With the increasing demand for cutting technology and the corresponding growing need for greater flexibility and productivity, the market demand for more advanced machine tools is also constantly increasing. Eberhard Hahl, Managing Director of Wassermann Technologie, headquartered in Eichenberg (near Fulda), Germany, explains: “The innovative tooling end effector is tailored to the latest customer needs. Only the diameter of the tool and the tool drum is predefined, while all parameters such as tool length, length division, number of tools, tool cleaning, tool holder, and RFID tool data acquisition can be freely configured, characterized by its very compact design. In this tooling end effector, the tool drums run internally around each other around a single axis, rather than side-by-side.”
Beckhoff's CP3915 multi-touch control panel features a modern design with button extensions, providing a high-quality look for the tool magazine.
Christoph Neuhaus, an application software development engineer at Becker Engineering, headquartered in Lechlingen, Germany, added: “Greater flexibility also means the ability to integrate the widest range of machine tools with the most diverse control platforms. The openness of PC-based control systems is key to enabling this capability. For example, third-party software can also run on Beckhoff’s control hardware, allowing for easy access to the tool tables for each machine tool.”
Flexible structure and use
Depending on the specific application requirements, a concentric tool terminator consists of one or up to two additional tool drums that orbit each other within the system. Tool transport is achieved by a linear unit integrated with a tool changer. This unit places the tool in the tool drum and delivers it to the tool buffer or directly to the machine tool's tool changer. "The tool terminator has a tool management system that can manage up to 9,000 tools, suitable for use as a direct-access tool magazine, or as an extension of an existing tool magazine, or as a central tool magazine for multiple machine tools," noted Eberhard Hahl. Julian Becker, an application software development engineer at Becker Engineering, explained the key advantages of the terminator as an intelligent auxiliary tool magazine. "The tool terminator can operate completely autonomously. For this, it has its own tool management, database, and sequence control system, as well as its own machine tool interface. In addition, the tool magazine itself includes software for external auxiliary processing, interfacing with peripheral devices, and integrated machining data acquisition," Becker said.
As Hahl explained, the high flexibility of the tool terminal means it can help end customers save significant costs. “In the tool terminal, we’ve designed a versatile standard tool magazine with excellent cost-effectiveness. And it can be customized to a single connection with the machine tool to meet entirely customer needs. The tool terminal comes standard with two models: the S-Curve for up to 280 tools and the D-Curve for up to 570 tools,” he said.
The openness of PC-based control systems means that the tool end can connect to machine tools equipped with any third-party control system.
Open, scalable and efficient control technology
Since 2014, Becker Engineering has been using PC-based control systems, accumulating extensive application experience. Christoph Neuhaus believes that PC control systems have brought them many benefits: "We have benefited greatly from the fact that PLCs and other high-level language applications can be implemented on the same common multitasking platform. Another benefit is high scalability. If performance requirements increase, the system can easily migrate control projects to more powerful hardware, such as a device equipped with a multi-core processor." Wilm Schadach from Becker's Mönheim sales office added: "PC-based control systems also offer complete continuity in development and design. This means that the tool database can run on the same platform as the PLC, motion control, and visualization applications. In practice, this has proven to be a major advantage of the entire system architecture." Moreover, Becker believes that Becker's PC-based control technology is easy to learn: "Support for common, standardized programming languages significantly simplifies programming."
The AM8000 series servo motors feature high dynamics and precise motion control sequences. Their compact design and single-cable technology reduce space requirements and shorten start-up time.
The ability to implement the system on a universal, multi-tasking platform has been incredibly beneficial. Another advantage is its high scalability. If performance requirements increase, the system can be easily migrated to more powerful hardware, such as a device equipped with a multi-core processor. Wilm Schadach from Beckhoff's Monheim sales office added, "PC-based control systems also offer complete continuity in development and design. This means the tool database can run on the same platform as the PLC, motion control, and visualization applications. This has proven to be a major advantage of the entire system architecture." Furthermore, Becker believes that Beckhoff's PC-based control technology is easy to learn: "Support for universal, standardized programming languages significantly simplifies the programming process."
Becker Engineering has also benefited greatly from the various data communication options offered by TwinCAT ADS. Neuhaus stated, “ADS allows easy access to PLC data from high-level language applications. On the other hand, developing an ADS server using a high-level language is also easy, and the ADS server can be conveniently accessed from the PLC. This enables reliable data transmission between the tool magazine and the machine tool, for example, exchanging job numbers or previously evaluated usage data. Furthermore, necessary updates can be loaded quickly and easily in the future. Industry 4.0 solutions can also be implemented using a client/server architecture via ADS communication.”
For Christoph Neuhaus, other important aspects of PC-based control systems include the availability of the current Windows operating system, user-friendly software update strategies, and available simulation options without additional licensing or hardware requirements. “You can simulate the entire system on your own development PC. That is, you can convert motion axes to simulated axes, or use software simulation function blocks to map I/O behavior similar to the hardware,” he summarized.
Efficient and convenient motion control
In the recently implemented tool end unit with two cutter drums, a total of five servo axes were used for rapid and precise tool transport. AX5000 servo drives and AM8000 servo motors were controlled by a CX2030 embedded controller equipped with a TwinCAT NC PTP. In addition, a rotary axis was provided for each of the two cutter drums, a vertical axis for reaching the desired cutter drum height, a horizontal axis for reaching the horizontal level, and a rotary axis for the dual grippers. The pneumatic control of the dual grippers was an additional automation task. Eberhard Hahl added, “The tool is transported from the cutter drum to the outside via the gripper rotary axis. This can also be used as a telescopic axis to transport the tool directly to the tool magazine on the machine tool without intermediate processing steps.”
Motion control applications are implemented in TwinCAT software using PLCopen motion control function blocks. Christoph Neuhaus believes this has been proven in practice: "Programming motion control functions using relevant function blocks is very simple and time-saving. Another advantage of Beckhoff drive technology is the use of single-cable technology (OCT). It greatly reduces assembly and material costs and allows for the use of smaller cable carriers, thus enabling more compact designs. In addition, electronic nameplates greatly speed up the startup process."
