Northern Irish institute invests in latest CNC

The North East Institute of Further Education in Ballymena has invested in latest CNC technology from Heidenhain, including five iTNC530 and 10 CNC Pilot 4290 products for programming and training.

The North East Institute of Further Education in Ballymena (Northern Ireland) has recently invested in the very latest CNC control Technology from Heidenhain, including 5 of the new iTNC530 programming stations (for milling) and 10 sets of CNC Pilot 4290 programming and training software (for turning), to suit Heidenhain controlled CNC machines.

Working alongside the recent investment in new CNC machine installations from DMG and Gildemeister including Heidenhain CNC controls, NEI are now in an enviable position in being able to provide CNC training on the very latest CNC machine tools and programming packages.

The iTNC530 programming station from Heidenhain offers the capability to program in plain language just as you do at the machine, but away from the distraction of the shop floor.

It consists of a keyboard and screen soft key row, that directly matches that of the keyboard found on current Heidenhain iTNC530 CNC controls.

Software is then provided that emulates the CNC software and machine control allowing programs to be written, test run, stored and transferred directly to a live machine tool.

The approach of having a dedicated keyboard allows easy transfer of programmer/ operator from programming station to machine tool.

Wilson Field from NEI added: "With the programming stations now installed we can take a number of students from an elementary level of CNC knowledge through to advanced CNC programming all without tying up valuable machine time.

The programming stations are set to directly emulate the machine tools we use including machine parameters and tool tables.

This accelerates the student's transition from programming station to work at the machine." NEI have established Ethernet communications to allow direct transfer of programs from programming station to machine tool.

Martin Lyons, Heidenhain's TNC Applications Engineer for the project, commented: "Although this application was in a training environment, many of the benefits NEI are enjoying with the programming stations apply equally in manufacturing companies." The Engineering Section within the North East Institute was recently recognised as a regional centre of excellence for the manufacturing industry by government.

The minister, Dr Sean Farren, announced the Centre in January 2001 along with a funding package to ensure continued investment to develop the installation of state-of-the-art hardware and software facilities in the area of Manufacturing Engineering.

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