Industrial PCs take on CNC duties
A
CKS Holdings product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Sep 5, 2003
The Precision Engineering Division of HPC has chosen CKS industrial computers and trackerballs to monitor its CNC machining systems.
Established in 1959 and based at Burgess Hill, HPC Engineering specialises in high-precision manufacturing and serves a broad industrial base including automotive, aerospace, defence, computing, medical and energy sectors.
The Precision Engineering Division of HPC, responsible for CNC machine services, chose CKS industrial computers and trackerballs to monitor its CNC machining systems.
CKS Holdings is a leading UK HMI provider with a range of products - designed and manufactured at its ISO9001 Hertfordshire facility - that includes industrial computers, sealed industrial keyboards and trackerballs, local operator interfaces and monitors.
With a worldwide distribution network, CKS products are found in all industry sectors where harsh environmental conditions demand the highest levels of ruggedness and reliability.
HPC manufactures to customer specifications, and the CNC machines are controlled by datafile programs stored on a database.
The programs enable the files to be transferred to the CKS PCs via the network and RS232 communication.
The PCs interface with the user to allow access to the programs they require and transfer them back to the CNC machines.
Another function performed by the CKS computers is to automatically or manually monitor the status of the CNC machines.
The machines are either in production or out of production for maintenance, repair, awaiting new instructions or inspection.
All these status conditions are monitored and recorded by the industrial PC.
"Because of our demanding environment, producing our own industrial PCs was neither reliable nor cost effective", states Steve Hutchinson, HPC's IT Systems Administrator.
"CKS not only produced an industrial PC that was rugged and reliable enough for our needs, but also offered us a price that was more attractive than other industrial PC manufacturers".
HPC is currently employing 30 CKS industrial PCs.
As the amount of manual input to the CNC machines is minimal, trackerballs are used in place of keyboards.
A touch screen system would have been preferred, but the amount of grease and dirt deposited onto the screens by the operators made this option unworkable.
The CKS trackerballs - which have been 100% reliable since they were installed 3 years ago - carry out this function perfectly.
They are rugged, perform reliably under harsh conditions and are easily cleaned and maintained.
All CKS industrial computers carry a 3-year warranty and CKS trackerballs a 5-year warranty.
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