Product category:
Industrial Motors
News Release from: ACI (UK) | Subject: Anilam 3000M Series
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 06 January 2005
CNC is just what the doctor ordered
A retrofit CNC is providing an unrivalled level of user-friendliness to machining operations at the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust's Medical Equipment Management Organisation.
By retrofitting an Anilam 3000M Series CNC to an Avon knee-type milling machine, ACI Europe agent Machine Tool Controls of Pontypool has implanted an unrivalled level of user-friendliness into machining operations at the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust's Medical Equipment Management Organisation (MEMO) The retrofit - which involved extensive rewiring of the machine - was efficiently carried out on-site by Machine Tool Controls, and saw the Anilam 3000M three-axis CNC replace the G-code based original control
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 23 Aug 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
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
Control systems prove popular on machine tools
The popularity of Anilam control systems with machine tool builders and distributors as well as end users has been borne out again recently with comments from Gate Machinery International
The result is that the machine is now much more suited to MEMO's requirements.
Jemma Thompson, Clinical Technologist at the Bristol Royal Infirmary's engineering facility, explains that MEMO undertakes a wide range of tasks as part of its support role for the Directorate of Medical Physics and Bio-engineering - for example, the service and maintenance of the Trust's radio therapy, X-ray machines and scanners, patient monitoring and life support equipment.
"CNC machining can be considered just one aspect of our work", she says, "since we are asked to design and develop anything, in a variety of materials, that will support MEMO's brief".
Further reading
Linear encoders for most metalcutting processes
Anilam manufactures a comprehensive range of glass precision linear encoders with resolutions from five microns to 0.5 micron for most metalcutting and forming processes
Digital readout plays key role at Dyson supplier
An Anilam Wizard digital readout system is playing a key role in maintaining the necessary quality levels required in the manufacture of the Dyson Contrarotator washing machin
A good example is the production of 240 x 240 x 40mm perspex "phantom" blocks that are used to gather performance data from X-ray and radiation machines.
"In certain circumstances we do offer our machining capacity on a subcontract basis", she continues, "but mainly the work that passes through the shop are complex one-offs and small batches, so the need for a user-friendly, easily programmable CNC was essential".
"We've had the mill for probably 15 years, since new in fact, and because the machine is not used full-time on a daily basis and is largely processing 'soft' materials such as perspex, its mechanical qualities were sound".
"But the old control system was causing problems particularly in terms of programming, so in conjunction with Machine Tool Controls we decided to upgrade to a modern Anilam system".
The two-/three-axis 3000M CNC features a minimum of 8Mbyte of RAM (up to 64Mbyte) and incorporates Anilam's renowned easy-to-use Machinist's Language, coupled with a wide range of standard cycles such as peck drilling, pocket milling and face milling; advanced cycles including ellipse, spiral, helical, tapping, irregular pocket milling and profile milling, as well as special cycles that include counterboring.
Illustrating the system's ease of use, the standard cycle for bolt hole patterns enables patterns of any configuration to be quickly produced by answering five simple questions.
Likewise, after answering a few questions, the drill cycle takes users through simple drill, peck drill and boring routines.
Sitting alongside a mixture of CNC and manual machine tools, the performance of the new-look milling operations are, confirms Thompson, just what the doctor ordered.
• ACI (UK): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
