A few months ago, Greg Rockwood and I traveled to Salt Lake City to ITT's composite facility (formerly EDO) to investigate problems with a 5 Axis Komo Router. Since it was new, the machine had centerline problems with the A axis. We were even asked to quote a retrofit for the Fanuc 150 control so the Siemens Traori pivot point compensation could be added. I discouraged that and Greg and I verified that there was a real mechanical problem. Here is a video showing what the guys at Studwell found after shipping the whole Z, A, and C assembly back here. Only one half of the head has a problem.
Persistence pays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2rQqasUK20
Warren
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The end of GEFanuc
Well, its official: The end of GEFanuc. As of last Friday, GEFanuc no longer exists. Karl and Stan both work for Fanuc America now. We don't think this will have a very large impact on us, although parts were cheaper through GEFanuc. Apparently, the Express ordering system will stay in place for retrofitters. We've not heard if they are going to change our multiplier yet. We'll see.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Verizon problems
Bill tells me that he's experienced several instances of delayed texts and voice mails recently. Has anyone else been having problems?
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Dprnt Project at Circle Machine
Gilbert just finished an interesting project at Circle Machine. As some of you know, they've had SMW rotary tables and controllers on two of their Hardinge VMC's for quite awhile. In addition to these, they had custom tilting mechanisms too.
Recently, they got a trunion/rotary table from another Kennemetal division and bought a two axis controller for it from Haas. The new Haas servo controller accepts Fanuc Macro B Dprnt statements (loaded via a second RS-232 port) so we decided to try to use those instead of the old stored program M-Code/Fin system they used before. The main advantage is that they just program the A and B axis in the part program now. A singe M-code/Fin combination still executes the motion and holds the machine until it is complete, but they no longer need to pre-store the A and B values in the Haas memory.
If anyone knows of a customer who may be considering an add on rotary, we are well versed on how to help integrate Dprnt into both the machine and the programming department.
Recently, they got a trunion/rotary table from another Kennemetal division and bought a two axis controller for it from Haas. The new Haas servo controller accepts Fanuc Macro B Dprnt statements (loaded via a second RS-232 port) so we decided to try to use those instead of the old stored program M-Code/Fin system they used before. The main advantage is that they just program the A and B axis in the part program now. A singe M-code/Fin combination still executes the motion and holds the machine until it is complete, but they no longer need to pre-store the A and B values in the Haas memory.
If anyone knows of a customer who may be considering an add on rotary, we are well versed on how to help integrate Dprnt into both the machine and the programming department.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Health Net Cards
OK - They're here!
The Health Net cards are finally here. Sharon has them. If you need it before you can get to the office, she or I will be glad to read you the pertinent information and/or fax it somewhere.
As I mentioned, this should be a pretty easy transition. The HSA stays the same. Health Net has agreed to accept our previously paid 2009 deductibles and each of us who has had medical expenses this year will need to get statements from Blue Shield to verify the amount. (More about that later).
I suggest you take a few minutes to log into the Health Net website and register. I've found that having the online Blue Shield documents has been a big help.
Even though the cards were issued a couple of days ago, coverage began November 1.
Call or write me with any questions. Let me know how you like working with these guys.
Through the magic of Tamiflu and azithromycin, I'm feeling human again. Neither of my two recent doctors seemed to care what I just had, and I was not tested for H1N1. Whatever it was, it was BAD. The fact that I had a regular flu shot leads me to the H1N1 conclusion, but I guess I'll never know.
Warren
The Health Net cards are finally here. Sharon has them. If you need it before you can get to the office, she or I will be glad to read you the pertinent information and/or fax it somewhere.
As I mentioned, this should be a pretty easy transition. The HSA stays the same. Health Net has agreed to accept our previously paid 2009 deductibles and each of us who has had medical expenses this year will need to get statements from Blue Shield to verify the amount. (More about that later).
I suggest you take a few minutes to log into the Health Net website and register. I've found that having the online Blue Shield documents has been a big help.
Even though the cards were issued a couple of days ago, coverage began November 1.
Call or write me with any questions. Let me know how you like working with these guys.
Through the magic of Tamiflu and azithromycin, I'm feeling human again. Neither of my two recent doctors seemed to care what I just had, and I was not tested for H1N1. Whatever it was, it was BAD. The fact that I had a regular flu shot leads me to the H1N1 conclusion, but I guess I'll never know.
Warren
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Fanuc Servo Tuning, H1N1 Flu
When one has the flu, whether it is seasonal flu 2009 or H1N1 (I went home Thursday with one of these) one has time to catch up on all kinds of reading. If you glance at the document below, you will probably begin to see how much Fanuc has advanced the state of servo performance from the Fanuc 5/6/11 vintage drives we've become accustomed to.
Have you ever been asked to adjust backlash acceleration? Have you ever considered whether a machine has HRV1, 2 or 3 type servos?
Some of you have been discussing Ball Bar testing with me recently, and this book addresses some of the things that get checked with a Ball Bar test, that couldn't be seen with an indicator and an experienced person.
We need to keep up, so during these slow times, take some books home.
I hope to be back soon.
Warren
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
State of Uptime, November 2009
I've heard a few rumors recently regarding the state of the company and thought it would be a good time to share some thoughts and facts.
First of all, even though we are in fact low on cash, we are still a healthy corporation. I've taken some steps to remedy that problem by bringing some money from home, which I resisted for quite awhile. One thing which I resisted earlier in the year was an offer by Bank of America to give us a line of credit. Initially they offered one to the corporation only, but upon reading the fine print found out that I was personally liable should the corporation default. It even mentioned that my children and their children would be liable, should the corporation default!!!
When you see shops having auctions, it was probably because they got in bed with the likes of BofA.
Anyway, as a result, we are low on cash. This is, as you can imagine, not caused by my or your incompetence, but because our customers are low on work.
Please rest assured that we plan to stay in business, and are listening to our customers and employees on how to solve the problem of too little work and cash.
In the meantime, I encourage your suggestions and encourage you to have a positive attitude around our customers. One sure way to discourage someone from buying a quarter million dollar rebuild project from us is to moan about the health of the company to them.
Hang in there :)
Warren
First of all, even though we are in fact low on cash, we are still a healthy corporation. I've taken some steps to remedy that problem by bringing some money from home, which I resisted for quite awhile. One thing which I resisted earlier in the year was an offer by Bank of America to give us a line of credit. Initially they offered one to the corporation only, but upon reading the fine print found out that I was personally liable should the corporation default. It even mentioned that my children and their children would be liable, should the corporation default!!!
When you see shops having auctions, it was probably because they got in bed with the likes of BofA.
Anyway, as a result, we are low on cash. This is, as you can imagine, not caused by my or your incompetence, but because our customers are low on work.
Please rest assured that we plan to stay in business, and are listening to our customers and employees on how to solve the problem of too little work and cash.
In the meantime, I encourage your suggestions and encourage you to have a positive attitude around our customers. One sure way to discourage someone from buying a quarter million dollar rebuild project from us is to moan about the health of the company to them.
Hang in there :)
Warren
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