Machine Enhancement Technology

In Booth E-5636, Caron Engineering, Inc. (Wells, ME) will have live demonstrations of all their advanced machining solutions. They develop hardware and software solutions for more intelligent machining that is focuses on unattended operation, machine process diagnostics, cycle time reduction, and eliminating operator error. They will feature a Tsugami B0205 auto-loading Swiss-type machine with Fanuc Robot unload and Keyence Laser measurement technology. The Tsugami machine will be outfitted with Caron machine enhancement technologies to completely automate and improve the machining process, while providing valuable information about the cutting process and health of the machine.

During cutting, a Tool Monitoring Adaptive Control System with multi-process monitoring capability (TMAC MP) will be optimizing the cutting process. TMAC maximizes tool life by monitoring power, not guessing with cycle count or time in cut. With immediate machine stop and retract when a tool breaks to minimize damage, TMAC is excellent for unattended operation. The milling will be enhanced by TMAC MP’s Adaptive Control feature. With adaptive control, TMAC learns the optimum power for each tool and continuously maintains a constant tool load. This results in typical cycle time savings of 20 percent to 50 percent, longer cutter life, and more machine uptime.

Using the Fanuc Robot, the part will be unloaded and then be placed in the Keyence Laser 2D measurement Gauge, which will send the measurement data to AutoComp to process the data to determine if any tool offsets need to be adjusted to keep the part in tolerance. Caron automatic tool wear compensation software (AutoComp) provides error free tooling control. By automatically adjusting tool offsets, AutoComp will eliminate operator data-entry errors. The Tsugami B0205 will also be operating with the Caron Smart Light system to provide easy assessment of the part’s progress. The CEI Smart Light system is a very intuitive status light system. It offers over 1,000 programmable modes and six different color options, plus one user-defined color. The user can preconfigure recipes for basic light outputs, or use direct set protocol to dynamically change the light.

A DTect-IT vibration sensor will be attached near the spindle on the Tsugami to monitor bearing health for analysis. The DTect-IT uses cutting-edge technology to monitor any area of concern on the CNC machine tool or fixture. It will run on any Windows PC with an available USB port and immediately graph the sensor data on the PC. DTect-IT can identify machine anomalies by using vibration, strain and power sensors, combined with several monitoring modes that include limit analysis, bearing analysis, and fault detection.

In addition to the on-machine demonstrations, Caron Engineering will have multiple product kiosks set up in their booth to demonstrate the full capabilities of all their products, including their Tool Connect system. Tool Connect is a tool identification system that automatically transfers tool presetter data to the machine control, utilizing RFID tags in tool holders. Very simple to use, this cost effective tool identification system has innovative operator screens and can be set up for any custom designed format.

Caron Engineering, Inc., 1931 Sanford Road, Wells, ME 04090, 207-646-6071, [email protected], www.caroneng.com.