WHEN I SAY EASY MAINTENANCE, I MEAN EASY

How many times has your machine gone down, simply because somebody forgot to change the coolant in the reservoir? Or clean the chip conveyor? Or clean a filter in the electrical cabinet? And how many times has your supervisor asked for your best guess on the replacement of a component, be it a spindle, motor, workpiece chuck or way cover?

On today’s CNC, it’s possible to monitor nearly every performance feature on the machine, including all consumables, as well as to plan the normal maintenance operations based on cycles or elapsed time. The CNC can give you a warning whenever the time comes for a change. And yes, it can even give you a way to schedule your breaks, your shift changes and (since we all make them) your errors in a more efficient and traceable manner. Let’s face it, in today’s competitive environment, anything you can do or the machine can do to make the shop run better, faster, leaner, greener or even meaner, is worth every cent.

You’ve all had the experience of a breakdown that just drives the maintenance techs crazy, because the machine appears to be in the normal mode, especially in the electrical cabinet. Now, with a visual on the ladder logic of all the electrical circuits, your maintenance checks can speed up dramatically and, when trouble does occur, identifying the problems can be a much simpler task with the aid of onscreen prompts and clearly labeled diagrams for easier troubleshooting.

Best of all, perhaps, the leading edge-of-the-art CNC today has no fans or external hard disk drive, so the maintenance on the CNC itself is much less. This also conserves cabinet space and makes navigating that wire jungle a lot easier. It’s a plug-n-play world and the CNC is relatively goof-proof when replacing or adding drives components, safety integrated hardware or plant communications devices.

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, if your CNC doesn’t have the capability for remote messaging, be it texting, cell phone calls or email, plus onboard diagnostics for EVERY aspect of your machine tool, you need another supplier. The control technology on every machine in your shop can make a big difference in the bottom line performance you achieve. We all know that unscheduled maintenance and unplanned downtime represent the largest sources of profit loss for any machine shop.

In the end, it’s all about making the machines do more and do it more often. An Easy Maintenance feature will speed you up and won’t let you down.

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Randy Pearson is the sales support manager for U.S. dealers and OEMs of Siemens Industry, Inc., Drives Technologies, Motion Control – Machine Tool Business, 390 Kent Avenue, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, www.siemenscnc.com. A veteran of the machine tool industry, his interest is the training aspect on CNC machine tools, which he conducts through seminars and classes at votech schools and shops, and at Siemens training facilities. For questions or comments on this column, contact Randy at 847-640-1595 or [email protected].