NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL) in Pasadena, CA, has incorporated STEP-NC technology into their manufacturing operations as a member of the STEP-NC Phase One Implementation program. A compilation of STEP Tools software, including ST-NC (stores a catalog of STEP-NC information), ST-Plan (converts STEP information into STEP-NC information), and ST-Machine (reads STEP-NC information and converts that information into a manufacturing plan for the GibbsCAM and Mastercam systems) will be used to enable integration.

JPL will initiate the program and execute the project in systematic phases within their manufacturing operations. Eventually, JPL will expand the knowledge into their supply chain of qualified contract manufacturers. During this process, JPL also will STEP-NC-enable a few computerized numerical control (CNC) machine tools and driven them with 3D design data derived from a CAD system.

STEP-NC extends the Standard for Product Data Exchange (STEP), which was developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) for CAD design data, to the manufacturing environment. STEP-NC defines data as "working steps," or a library of specific operations that can be performed on a CNC machine tool. Using this technology, an external software program such as a an integrated CAD/CAM system can send instructions to a CNC milling machine that contains an embedded CAM system via Direct Numerical Control (DNC), LAN, WAN, or the Internet.

Cutting Edge Manufacturing Corp. (Phoenix, Arizona), a design fabrication firm, began operating in 1998. With two mechanical engineers, the small shop accepts not only contract jobs, but, according to owner Robert Scalara, the shop will "take anything--from an idea needing design work, to production jobs or reverse engineering from a part." In fact, the shop recently began making and marketing its own product, a utility/pocket knife called the Superknife.

The shop's workhorse is its waterjet machine, on which the shop cuts a large variety of architectural components. "We do a little bit of everything," Mr. Scalara says. "We have a CNC mill, a manual mill and manual lathe, too. We do a lot of welding--we have a couple of TIG welders and a couple of MIG welders, as well as band saws and tube benders."

"There were just two of us running all the jobs here in 1998," Mr. Scalara explains. "Each of us knew what the other was doing. As the business grew and we added to the office staff, I often wondered what might be slipping through the cracks." At times, it was frustrating trying to keep track of the jobs. Notes might be written on paper--and the paper disappeared. "We tried several systems to help organize, but as we grew, we knew there was a better way, and we started looking for software."

Having previously worked for a large manufacturer, Mr. Scalara was familiar with MRP and tracking software. Friends advised him to get the software before the shop grew too large, as it would be better to get it early and let the shop grow with it. "That type of insight helped us make our decision to bite the bullet," he says. "We'll get comfortable with the software at our own pace, even if we don't use all of it. At least it's in place and we can grow into it."

What Mr. Scalara was looking for was a method to track everything in a small shop--to enter jobs and get status reports when those jobs were done, to prepare shippers and track time, and to have the necessary information when it was time to bill the customer. "I knew what shop software could do and was looking for something affordable for a shop our size."

"When we chose Visual EstiTrack from Henning Software (Hudson, Ohio), it was because it seemed to offer the most for the money," Mr. Scalara says. Though he knew he'd begin by using only a few of the system's capabilities, he ultimately planned to use all of the software's capabilities, so he wanted a comprehensive system. Hence, his purchase also included the integrated accounting package, Visual Books.

One aspect of EstiTrack that Mr. Scalara appreciates is the flexibility it provides for entering jobs at any point in the cycle. "We run some jobs completely through [the software], from order entry to printing the shipper. For others, we do just the shipper or a sales order and a shipper. Some jobs are turned around really fast; [for example], a customer from across town might bring in a broken part to be welded back together." That is a 10-minute effort, but it might take more time at the keyboard than it did in the shop. "So, I may just do a shipper and in it appears automatically in the Batch Invoice Generator," says Mr. Scalara. "The important issue is that the invoices get generated as quickly as possible with the least amount of paperwork."

Mr. Scalara's software search had focused on helping manage the shop's jobs. He hadn't considered new accounting software. He learned that most shop management software, including EstiTrack, would interface with the company's QuickBooks software, "but not on the level that I wanted." Mr. Scalara wanted to avoid adding a separate step to export and import shop data into his accounting software. "I didn't want to have to reenter any orders or invoices. The price for the Henning's integrated Visual Books accounting package was attractive, and it did what we needed, so. we went ahead and acquired it along with Visual EstiTrack.

"There is a lot to learn in Visual Books, though it wasn't difficult--the software does a lot. I think the hardest part for us, when we realized all of its capabilities, was deciding how much do we really need to do at this time? At some point, if it is a $100 job, you have to decide how much detail you want with that job, versus what details we need for the $100,000 job."

Mr. Scalara is confident that he's found a happy medium that yields the results Gutting Edge needs now, but one with which the shop can grow. "We run all quotes through EstiTrack," he says. "I can just 'walk down the line'--we've entered every machine in the software, along with our shop rates, and it works well."

Over the following few pages, Wood & Wood Products provides information on CNC panel saw blades offered by manufacturers that can help give your company the upper hand. For more information about particular products, circle the corresponding numbers on the Reader Service card.

The Gladu Diamond/Carbide Panel System from Gladu Tools cuts particleboard, melamine, paper laminate panels, MDF or HPL. According to the company, this system will increase the life and run time of the carbide main blade, reduce downtime and tooling costs and facilitate inventory maintenance.

In 1985, we were a typical job shop in many ways. We existed with no visual growth over the previous three years. We were frustrated and we knew we had to do something about it. Our order system was not much better than a yellow legal pad with order entry done manually and sometimes by typewriter.

We did not know where the jobs were in our plant. When someone phoned and asked about delivery, we were unable to tell them without going to the shop and looking for the job. We would have to guess how long it might take to complete it. Sometimes, two "hot" jobs were scheduled for the same machine at the same time. If a router sheet was lost, it was a real problem. We had no way of quickly retrieving the processing and production data.

Jim Vancalbergh, our president, recognized a year earlier that without better organization there could be no expansion for our company. He purchased a Commodore computer and started to develop production sheets. These sheets were filled out manually by the shop personnel and turned in every day. At the end of each day we recorded the information and figured out production averages. Lost production sheets or routing sheets could be reproduced easily because they were now stored in the computer.

The Solution

About six months later, while at a Detroit-area tool show, one of our managers reported that he had seen a real-time job tracking system that looked promising. A real-time system, being a dynamic control process, responds to events as they occur. This control technique has worked well in the process industries. The question was whether such an approach could work in the batch-type processing environment typically used by the metalworking job shop industry. Neither Jim nor I had a chance to see the system that was displayed, so we asked the company for a demonstration.

Steve Ingraham, then president and co-founder of Mindbridge Systems, Inc., of Beaumont, Texas, made a quick trip to our plant to demonstrate his firm's Realtrac system. We were intrigued by the fact that he was also the owner of a job shop.

His shop had scheduling and job tracking problems similar to ours, but one of his solutions was different. Where we tried to employ the power of a small computer, he called in two process control engineer friends and, together, they devised a real-time management control system for a job shop.

Ordering The System

We had already decided a change was necessary. Also, the ideas of what we wanted to do were clear, so we ordered a system the next day.

When we first received the system, we had 20 employees and a 5,000 square foot production facility. Today, we have 48 employees and 15,000 square feet, with one person monitoring the real-time system. At one point, we had two plants six miles apart. Both were monitored by one person.

Our company serves the automotive, hydraulic cylinder, and industrial shock absorber markets, and performs saw work for other job shops serving the same industries. In 1985, sales were $1.2 million. In 1989, sales were over $3 million, and we project an increase of 15 to 20 percent for 1990. We attribute much of our growth to the real-time job tracking and scheduling system because it enabled us to exercise better shop floor control.

Our shop specializes in production sawing and machining operations. We have eight CNC turning centers, four CNC machining centers, and four production cutoff saws, including one cold saw and three band saws.

Last year, we ran approximately 2700 jobs through our shop, in quantities ranging between one and thousands of pieces per job. The average lot was between 100 and 200 pieces. At any time, there are between 350 and 400 jobs going through the system, with an average of ten operations per job.

We can track each job from the time it is entered until it is shipped out the door, and we know, within seconds, the location and status of any job. This is possible because the real-time system captures and processes information so quickly.

The basic system network consists of a personal computer master console, a dedicated special-events printer, communication boxes that can access up to 64 micro-terminals, and software. We installed five micro-terminals throughout our shop at machines or workcenters where the shop personnel enter data into the system manually or by bar code reader. We have four IBM-compatible personal computers networked with the host computer. The PC.

The system's data collection clock is always running. The importance of this feature becomes evident when viewing a computer or monitor screen that is displaying estimated production time versus actual production time. The estimated time remains the same, but the job time display is updated every minute, and the system's monitor display is refreshed every 15 seconds, 24 hours a day.

As a machine operator logs on at a workstation micro-terminal to do a job, the entry information is recorded almost instantly at the master terminal. As each operator logs on and logs off, a database is created for determining where the production bottlenecks are, if there are problems at particular machines, who is doing each job, and where each job is being done.

HP is a firm believer in open systems so far as its computers go. And given that a number of its customers happen to run factories, HP people have discovered that openness is a characteristic that is also desirable for CNC units. So they set about to build one.

It's called the HP Open Architecture Controller; it is a computer numerical control (CNC) system for machine tools, and yes, it is from Hewlett-Packard (Palo Alto, CA). Specifically, it comes out of the HP Test and Measurement Organization, which is, interestingly enough, the original business unit of HP.

Remarks HP's Peter Mills, "What we think we bring to the table is considerable experience in motion control for high-performance servo systems." By which he means systems, for example, that are used in semiconductor manufacturing. But what does that have to do with metalcutting machine tool control for applications in automotive and aerospace, two of the target markets that HP has identified for the new CNC controller? Plenty, according to Mills, the marketing manager of the controller through HP's Santa Clara Div. That is, he explains that the semiconductor wafer stepper machine costs on the order of $1-million. It runs 24 hours per day, seven days per week. And within four years it is obsolete. During the processing of the wafers, the piece parts can be valued at $500,000 each, so there is zero tolerance for misalignment. What this means is that the HP servo boards that are used to keep these things going have to have high reliability, excellent uptime and precision. Things that are certainly key to metalcutting operations. (HP people do have a solid familiarity vis-a-vis metal cutting applications, given the company's laser-based machine tool calibration equipment.)

The second thing that HP brings to the table is the company's vast know-how in the area of open systems for computing (i.e., according to the company, it is the world's leading supplier of open UNIX system computers). And openness is the key to this development.

What "Open" Means

Nowadays, "openness" with regard to CNC controls is the characteristic to have, it seems. However, the HP argument regarding what "open" means puts that company in a different position from many other vendors. As Mills explains, the traditional vendors of CNC units developed their own real-time operating systems, high-speed buses, CPU boards, drive interfaces, and input/output (I/0) methods. The key terms here are "their own." Which means proprietary.

These vendors, Mills continues, are now offering what they are calling "open" or "PC-based" CNCs. But he says this is more show than go: the CNC with a PC is "open" only to the extent of the operator interface, the front end of the system. The other aspects of the traditional CNCs, he maintains, continue to be proprietary.

The HP Open Architecture Controller is fully open to the extent that it is based on industry standard hardware, software, as in Intel microprocessors, Windows NT, LynxOS, DeviceNet distributed I/O, and SERCOS fiber-optic bus. Getting to the motion-control software for customization is critical, Mills says, for machine tool builders and machine tool users alike to be able to customize and modify the performance of the CNC. But this, apparently, is an area that has tended to be off-limits. However, the HP unit uses modular, message-based motion-control software. Modules communicate via standard message formats known as application programming interfaces (APIs). HP provides documentation defining the APIs. What's more, the company actually offers developer's kits that are specifically for modifying the motion-control software. "Change the kinematics if you want, or the acceleration profiles. Integrate force or acoustic sensors. We'll provide the tools to make the modifications and to integrate sensor data on a real-time basis. When we say 'open,' we mean fully 'open,'" Mills says.

System Elements

There are two main elements to the HP Open Architecture Controller. One is the operator console. It implements a Pentium-based industrial computer that runs Windows NT 4.0; it provides networking and multitasking, access to CAD drawings, shop floor control programs, e-mail, or what have you. The operator console also includes a DeviceNet board for the interface to the machine I/O. The other element is the motion chassis. It features an identical Pentium-based unit. However, it runs LynxOS, which is a real-time operating system that allows third-party integration and uses industry standard development tools. It is a POSIX-compliant operating system. The operator interface and the CNC motion system are linked with Ethernet.

So what does this mean? According to Mills, what it really means is that users can save money in operation because what standards allow is the ability to make changes and modifications without having to have lots of customization which has been the case with standard CNC systems. The upfront costs might be higher for the HP system than the conventional CNC, he admits - the HP unit costs from $30,000 to $40,000 - but the "cost of ownership," he maintains, can be decidedly lower compared with a proprietary system. For example, he references computer memory. He says that to buy it from a proprietary CNC vendor, it can cost from $3,000 to $5,000, whereas the same amount of memory can be purchased from HP for $500. He explains that the disparity is simple: the proprietary vendor wants to make money on options and upgrades. "If our price is too high, the person can go to the local computer store or check out a computer magazine and buy it. Our hardware is commercially available. If you have to buy an Ethernet board from one source and not from anyone else, then that one source is less willing to make you a really great deal," he says.

Perched on her side on a street in industrial Seattle is Miss Elam, one of the fastest hydroplane boats in the world. She owes her existence, in large part, to Mastercam, CGTech software and a lucky event that occurred in March 1960.

That year, Sven Ellstrom and his bride were on their way from Sweden to Alaska. When they ran out of money in Seattle, they decided to stay there. Sven started making laminate panels and, in fact, made the first laminate flooring in the United States. His company, Ellstrom Manufacturing (Seattle, Washington), still makes laminate wall panels used in airports, as well as insulated glass parts for the trucking, marine and aerospace industries. According to Erick Ellstrom, vice president of the company and Sven's son, the company produces a half million parts per month.

It's the company's proximity to water, however, that led Mr. Ellstrom to build his first hydroplane boat out of wood when he was 12. Eventually, Mr. Ellstrom and his brother Tom built a prototype that would become Miss Elam As work on the boat progressed, the two brothers couldn't find anyone to make many of the parts they needed, nor could they find anyone to make parts at the exact standards that would translate into the speed they sought. To solve the problem, they decided to build the parts themselves. The company had considerable talent to draw from. It employed 175 people and already used Mastercam software from Mastercam/ CNC Software, Inc. (Tolland, Connecticut) to machine parts. So the company continued to use this software to create the part programs for Miss Elam and had successful results.

Two of the company's proudest innovations are its propeller and its T53 and T55 case halves used to house gas turbine compressors. "We like to make high precision stuff anyway," Mr. Ellstrom says. Still, the company needed some help getting to the tenth of a thousandth of an inch. The brothers turned to Steve Kidd and his staff at Cimtech (Charlotte, North Carolina), the company's Mastercam dealer. Cimtech helped reverse engineer and design programs with the tight tolerances the Ellstroms were looking for. "The better the tolerance, the better the miles per hour," Mr. Ellstrom explains.

"We draw it all and cut it in Mastercam using a five-axis Mazak Variaxis 630 to machine the parts. When we made the move to more complex five-axis programming, we also invested in Vericut CNC simulation software from CGTech (Irvine, California) to verify that the programs were accurate and protect the machine," says Greg Thayer, a programmer at Cimtech.

After creating the NC programs in Mastercam, the company began simulating the machining process in Vericut by simulating the G-code data. "There often can be a difference between the motion as programmed and the code after it's run through the post processor, especially on a five-axis machine." Mr. Thayer says. "The smart way, and the real power of Vericut, is to simulate the post-processed G code." Mr. Ellstrom verifies G codes on everything they run.

The combination of Mastercam and Vericut has been very successful and has impacted the bottom line, both in terms of speed on the water and time and money saved in the shop. When the company tried a new propeller a few months ago, the speed improved by 6 mph, which, according to the company, is a significant increase when racing is concerned. Last year, Miss Elam was second in national high points and set records in five of the six courses she raced with speeds exceeding 150 mph.

"We stayed with Mastercam because it does everything, and it's easy," Mr. Ellstrom says. "Some people say if it's easy to use, it must not be very sophisticated. That's not true. Version 9 does everything we want. The proof is the pudding."

Vericut also saves the company's employees a lot of time on the five-axis machine. "Before investing in Vericut, a new propeller part would take about a week on the machine," Mr. Thayer explains. "We'd run the machine at around 10 percent and watch carefully to be sure there were no incorrect moves. With Vericut, we can see the piece and how it will be cut--a big benefit in five-axis machining. After running it through the software, we just load and go, and it's off the machine in a day. It also offers high-end part measurement tools and the ability to simulate the entire machine. This helps us avoid problems like over travel of interferences with the table of fixtures."

Unisphere Networks, Inc., a leading provider of IP infrastructure products to enable broadband data, voice and video services, today announced that China Netcom, Shanghai Branch, has selected Unisphere Networks' ERX Edge Router and Service Selection Center (SSC) for its high-speed broadband network, CNCNet. China Netcom, a facilities-based broadband telecommunications operator in China, will use a combination of Unisphere Networks' ERX and SSC to provide a high-quality, flexible network infrastructure that enables the wire-speed delivery of innovative broadband services to its customers.

CNCNet, a nationwide IP network that extends across 17 cities, was constructed to provide customers with a broad range of broadband services and solutions, helping to meet the requirements of Chinese businesses and individuals. Unisphere Networks' SSC and ERX provide a comprehensive system for dynamic service creation, activation and accounting that delivers subscriber activated services, such as tiered Internet and rich media services-on-demand.

The ERX features leading-edge technologies, such as Intelligent Service Quality of Service (IS QoS), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Subscriber Class Based Queuing (S-CBQ) and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). The unique IS QoS technology prioritizes traffic and ensures the delivery of revenue-generating, performance sensitive applications, such as IP data, voice and video services to its customer base. The S-CBQ technology and wire-speed ASIC-based architecture extends IP QoS to the individual subscriber level.

The SSC was selected by China Netcom to enable the delivery of differentiated broadband services, such as bandwidth-on-demand and service levels-on-demand. Subscribers can activate and control the desired services using a Web-based portal. As a service is activated the SSC communicates with the ERX via Common Open Policy Service (COPS) to complete the necessary provisioning changes.

"As a new operator, we are focused on pleasing our customers by offering them a broad range of innovative services and allowing them to have control over what they subscribe to," said Peter Zhou, general manager, China Netcom, Shanghai Branch. "Since we are not forced to interoperate with legacy equipment, we have the flexibility to develop and construct a broadband network that provides us with a differentiated service offering, better positioning China Netcom for the future. By adding Unisphere Networks' ERX and SSC into our high-speed network, CNCNet, we believe that we will satisfy customer expectations."

"China Netcom's desire to quickly deliver new services to its customers is an ideal opportunity to showcase the ability of Unisphere Networks' products," said Jason Xie, country manager, PR China, Unisphere Networks. "We believe that the combination of our Service Selection Center and ERX Edge Router will change the way that carriers provision and manage services and innovative providers, such as China Netcom will lead by example."

About the SSC

The Service Selection Center (SSC), Unisphere Networks' dynamic service creation and delivery software, creates a mutual bond between service provider and subscriber. Providers can create a full complement of policy-based, high-value services using the SSC's integrated solution of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) servers and a policy engine that communicates with the network via COPS. Subscribers can select from among these services - services such as ISP selection and bandwidth-on-demand - via a personalized Web portal. Selected services are then provisioned automatically - even in mid-session - and usage information is collected for billing purposes. This combination allows network users to get the services they desire, while affording service providers the added revenue opportunities that come from a new generation of premium value services.

Shops that machine aircraft parts have traditionally been asked to hold some of the tightest tolerances in the metalworking industry. With its Accurate Fuselage Assembly (AFA) program, Boeing now has upped the ante by requiring ultra-tight tolerances that allow fuselage components to literally snap in place like Lego parts.

To meet these increased accuracy demands for "snap-together" assembly, Northrop Grumman's Applied Digital Technologies Group (ADT) not only bought a new machine tool, but fitted it with an MP10 machine-tool probe from Renishaw Inc. (Schaumburg, IL) for in-cycle gaging of critical assemblyhole locations, reducing scrap and speeding throughput of the flightcritical components.

"Our working tolerances used to be 0.03" (0.76 mm] or better on hole location," says Jeff Howard, ADT manager for Northrop Grumman's Dallas-based Aerostructures Business Area. "To comply with Boeing's AFA program, we now must work with 0.01" [0.25 mm] true position, which is really half of 0.01" ."

These tight specifications tested the limits of conventional sheetmetal frame-fabrication methods. The challenge was to find a way to reduce the variability on formed sheetmetal to a level comparable to CNC machined parts.

Called "Z-frames," the parts in question are arc sections of the frame that make up the barrel for the 747 fuselage. Typically 10-18' (3-5.5 m) long, they are made from roll-formed sheetmetal that is subsequently stretch-formed, then trimmed and drilled. They have a Z-shaped cross section and are 0.063" (1.6-mm) thick.

When Boeing reduced the design tolerance as a part of AFA, Northrop Grumman's existing frame supplier could not produce parts to meet the specifications. After the forming and extruding processes, a typical sheetmetal part's dimensions varied widely. One day, parts might be on the high side of tolerance, and the next day, parts were on the low side. "If you're trying to hold them in a fixture, the best way you can do that is hold them at nominal," Matt Turner, Northrop Grumman Engineer, notes. "For example, say we have a raw extrusion that has a 0.03" tolerance and we're trying to put a hole in the center with a 0.01" true position. If the part is on the high or low side, and you're holding one end at nominal, you're not going to cut a good part."

As a result, Northrop Grumman decided to in-source the frame fabrication, and purchased a Komo three-axis router, measuring 28 (8. 5-m) long, 16 ' (4.8-m) wide, and Z of 24" (0.6 m), to produce the parts in compliance with AFA. On paper, the machine's tolerances showed it had the accuracy to do the job. Because of thermal changes and setup difficulties, however, the large sheetmetal parts could never be fixtured in a way that allowed Northrop to accurately or repeatably drill holes within specification.

That's where the MP10 probe came into play. Rather than setting up the part and probing the fixture, the fixtured part is measured with the probe before cutting, making machine axis compensations to put the part into the center of the tolerance band. "If the part is too wide or necked-down, we can compensate," says Turner. "There was no way we could do this through fixturing." With the new machine and Renishaw probe, Northrop has cut about 1700 parts to spec. "We establish, before machining, that the part can be a good part after cutting," he adds. "We don't waste time on a raw part that can't meet spec."

An MP10 touch-trigger probe acts as an omni-directional switch, effective in the +/- , Y and Z directions. The probe is automatically spindle-loaded, then driven against the workpiece or fixture. Each contact generates a signal, relating the contact point to a common datum.

Repeatability of the probe is +/-0.00004" (1 mu/m).

Northrop Grumman uses two MP10 probes on the Komo router. One uses a 2-mm stylus-smaller than traditional machine styliwhich the company made by necking-down a CMM stylus. "Our smallest holes have a diameter of 0.098" [2.5 mm] so we needed the 2-mm

[0.05"] styli." Turner describes the holes as "determinant" holes used to bolt the parts together, while the rest of the assembly is riveted together along mating surfaces.

"We have parts with as many as 50 holes," says Turner. "Right now, we're doing 100% inspection of the part with the probes, too, but we're planning to move to sampling as we firm up our SPC data and prove that we have a repeatable process. We're at a point of confidence where the post-machining probing will probably go away or be minimized," says Howard.

A second MP10 probe with a larger stylus probes the outer contour of the barrel. Those data are sent electronically to AFA program engineers for analysis on how any given part will mate up with other parts. The information is unique to individual parts, which are serialized with a work-order number.

"There is strong angularity on the outer contours, and to make sure we're not hitting the shank of the probe, we have to use the larger stylus," says Howard.

Northrop Grumman is currently working on software to streamline the process. It will take real-time SPC data on the floor and give operators instant feedback, and it will FTP the data directly to the customer, transparent to the operator.

The company has announced that Gibbs SFP (shopfloor programming) will be included as a standard feature in Fadal's entire line of CNC machine tools, which incorporate Fadal's new 104/D controller. According to the company, built-in programming tools have been expanded to provide machining solutions for users.

The shopfloor programming is fully compatible with the off-line GibbsCam software, allowing process models to be exchanged between the two. Programming offices can forward high-content process models to the machine tool. At that point, the operator can review the models and make necessary adjustments. These modifications may be saved and sent back to the programming office for future reference.

A new automatic toolpathing add-on automates repetitive programming tasks by allowing a user to link cutting strategies to specific levels or layers containing geometry. When selected, the feature will automatically scan each layer or level to program it with the appropriate machining strategy. The company says the feature is particularly useful in large projects with many different pieces of geometry. Once a strategy is created, the user chooses the files to be processed, and the individual files are then automatically batch-processed using the stored cutting strategy. This add-on is currently available for contour, drill and pocket 2D tool paths. It supports the company's MC9 files as well as AutoCAD DXF or DWG files.

The company has released JenCNC, a 3D CNC software package designed to run its SmartMotors program. It combines features of both a CAD/CAM and a motion-control software package into a graphical user interface for controlling two to four SmartMotors in 3D coordinated motion.

The software offers real-time 2D and 3D plotting to the screen, DXF-to-G-code conversion and conversational G-code building.

It also uses a serial interface to communicate and control SmartMotors. With its ability to run in a constant vector velocity regardless of changes in direction, the software is said to be useful where dispensing, glue flow rate or adhesives is needed for a given process.

The software has been built on 3 years of infield testing and customer feedback in applications including routers, hot-wire EPS foam cutting, milling machine retrofits, sign making, engraving, CNC drilling, gasket cutting and adhesive applicators.

Features that increase throughput and quality, according to the company, are that upon start-up, the software automatically detects motors and performs a system update if any motor was changed out; a machine settings window allows for customization to physical dimensions of the machining space; and machine tolerance levels can be set to ensure that no product damage occurs in the unlikely event of motor drop out or path divergence.

Featuring Windows-based environment, PMAC NC v5.0 can be combined with user's favorite PC-compatible CAD/CAM or conversational package. Multi-tasking utilities of Windows operating system enable CNC parts to be run while user simultaneously programs other applications. Connectivity options, such as Ethernet and USB2.0, help reduce time spent transferring part program files. Part program size is limited only by hard drive space.

Customizable Windows GUI for PC Based CNC control

CHATSWORTH, CA- August 20, 2004- Delta Tau Data Systems Inc., the technology leader in multi-axis programmable motion control solutions, today announced the release of PMAC NC 5.0 software, a Windows-based customizable GUI for PC based CNC control.

"With the combination of PMAC HMI and the NC server, this new release offers the most advanced and flexible CNC software package available," said Vince Burokas, Product Manager for CNC at Delta Tau Data Systems, Inc. "This new version builds on Delta Tau's previous G-code software package that leverages Delta Tau's legendary servo hardware performance to bring unprecedented levels of block throughput speed, cutting accuracy and the flexibility of a PC-based environment to the shop floor."

NC 5.0 has all of the features of the previous version with the added advantage of easy user screen customization. The Windows-based environment allows users to combine NC 5.0 with their favorite PC compatible CAD/CAM or conversational package. This gives the operator or programmer the flexibility to program directly at the machine or remotely at a desk. The multi-tasking utilities of the Windows operating system enable CNC parts to be run, while the user simultaneously programs other programs. Connectivity tools, such as Ethernet and USB2.0, are easy to set up and provide unparalleled reductions in time spent transferring part program files. The part program size is limited only by the hard drive space.

The combined CNC software and one Advantage 410 hardware package from Delta Tau can deliver block throughput speed of more than 1,000 blocks per second. Segmented block look-ahead is available, virtually eliminating overshooting and undercutting. This allows the programmer to concentrate on part geometry and not control capabilities.