Is there any other reason that a program would change other than sabatoge? Our Lead this morning confronted us about one of our programs being changed and it crashed the machine. Apparently, our feed program had parentheses randomly inserted and a tool had been completely deleted. No one owns up to the changes and he suspects foul play. I hate to think anyone of us would do it deliberately. I’m really new to machining and was wondering if these programs ever malfunction on their own, without human input.
Also, have had problems before with programs being changed and it creating problems. So they locked us out of being able to edit the programs. When we have to change something, we have to go ask for the key and tell them why we need it. Which is a good thing. It seemed to be working, that is until now.
No, we ran this program about a month ago. We changed back to this product yesterday. That’s when the issues were found. All the programs are already in the control panel. When we change over we just pull the program from an internal memory storage( I assume that’s what you mean by control memory). They use a USB to transfer programs between machines. The machines are connected to internet but we don’t upload new or make changes to programs this way. We make changes via the control panel from a blueprint, but all the programs are there and we just make changes as needed. As far as I know it is completely locked out. The key to unlock the edit option is kept by the supervisors and must be obtained from them. It’s a new facility that has only been open almost 2 years. They’ve been growing so over the last 8 months have added 2 more shifts with new operators. All with varying degrees of experience.
What machine tool and control?
Was the tool completely missing or did it have parantheses around tool call?
Regarding the specifics of the changes he did not say. He was just confronting each shift. We have had a lot of unnecessary drama and tensions are high.
*Not understanding what you mean when you refer to “feed program
I apologize, we make conveyors for mines. The CNCs I run are the Okuma mill/lathes and I make the shafts that go inside the rollers. The feed program is the one that dictates the shaft length.
Thanks for the help.
Have seen in the past on older Mazak machine with matrix if you edited or opened in Notepad
Sometimes EOB would be dropped off and bits of code missing when you run the NC side when reopen in Note pad program looks fine.
Ended up running directly from our NX posted file without opening on machine. Mazak know of this when editing in different versions of note pad.
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Okuma has a reliable control, I would not think there was electrical interference that might change the code. Sounds like a tool call was missing, not likely a power blip would remove the tool call, it might insert a bad character. Since it was a proven program, I would look at the date it was last edited. if it was recent, someone has tampered with program. Usually if someone inserts extra parentheses, they were leaving a comment or wanting to skip some code. If they placed the parantheses before and after the tool call, it would not see it and would perform as if the tool was deleted. Highly unlikely that electrical noise would add a open and then a closed parenthese.
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Thank you guys for your help. I appreciate it.
Here’s my question did the guy that loaded the machine and did the setup check the program. Number 1 rule is to run through simulator on the machine. Number 2 is to step your program through the 1st cycle. Then you will find these issues before a crash will happen.
And when I say step it through in a production shop like where you are. I mean slow the rapids down and watch for tool clearances. These are 2 rules that apply at any shop, and there are others but this would have caught that incident.
And Okuma lathes or mills anyone in here knows exactly what I mean when you got both hands running those Rapid and Feed Dials.
So I was mistaken, he didn’t actually crash it. I thought he had but when I talked with him yesterday morning he said it would have. It was apparently the cutter bar tool that had been removed and a couple other things changed. Not sure at which point he caught it . Doubtful that he checked the program first, be it that we ran that program back in June and it was good then. I didn’t get into it too much, just try to keep it brief. And I have been making sure let them know any changes I make in a program and what it was before and then ask them what I should do next time if that was the incorrect move.
Was not aware that there was a simulation on the machine ( I’ve only been machining since February). I have stepped through a program after replacing a end mill or drill etc. But not my first cycle. It’s usually select the main-spindle program and dial in the part with the offsets, then the sub-spindle. Then load the run program.
Not sure what you mean “both hands running Rapid and Feed Dials”. When stepping through I do slow the speed of the turret while it moves in. Our dials on the machine do nothing, I assume they were not setup.
What videos can I watch to get more details on that and the simulator?
Thanks for your time.
Been a while on a Okuma either it has graphics or use machine lock and go at it then
See if this works for you
- Machine Lock
- You can switch on the “Dry Run” also
- Auto mode.
- Call the program
- Go to animation screen. Adjust the scale
- Push the green button