Control system makes CNC milling easy to use

Thanks to a powerful, user-friendly two-axis control system and precision glass linear encoders, a miller is able to play a key role in EDM electrode production.

Thanks to the powerful yet easy-to-use functionality of an Acu-Rite Millpwr two-axis control system, coupled with the accuracy and reliability of Acu-Rite precision glass linear encoders, a Bridgeport EZTrak milling machine is giving Arkle Engineering "the best of both world's in terms of machine quality and control capability".

Supplied by 600 Centre, the milling machine is playing a key role in EDM electrode production at the Hayes (Middlesex) company that specialises in the manufacture of plastics injection mould tools weighing up to half a tonne.

The new machine has replaced an ageing mill, and the EZTrak with Millpwr control was chosen, says managing director Fred Welch, "because it offered Arkle the best combination of cost-competitive, quality machine build with easy-to-use and powerful CNC functionality.

"The control's user-friendliness is particularly important to us," he continues.

"Although we are not first-time CNC users, and do not require a multi-axis CNC of the highest specification, we do need powerful control capability that is simple to operate.

"Acu-Rite's Millpwr system is exactly that, with straightforward graphics and comprehensive functions." Able to translate DXF files directly into program code, Millpwr can also combine conversational shopfloor programming routines with G code files for full three-dimensional contouring routines.

In addition, the system boasts several easy-editing routines: * Explode - explode a program step into several, more detailed steps for easier editing; * Reverse step - switch the start/end points and tool offset of any step; * Reverse path - reverse a continuous tool path; * Change steps - change/edit the depth, offset and feed rate of several steps simultaneously; * Delete steps - erase single or multiple steps; and * Copy/move steps - duplicate or re-arrange steps.

Millpwr also features numerous special functions, including skew, rotate, mirror image, contour, engrave, ellipses, chamfer, island and spirals.

It was these characteristics, adds Fred Welch, that made it the automatic choice for the up to 3,750 revs/min spindle speed EZTrak machine which has a table of 1473mm by 279mm, plus travels in X and Y of 813mm by 368mm.

The machine - which at Arkle complements grinders having Acu-Rite DRO systems - has a 114mm quill and a Z (knee) axis of 280mm, and Acu-Rite's accurate glass linear encoders have been fitted to both these travels and are linked into the Millpwr for highly-accurate single-axis readout capability to complement the X and Y axes control.

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