Stuxnet

I'm sure that most of you have heard of the Stuxnet Computer Virus by now. Here is an article that goes into much more detail than I've seen before. This is pretty ominous for us because the target of this virus was actually 9000 Siemens Inverters! We don't see this type of connection or communication on our machine tools, but we might some day. Last year, Jeff and I were asked to work on a large (1000 foot long) continuous vulcanization machine in Santa Maria. Its PLC controlled the speeds of 17 inverters along the line and seems like the kind of thing that could be susceptible to this kind of attack.

Something to think about.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/

Update from Andy

Most of you know that Andy is in Bahrain for a couple of weeks visiting his Mom. He just called me to say Hi and told me they all celebrated Thanksgiving together. He was able to find a turkey right there in Bahrain and bought the fixings with him. He gives his regards.

Gears

Couldn't resist this one. For those who think all gears are round:

http://www.flixxy.com/gears.htm

Maybe the guys who designed the Boko varidrive/gearbox at ATK were students of this guy.

Yaskawa Sigma V drives are NICE!

I finally got around to posting a couple of videos and a few more pictures of the Harris Mfg. job that Basem and I recently did in Fresno. The machine was an Amada COMA that had been previously retrofitted with a Punch Wizard PC based control. As you can see from the still pics, this machine had Fanuc's old 10L servo motors on it which are liquid cooled (coolant inside the armature which circulates to a heat exchanger on the shaft end). I took the chance of using a smaller motor than this, mainly because the breaker for the whole drive was only 20 Amps. The motor we put on was the largest one Yaskawa makes with the 10L flange and 35MM shaft.

They worked great.

This video is both axes at 1000 IPM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Ko62MCzJM&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=vahVA9BClPg

This one is of a heavy part (60 lbs?) at about 700 IPM. The motor is loafing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu6p3PEzhm8&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=vZhOJHZUVjE

Here's the old motor, all taped up from years of trouble:

We mounted the new drives where to old ones were:

Basem mounts the new motor, same mount, same shaft:

The new drives are VERY easy to integrate. Auto tuning is amazing and actually works.

Keep looking for opportunities for these drives.

Stuck in Fresno Again

Tonight, Basem and I are in a hotel in Fresno. We're installing new Yaskawa motors and drives on an Amada Coma punch press. Here's a picture of Basem earning his money today:

We're using Yaskawa's new Sigma V motors and drives - what a great combination. Easy autotuning, easy setup and wiring. That's a 28 Nm 3000 RPM motor behind him. We've come a long way from the wound field GE servo motors that Burgmaster used to use back in the 60's. Bill suggested that this motor had the strength of a hydraulic motor when he felt the rock solid standstill torque it has.

Today was Yaskawa day at Uptime. Jon was installing two inverters at LeFiell using the new V1000 series - again, rock solid technology. Later this month I'll be installing a larger Yaskawa servo at NOV on their new Fibro rotary table.

In other breaking news, we've just received a P.O. for a joint project with Studwell at Circor in Sylmar (formerly Castle Precision Industries). We'll be installing a Fanuc Powermate iD on their gun drill while Studwell raises the underground tank up to floor level. Even though it is only a one axis CNC, it is quite a large job with all of the re-wiring they want.

Things are looking up.

Arc Flash

Arc Flash changes are coming. Check this out. As some of you know, we are seeing some of our customers buy into Arc Flash procedures in a big way (GE , ATK, SCE, Solar ). Here is a little video showing a 12 cycle flash, presumably at 480VAC.

http://www.gereports.com/shock-and-awe-ge-unveils-arc-flash-explosion-blocker/

Pinch milling

This is way cool. A good argument for upgrading the entire machine.



Pinch milling

Fanuc Update

I have been reading Fanuc brochures today and thought I'd share a couple that everyone should take a look at. We've been told that the Fanuc 16/18/21 series is ending soon. Fanuc's entire CNC product line will consist of the 0 and 30/31/32 series. Here are the links:
http://www.fanuc.co.jp/en/product/catalog/pdf/FS0i-D(E)_v02_s.pdf
http://www.fanuc.co.jp/en/product/catalog/pdf/FS30i-A(E)_v06_s.pdf

There are several other interesting links there too, but these should be first. As you all know, we tend to work on older equipment, but we'll be seeing these soon enough.

The 0 control has become a real powerhouse.

DMG Mori Seiki

Some of you know that Adam is now working for Blum Laser Measurement Technology, a German metrology company that sells probes, laser tool setters, and conventional tool length setters. As part of his training last week, he went to a show in Chicago put on by DMG Mori Seiki. This may be old news to some of you but it was a surprise to me:

http://www.dmgmoriseikiusa.com/news/dmg-and-mori-seiki-announce-combining-of-us-operations-effective-april-1-20/


It looks like Gildemeister and Mori Seiki have combined their sales and service organizations in the Americas. From what I can tell, this is not a merger, but simply an agreement to sell and service together.

Nothing stays the same.

Warren

MHI Bridge X Axis Inductosyn drooping A.3gpp

I was working on a Mitsubishi Bridge at Frontier in Gardena last week. After seeing extraordinary positioning problems (.1" or more errors in various positions on the 150" travel), we discovered that the tape scale was very loose. For those of you who are unfamiliar with tape scales made by Farrand / Inductosyn or Mitsubishi, they need to be stretched. It is hard to tell how much they need stretching ( I had to bring our laser to stretch this one), but this one is TOO LOOSE.

After proper tensioning using the laser, this axis had only point in 150" that was .0008" out of position. Most points were between 0 and .0004" out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evz57rDIbJI

Heidenhain CNC

Travis asked me to ask everyone which customers have Heidenhain controls. We have been designated as reps for their probes, and integrating them into Heidenhain controls is very easy. Therefore, he wants to approach them first. The ones that come to my mind are ATK, Mafi Trench and Paragon Precision (in Santa Clarita). If you can think of any more, please add them here or let Travis know.

We are also going to be selling Blum LMT products (Probes, Tool Setters, Laser Tool Setters) and I'll have more to say about that later.

Progress continues to be made in the area of machine monitoring using the "Refresh Your Memory" system. NOV (Varco) has just given us a P.O. to upgrade their one machine pilot project to include Feedrate Override monitoring. Upon completion of this, they will probably move forward with several more machines. Sonic in Torrance and Ontario is expanding their system. We've been given all of RYM's Westec leads for this area and are considered to be their exclusive dealer for both monitoring and DNC in Southern California.

Sharon will be off until Monday.

Warren

Who says mechanical innovation is dead

Sometimes I'm tempted to say that we'll never get back some of the old craftsmanship we had during the last industrial age. Then I run across things like this and realize that there are still gifted people out there who keep innovating. I know that harmonic and planetary reducers aren't new, but these guys seem to have found lots of new applications.

http://video.designworldonline.com/video/f932b40f4d7c4d52bd1e2b0b7d951932

Warren

Westec 2010

Most of you know that Westec was last week. You all also know that, for the first time in our company's history, we didn't ask everyone to take off one afternoon and go see it.
There were two reasons:
1) We're just coming out of the worst year in Uptime history and
2) The show just wasn't that good. In fact, the show was so bad that they aren't even having it next year and will be every other year for the foreseeable future.

That is not to say there weren't some useful displays. Travis and Jeff spent time in the "Refresh Your Memory" booth. Their machine monitoring system has great potential. We are now their exclusive reps for Southern California and all show leads for our area were given to us. Please continue to be on the lookout for prospective customers for this exciting new technology. Newer Fanuc controls with FOCAS and Haas controls are especially easy to integrate.

Now for some good news: We had not only a profitable month in March, but also a profitable first quarter. Thanks for all of your efforts. As I mentioned in a recent voice mail, we are still struggling to get paid for what we've done, but things are looking up.

Warren

Roc-Aire Correction

The other day, I mentioned that the Roc-Aire problem led to damage in the VCU. That turned out not to be the case so far. It turns out I was confused (as usual?) with all of the swapping that went on. However, as of today, they really haven't run the same parts they had trouble with earlier.

We'll see.

Warren

False Alarms from Fancu VCU's

We've had a rash of nasty problems on various Fanuc controls lately that defy repair. The alarm we see revolves around intermittent over-current alarms on various types of Fanuc red cap servos. Two of these have been on Fanuc OTB controls (Absolute Tecnologies and Weldmac), one on a Fanuc 18MA control (Roc-Aire) , and I believe one was on a 16 control.

In each case we started out replacing or swapping the VCU, then put in outside cabling, then changing out or removing the motors for testing, only to find out that it was the CNC all along feeding bogus commands to the VCU/Motor.

The one at Roc-Aire last week was just the latest one. In this case, the small two axis snap in board caused all of the above actions, and actually damaged the VCU eventually.

Be on the lookout for this type of scenario. They seem to begin as highly intermittent alarms that can be easily reset.

No one is happy after this is over.

RefreshYourMemory Update

Last Friday, we completed a monitoring installation of four machines at Sonic Industries in Torrance. This was a pilot project for what should become a much larger monitoring project at their Torrance and Ontario facilities. As we do more and more of these, we are beginning to see other uses for remote monitoring. In Sonic's case, they are going to use the reports to schedule Preventive Maintenance inspections. One of their large customers in France is pushing this.

My point of all of this is to be on the lookout for:
1) Refresh Your Memory remote monitoring opportunities (NOV (Varco) is coming on board already).
2) RYM DNC systems (and RS-232 to Ethernet upgrades).
3) Combined RYM Monitoring and DNC together.

Check out http://www.rym.com/cncmonitoring/. This is their demo monitoring site.

We will be in their booth at Westec. Travis is becoming very proficient in this product line.

Warren

Bad, Bad Chemicals

Greg Rockwood sent this link over last night. It concerns off the shelf brake cleaner when it gets hot. I urge you all to read it, discuss it, and let us know if we have any problems in either of our facilities. Of course, keep it in mind at home too.

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm


Warren

Fanuc's Universal Threading Encoder

Greetings everyone,

Well this week finds us in the enviable position of having a little more work than we can do. Keep looking for opportunities. 

Gilbert ran into a unique problem this week and I wanted to share it with you all. He was working on a Daewoo that had a Sumtak threading encoder on it. There was no Fanuc number on it like we usually see with the Tamagawa or Nikon units. Since we didn't know the specs on the RPM, I suggested that he just get one from the Daewoo dealer. It turns out that they want an outrageous amount of money for theirs ($1,400 I think).

Here below is what I call Fanuc's Universal Threading Encoder replacement. It is good for all RPM ranges and is very reasonably priced. 

I know this has been out for awhile, but, in our system of inventory, once an item is sold and disappears from our list, the cross references disappear too. We're fixing that. 

Note also, the much higher price for the older part numbers below the picture. 

Warren

eParts Home A860-0309-T302 Item Description : POSITION CODER 10000RPM WITH 68MM SQUARE FLANGE Exchange Credit : N/A Remanufacturing Fee : N/A Related Products   A86L-0027-0001#002 Item Description : POSITION CODER 6000RPM *N/L/A SEE A860-0309-T302* List Price : $2,323.18 Exchange Credit : N/A Remanufacturing Fee : N/A     A86L-0027-0001#202 Item Description : POSITION CODER 8000RPM N/L/A - SEE A860-0309-T302 List Price : $2,119.10 Exchange Credit : N/A Remanufacturing Fee : N/A

Easy way to shop List Price:  $482.00   Each Quantity:  Add to Cart

Fanuc MMI controls

I've been working today at the ITT Fiber facility in Salt Lake City. They have the Komo router that was the subject of a previous blog/video here. Studwell refurbished and re-machined the A and C head on this 5 axis machine. The topic of tonight's blog is the Fanuc 150iMB control, which, unfortunately is a pathetic excuse for a high performance control. The unique thing about these controls is the Pentium III (yes III) PC with 640 K of Ram, running Windows 2000. Today, Greg Rockwood and I were adjusting the Home position of the newly re-installed A and C axes. Setting the grid shift is a tedious process, as most of you know. Every time a new grid shift amount is entered, one must power down and power up. On this machine that takes TEN MINUTES!!!  I lost count after about 15 re-boots, but I could be slower and denser than most. ( In my defense, I had no books, dual feedback, a mis-adjusted Renishaw exposed optical encoder and other problems).

As with any PC, it must be sequenced down and up. This one has been abused by their IT department, and is just awful to work on. Screen updates are very slow.

My point to all of this is that, although these controls are a pain to work on, nearly NO ONE understands them. I think they could be unique opportunity for us. These controls include the 210i, 180i, 160i, and 150i.

If you see one, offer to be called for ANY problems including backing up the hard drive, hooking up the Ethernet, or just changing the CMOS batteries. They tend to be on high end machines.

See you soon,

Warren

Manufacturing Index for November has biggest growth since April '06

This seems to be good news. I especially like the part where is says Machinery is one of 18 sectors that is growing.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-factory-index-rises-to-nearly-4-year-high-2010-01-04?reflink=MW_news_stmp


Warren

CNC Grounding

I just came across this excellent 10 year old article on CNC Machine Tool grounding this morning. It confirms my long standing belief that ground rods are usually a waste and, in some cases, a serious contributor to problems in our industry. 

Please read it if you can:

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/cleveland/Papers/cnc-isa-icps.pdf


Warren

Fadal site

Yesterday, Ron also mentioned a site for Fadal information. I think this is it. You might want to mark it for future reference. Now that the factory is shut down, we may get some requests to work on these too.

http://www.fadalcnc.com/

Warren

Haas Service

Yesterday, Jerry, Ron, Jeff and I were discussing ways to increase business in 2010. One thing that came up was the possibility of aggressively going after more Haas service business. Ron pointed out that he has worked on a few lately and doesn't think that they should be that hard to learn. Our mechanics have been working on them quite awhile, but have complained about the parts situation, specifically their policy to not sell to us.

Travis has mentioned several times that he gets requests for Haas service from new, potential customers.

Obstacles that I see include the parts issue, training on the electronics and operation, and price competition. Although their Factory Store seems to have comparable pricing to us, there are any number of laid off former Haas guys roaming the country, working out of their cars, who would compete with us. Many of these guys are uninsured, so we have an advantage there.

I would like your input on this.

Happy New Year

Warren