using the integration with a corporate network, it provides the machine operator with useful information for his/her current activities. With this CNC interface, Index primarily wants to make the machine operator and setup engineers' jobs easier as well as increase the machines' productivity. After starting up the machine, the control screen appears with the information of axis positions, and so on. On the right side, where hardware keys used to be, there is now a vertical control strip that contains the keyboard, number pad, cursor keys, and some other touch buttons. One of them is the so-called "i4.0-ready" button that is used to launch "Xpanel Industry 4.0." Its use is not required, but it is merely a support option provided by Index. If it is not pressed, the operator sees the usual control environment. By touching the i4.0-ready button, the control strip on the right edge of the screen changes to an activity-driven display. It contains the pre-selectable areas of production, setup, programming, maintenance, general and diagnostics, which are associated with additional function keys labeled with icons. ey enable operators, setup engineers or maintenance personnel to obtain additional information on the machine's screen. A 'Two-Faced' Screen e Xpanel software that was developed in-house allows the user to open a second view on the screen. Pushing a special button on the touch monitor, the user can toggle between the "normal" control view and this "second page" at any time. For example, if the user selects the icon for the workpiece name in Industry 4.0 mode, it will be displayed on the second screen page, and the user can then navigate to it repeat- edly by pressing a button. Other buttons allow him/her to retrieve and view job or quality requirements and return to the control page. Similar assistance is also available for setting up tools for a new job. Here, interface can provide setup sheets and tooling information on the second page. Full-page display of PDF formats in combination with extensive and intuitive navigation and zoom functions on the touch- screen enable safe transfer of all information. However, before retrieving the documents, for example, DNC of the NC program, they must be stored in the workpiece folder provided—for which mostly other depart- ments are responsible. When the program starts, Xpanel then searches these folders for stored information and, if it finds any hits, enables the corresponding button. If nothing can be found, the button remains gray. e entire user and machine documentation is available as background information in Xpanel when the machine is delivered. is includes both the operating and program- ming instructions as well as the complete set of circuit and hydraulic diagrams, which previously are shipped on a separate DVD. So, the user no longer needs to look for the proper DVD and a PC workstation. Everything is avail- able directly on the machine. Does anybody remember operating manuals? Xpanel also offers an editor, which allows the machine operator or programmer to add his own notes to the workpiece job. If the workpiece program is used again at a later time, the documented empirical values help to get back to an error-free production in the shortest possible time. is function is helpful also for passing information during a shift change. 3D Simulation at the Machine All the functions mentioned so far are included in the standard version of Xpanel CNC interface. But many more possibilities open up with an optionally available indus- trial PC, the so-called VPC Box, installed in the control cabinet. It can be connected with the operating panel via an Ethernet interface, and it also uses the second page of the control screen. e touch functionality and wide-screen view of Xpanel then allow the use and consistent operation of CNC MACHINE CONTROLS 30 PRODUCTION MACHINING :: AUGUST 2017

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