Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: ACI (UK) | Subject: 1100M and 1200T CNC systems
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 23 August 2000
Anilam CNCs give trainees useful
experience
Glasgow's Anniesland College's School of Engineering has upgraded CNC milling and turning facilities through the retrofit of Anilam 1100M and Anilam 1200T CNC systems
While sophisticated production equipment has to some extent bridged the shortfall of skilled personnel within manufacturing industry, there remains a need for operators to be at least familiar with the basic principles of CNC machining That situation is being addressed by a host of colleges up and down the country, including Glasgow's Anniesland College's School of Engineering which today runs the only college-based CNC machinist training course in a city that was once synonymous with heavy engineering
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 19 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Recent investment at the college has led to upgraded CNC milling and turning facilities through the retrofit of Anilam 1100M and Anilam 1200T CNC systems.
And, as a result, the college can now provide students with a CNC course in which it is possible to progress from basic manual machining techniques up to the latest, graphically driven on-machine programming systems.
Senior lecturer, Bill McClusky, comments: "Both control systems are very easy to use - to the extent that we now use these machines in the latter stages of the course.
Our courses are designed to demonstrate that no two CNC systems are alike, and the Anilam CNCs provide trainees with useful experience of the more sophisticated manual data input programming capabilities that are widely available." Anniesland College strengthened its CNC training capability after a locally conducted survey revealed a major shortage of CNC operators.
It now offers a full range of National Certificate and Scottish Vocational Qualification courses in CNC programming and machine operating, as well as an HNC course in CNC machining.
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In addition it can provide tailored CNC operator training for client companies needing to bring personnel up to standard.
"We've set out to develop a facility that has relevance to industrial requirements and that has been rewarded with training contracts from a variety of large engineering companies," adds Bill McClusky.
"It's often the case that people have little or no experience of machining, so we've designed courses with that in mind." With a basic knowledge of turning, milling and engineering measurement, the trainees then 'graduate' to the CNC machine shop.
Anniesland has a wide range of CNC machining facilities, including purpose-built training lathes with PC or BBC Micro-based controls, a milling machine with point-to-point control, a CNC centre lathe and a pair of three-axis milling machines.
It also boasts a 12-seat off-line programming facility using PC-hosted software.
Says Bill McClusky: "One of the difficulties for a department like ours is justifying upgrades to our facilities.
The basic machines experience comparatively little wear and tear but on a CNC machine the control tech nology can quickly become out-dated almost to the point of irrelevance.
However, to offer courses of value we must use contemporary systems, and upgrading by retrofitting is a relatively economic means of doing this." The candidates for retrofit were a pristine milling machine and a centre lathe.
"The Anilam systems offered the required levels of capability, while the conversion was available at a competitive price," said Bill McClusky.
"Before the new controls were fitted, Anilam's local agent, Inscot, surveyed the machines; however, since they are in good condition the project amounted to a relatively simple exchange of control systems." The result has been a significant improvement in the ease with which both machines can be programmed.
The 1200T lathe control (now superseded by the 4200T), for instance, offers a feature menu-based approach to geometry creation which makes for very straightforward programming.
It is a conversational, G-code based control, featuring electronic handwheels for one-off tasks and set-up/teach mode.
Standard canned cycles accommodate all usual machining tasks - including threading, grooving and tapping - and advanced canned cycles cover scaling and area clearance (length and radial).
Full on-screen editing is a feature along with simulation graphics and comprehensive tool page.
Likewise, the 1100M (now superseded by the two-and three-axis 3200 MK and 3300 MK PC-based systems) is much more user-friendly than the control it replaced, with conversational programming routines that utilise a wide range of canned cycles quickly and easily: * Irregular pockets - a simple routine of prompts produces clearances of any shape; * Geometry - the geometry calculator, for determining points, lines and circles, automatically forms the program foundation; * Bolt hole pattern and drill cycles are created by simple question and answer routines; and * Graphics - program verification with user-friendly graphics and program text and CNC status displayed together.
In addition, the CNC features three calculator modes - maths with trigonometry, right triangle and geometry - plus a right angle calculator which allows the operator to quickly find any side or angle of a right triangle whenever two data are known.
For more complex calculations, operators can input points, lines and circles then find intersections, centres or any other information relating to the input geometry.
"It's now much easier to develop a program on either machine," Bill McClusky confirmed.
"The retrofits have made them significantly easier to use and the back-up from Anilam has been very good.
The training video supplied for the 1200T is excellent.
In fact, I intend to incorporate the test piece that features in the film as part of the course work as this will, I believe, help students to relate to the control more easily.".
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