Friday, April 13, 2007

Lean turning - In Gear - Kasper Machine Co. boring machine - Brief Article

Who: Kasper Machine Company (Madison Heights, MI)

What: Lean Model 300L turning and boring machine

Why you should care: The 300L uses a unique slide way design and a low friction bearing surface, which combines one box way for high rigidity with one vee way for high accuracy on both axes. The machine is designed to be fully self-contained and have a compact footprint to meet the needs of companies that are implementing lean manufacturing strategies.

Pertinent Data: The 300L is a single-spindle, two-axis turning machine that is designed for quick installation or relocation with a forklift. The machines can be grouped side by side with zero clearance between machines to make the best use of limited floorspace. Each machine takes up only 40 sq. ft. Applications include: heavy-duty roughing and precision hard turning operations. Eight to twelve tools can be mounted on the curvic coupling turret using common square and round shank tooling. The machine can be maintained from the front or the rear. A rear exit chip conveyor is standard, but the machine can also be mounted over an in-floor flume for chip disposal.

PCD Grinding Machine has automatic view position facility

Manual RG5B uses proprietary control system that lets users develop tool program comprised of individual grind blocks (steps). Input via 15 in. touchscreen, each block specifies wheel position, wheel reciprocation speed from 0.1-50 mm/sec, wheel speed, wheel direction, and viewing position. System allows complete tools to be ground without re-adjusting machine to reposition for next flank or radius. Unit offers reciprocating table travel to 330 mm.

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The RG5B grinding machine is the latest development in Coborn's highly successful "RG" series of manual, PCD grinding machines. It embraces all of the features of the RG5A machine plus new improvements designed to enable tools to be ground far more efficiently and with greater consistency accuracy.

A new Coborn control system is used which enables users to quickly develop a tool program. Each program consists of a sequence of individual "grind blocks". Each grind block represents one grinding step, such that a tool with, for example, two flanks and one radius would be made up of 3 grind blocks. Each block specifies the wheel position, speed of wheel reciprocation, wheel speed, wheel direction and viewing position. The sequence of blocks is then saved under a program name or number which can then be quickly selected and re-used the next time the same tool has to be ground. Other functions, such as in-feed are controlled manually.
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The system allows complete tools to be ground without the need to re-adjust the machine to reposition for the next flank or radius. A view position facility is provided which automatically moves the wheel away, turns off the coolant and turn on the viewing lamp. When viewing is complete, the machine will automatically turn off the lamp, turn on the coolant, and move the head back to the current grind position and reciprocate.

Features of the machine Control system.

o Control via an industrial PC, software by Coborn Engineering

o Easy to control system, no 'computing' know-how necessary

o Input via a large, easy to read, 15" touch screen

o Tool programs quickly and easily developed ensuring minimal setup time

o Reciprocation amplitude and position stored and adjustable to 1 micron

o Reciprocating speed stored and adjustable from 0.1 - 50mm per sec

o Automatic view position facility, allows one touch viewing and return

o Digital readout with one micron resolution, switchable from mm to inches

o Control unit mounted on double swivel and tilt arm for convenient positioning General

Advanced Work Stop Tool - Brief Article

The five-axis work stop is a new machine tool accessory. The work stop has been designed to meet and defeat problems associated with almost every type of milling work stop used in today's machine shop. The five-axis work stop is said to eliminate the need for numerous work stops previously required.

The work stop is compact and single mounts via t-nut to any size table base or machine. It requires minimum table area, allowing machinists maximum table room for additional work stops or vises. Work stop interference with the machine tooling is said to be eliminated as well.

The work stop locks in quickly and easily by securing two allen blots with a tong arm alien wrench. It has an adjustable sliding stop bar that is 8" long with a ball end and is easily maneuvered into many different positions.

Machine tool consumption rises

The latest data from the United States Machine Tool Consumption Report (USMTC) indicate that machine tool consumption in the US totaled approximately $46 million in May. This total represents an increase of 8% from April, but a decrease of 8.5% when compared to the estimate of $510 million for May 1999.

Cumulative consumption through May has been computed at $2.3 billion. When compared to 1999, consumption data reveal a 4% increase.

The USMTC report, jointly compiled by AMT and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributor's Association, provides regional and national data on consumption of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment in the United States.

Software gives streaming data on machine dynamics

Used with ML10 laser calibration system, QuickView software permits engineers to study minute variations in linear or angular displacements, velocities, or accelerations in machines and mechanical devices. Graphic interface allows flexible point and measure operation, while oscilloscope-type display options, combined with inherent low noise of ML10 laser, permit users to see features on screen down to 1 nm (linear) or 0.01 arc/sec (angular) resolution.

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QuickView(TM) software package gives streaming data on machine dynamics, while delivering superior performance and cost-effectiveness to accelerometers and laser vibrometers

June 2005 - Renishaw extends the motion analysis capabilities of its ML10 laser calibration system to give engineers continuous "streaming" data on machine dynamics, viewable on a live oscilloscope-type display. A new, simple-to-use and intuitive software package, QuickView(TM) enables real-time, high-resolution motion analysis of linear or angular positioning accuracy, velocities or accelerations. Essentially, Renishaw has combined the superb accuracy and resolution of its interferometer system with the ease of use of a conventional oscilloscope. The flexible analytical software makes the ML10, universally used for machine tool calibration, into a powerful, cost-effective tool for engineering, research and academic institutions.

Just as electronic engineers rely on oscilloscopes to study high-speed variations in voltage or current, QuickView software permits mechanical engineers to study minute variations in linear or angular displacements, velocities, or accelerations in all kinds of machines and mechanical devices. Applications include everything from miniaturized, high-speed stages in the electronics and biotechnology fields to transducers, actuators, machine tools, measuring machines, and many kinds and sizes of multi-axis motion systems. The ML10 interferometer with QuickView software provides a cost-effective alternative to accelerometers and vibrometers, plus the superior accuracy of true differential measurement.
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QuickView's simple, graphic interface allows flexible "point and measure" operation, avoiding the need for predefined measurement targets and sequences. Display options, combined with inherent low noise of the ML10 laser, permit users to see features on the screen down to 1 nm (linear) or 0.01 arc/sec (angular) resolution.

Functionalities of the versatile software include:

o Live data display in oscilloscope-style format

o Three modes of data capture: free running, single shot trigger and multi-shot trigger

o Easily exportable CSV data format allows detailed off-line analysis

o Cursors for measurement of amplitude, time and frequency

o Linear, angular and straightness measurement options

o Distance, velocity and acceleration display modes

o Pan and zoom function allowing 'close up' analysis of selected data

Running on Windows[R] XP, QuickView software reads the laser data at 5Khz and displays the result as a position-vs.-time trace on the screen in real time. Conventional time-base and gain controls enable adjustment of the time-base (x-axis) from 10 ms to 20 seconds and the position axis from 100 nm to 5 m.

Additional on-screen buttons allow selection of AC or DC coupling and a range of low-pass filters with response times of 0 ms, 2 ms, 5 ms, and 10 ms. AC coupling is especially useful when measuring vibration, enabling any slow drift in position (due to thermal expansion, for example) to be rejected.

The QuickView software has the ability (unlike a conventional oscilloscope) to differentiate incoming data to obtain velocity or acceleration versus time traces. Velocities are obtained by calculating the differences between adjacent laser position readings, while accelerations are computed from the difference between adjacent laser velocity readings. The ML 10's low-pass filters are especially useful in removing noise from velocity and acceleration traces.

Compared to an accelerometer, the Renishaw interferometer system provides superior linear and angular accuracies for assessing dynamic positioning performance and repeatability. Linear position data, for example, is accurate to [+ or -]0.7 ppm (e.g. [+ or -]0.7 [micro]m over a 1 meter move).

The QuickView software is designed for use with Renishaw's new DX10 interface which connects the laser and environmental compensator to the PC via an industry standard USB connection. The DX10 replaces the older PCMCIA (laptop) or ISA (desktop) interfaces, and is compatible with the established Renishaw "Laser 10" laser measurement and capture software package.

Root out lawn and garden tool hazards

For many Americans, working outdoors on the lawn and in the garden is a great way to exercise and relax. However, safety experts warn that, if caution is not employed with lawn and garden tools, you could wind up spending more time indoors, starting with a trip to a hospital emergency room.

"The most frequent injuries are from lawn mowers, which are unforgiving machines," cautions John Drengenberg, manager of Consumer Affairs for Underwriters Laboratories Inc., Northbrook, Ill., a not-for-profit product safety testing organization. "Statistics tell us that each year lawn mower accidents send close to 85,000 people to emergency rooms. But that's not all. Nearly 15,000 others need medical treatment for injuries from trimmers and other power garden tools."

Drengenberg suggests taking these precautions when working with lawn mowers:
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* Read the owner's manual and know how to stop the machine instantly in an emergency.

* Always start the mower outdoors. Never operate it where carbon monoxide can collect, such as in a closed garage or storage shed.

* Do not run an electrically powered lawn mower on wet grass.

* Use an extension cord designed for outdoor use and rated for the power needs of the machine.

* Never reach under the mower while it is running. Make all adjustments with the motor off.

* Ensure all safety guards are in place. If you hit a foreign object or have a malfunction, turn off the mower (and disconnect the power cord from electric models) before inspecting for damage.

* Never leave a lawn mower running while unattended.

* Keep other adults, children, and pets clear. Mowers can fling rocks at up to 200 miles per hour.

* Make sure shoes provide good traction and have sturdy soles to resist punctures and protect toes. Never work barefoot or in sandals, canvas shoes, etc.

Concerning lawn and garden tools, it is best to:

* Inspect tools for frayed power cords and cracked or broken casings. If the product is damaged, have it repaired by a qualified technician, or replace it.

* Always wear safety glasses and proper attire. Keep clothing, hands, and feet away from cutting blades at all times. Never wear loose jewelry when working with tools.

* Never alter a product or remove any safety features, especially blade guards and electric plug grounding pins.

* Check the switch on a power tool or garden appliance to make sure it is off before you plug it in.

* Unplug all portable electrically operated power tools when not in use. They contain electricity even when turned off but still plugged in.

* Pay attention to warning markings. Do not allow tools to get wet unless they are specifically labeled "Immersible." When operating tools outside, make sure they are appropriate for that use.

* Use and store power tools and garden appliances away from water sources to avoid electric shock. Never use power tools and appliances in the rain.

* Do not carry an appliance by the cord or yank the cord when removing it from a receptacle. When disconnecting, always grasp the plug--not the wire. Keep the cord away from heat, oil, and objects with sharp edges.

A Linux-based tool for hardware bring up, Linux development, and manufacturing

Bare Metal Linux (BML), a tool that we implemented to accelerate the bring up of POWER5 * (1)-based systems, is described in this paper. The POWER5 processor, released in 2004, is the latest version of the POWER architecture from IBM (POWER is a RISC [reduced instruction set computer] architecture). The POWER5 design implements two-way simultaneous multithreading (SMT) on each of the two processor cores on the chip. SMT combines multithreading, which consists of multiple threads utilizing the same processor in one-at-a-time fashion, with the simultaneous use of the multiple execution units present in a modern processor. In the two-thread SMT architecture of POWER5, the execution units not needed by the first thread are available to the second thread in the same clock cycle.

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) refers to a computer memory architecture where the memory access time depends on the memory location. Specifically, access to local memory is faster than nonlocal memory. For increased efficiency the operating system must incorporate in its algorithms knowledge about NUMA, such as the ratio of access times to local and remote memories. Although POWER5 systems, which contain multiple memory controllers distributed throughout the machine, are not NUMA in the classical sense (remote memory latency is very close to local memory latency), they still benefit from NUMA-aware scheduling.
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When a new system is designed, it is necessary to put the hardware through a series of tests to verify that it functions as expected. Booting a general-purpose operating system is a complex exercise requiring hardware errors to be addressed, initializations to be set up correctly, and firmware to be functional before operating-system testing can commence. This bring-up process is usually done in stages, incrementally increasing the scope and coverage of the hardware tested.

Typically the bring up of a processor chip begins at wafer test, when test patterns are run on the wafer to detect any circuits that are not working correctly. After good test sites (on the wafer} have been identified, the chips are diced and mounted on substrates to form modules. The bring up then continues on these modules by mounting them in test fixtures, which provide the system environment. At this point the chips execute functional code sequences intended to verify proper instruction execution. These low-level tests consist of the following steps: (1) generate a stream of instructions, initial conditions, and expected results, (2) load and run the generated stream and save the results, and (3) compare these results to the expected results.

After the low-level tests have verified basic processor functions, more complex exercisers are then used to verify functions in the processor and memory subsystems. After this stage is completed, the verification process continues at the operating-system level. Support is provided to execute larger, more complex programs that require a file system for storing code, data, and supporting tools. At this point support for I/O devices is needed. Whereas it is fairly straightforward to develop and employ low-level exercisers for processor core and memory, when I/O is required, then the flexibility of a general-purpose operating system is typically needed.

The POWER5 system predecessor, using POWER4 * processors, (2) supported two methods of booting an operating system. In the first method the operating system is booted directly on the hardware by firmware. In the second method the firmware loads a hypervisor and, at the same time, the system resources are allocated to a number of hypervisor-controlled partitions. Each partition behaves as a separate virtual computer, on which an operating system may be loaded.

The POWER5 hypervisor provides additional virtualization capabilities compared to those for POWER4 systems, and in particular a high degree of resiliency to runtime errors. Supporting such advanced functions necessarily involves complexity. Although the architecture of the hypervisor has been designed to support additional virtual resources, these advanced functions were integrated throughout the hypervisor and the supporting firmware. As a result, POWER5 firmware no longer supports booting the operating system directly on the hardware.

This presented a problem during the bring-up phase of system development, when the hardware and the software were brought together. At this stage, the I/O had very limited testing. Without a general-purpose operating system running, the POWER5 bring-up team could not run operating system-based exercisers on the new hardware. Yet, the hypervisor had to be functional before an operating system could be booted. Complex error recovery during early bring up was not desirable because it had the potential to hide errors from the debug engineers. For these reasons relying on the hypervisor for the bring up was ruled out.