The customer’s 12-Axis Honing Machine included a three-station honing system that incrementally honed the part to its final size. The machine interfaced with a part feeder and an outfeed system so that it was entirely enclosed and required little operator intervention. This required smart part handling logic to prevent machine or part damage by ensuring that parts were always accounted for.
DMC also wrote standardized gage control logic that was used to determine when a part was at the correct size. The gage control was created as a stand-alone generic code module that can be used on many other machines as needed. A comprehensive user interface was created to give the operator maximum control and flexibility and optimize machine performance.
DMC has previously created a standardized machine architecture for the customer's honing machines which was used as a major foundation for the programming. Every machine is unique, but the core components are the same. This allowed for rapid program development, especially since the focus of the project was on adding the unique, new features of this machine, rather than on the base architecture.
Ultimately, the customer wanted to take over full control of the commissioning and any ongoing machine support without needing additional assistance from DMC. To accomplish this, DMC collaborated with the customer's engineers to ensure they were fully knowledgeable about the code base and machine operation.
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