"Is it
easy? That certainly seems to be a popular question from customers starting up a
new machine," said Todd Drane, Fagor Automation marketing manager. "Regardless
if it's a small knee mill, big boring mill or vertical machining center,
customers are looking for the machine to be productive right away. If the CNC is
not easy and versatile at the same time, more than likely the customer is going
to have a disappointing experience with their new upgraded machine."
"Fagor recognizes and understands this perhaps better than anybody and this is why we have spent so much time developing our 8055 operating system with the mindset of ease of operation coupled with the versatility a CNC must possess to be able to handle a very broad variety of retrofit applications," said Drane. "As the development of the 8055 CNC operating system began, the very first initiative we put on ourselves was to ensure that this operating system would appease 'all' operators regardless of their skill level or programming style preference. To do this, we knew that we needed to create an operating system that took conversational programming to the next level. The first thing we realized is that in order to truly make a CNC so simple that an operator with absolute no previous programming experience could learn how to create, simulate and execute a CNC program within two hours, it had to be different than the traditional menu-driven conversational systems. Thus, we developed the ICON key conversational programming system.
"The ICON key conversational system eliminates the constant shuffling of various menus's to create an operation, it instead, utilizes the philosophy of an ICON key, in which you simply have a key with a picture of the operation you wish to create," said Todd Drane. "In other words, on our milling models, there are ICON keys with pictures of a drill entering a part, or a pocket or boss, on our turning CNC, you will see a picture of a thread or a face. Therefore, the operator simply needs to press the key of the operation he wishes to create, which prompts a graphical interface screen. What is important on this screen is not just the graphical example of the operation, but that we bring 'all' variable information to a single page. What this allows is for the customer to simply enter in all variables directly off the blueprint, this includes all tool/offset calls, speeds and feeds, coolant, spindle direction and even all finishing pass information. The result is there is no need to shuffle around to various screens entering in the same data that you can accomplish on a single screen accessed by a single key. This is the conversational ICON key philosophy.
"Even if your operation calls for a complex profile, the on-board mini CAD/CAM system is available with a single keystroke. Creating the profile is as simple as entering in the variables directly off the blueprint. Even if you do not have all data points, the editor will calculate all possible mathematical possibilities and display them for the operator to choose from. In addition, productivity features such as Solid Graphics, scaling, mirror imaging, pattern rotation are all standard features.
"The ICON key conversational programming system is only part of what makes the 8055 CNC ideal for all applications. The 8055 CNC contains a very powerful G-code editor that includes high-level language programming and an interactive editor that makes G-code easy even for the novice. What is ideal about these two systems is that the customer can toggle between the two systems simply by pressing 'Shift/esc', thus operators from different shifts can easily switch to the system they prefer to work with. All of this is provided on a high resolution LCD TFT color monitor that is included as standard on every Fagor 8055 CNC System.
"Having both the ICON key conversational system and a very powerful ISO G-code programming system satisfies all shop floor programmers. We also realized not everyone is creating their CNC programs on the shop floor. We knew that having a CNC that is easy to communicate with via a variety of methods was equally as important. Therefore, as standard, all Fagor 8055 CNC Systems contain an rs232 serial port, Ethernet capability and a USB port for easy program uploading. We even offer a very powerful and friendly windows-based DNC program free of charge to all customers. This versatility is what the 8055 is all about in all aspects. We simply wanted to foresee and satisfy all customer needs before they asked for them. This does not end with the operating system or the communication versatility, but also the features of the CNC. Regardless if you have a simple three axes knee mill or you may require a seven simultaneous CNC with live tooling and gantry axes, the 8055 has these capabilities.
"We did not stop at our CNC System. We also developed a broad range of Sercos Digital Servo/Motor and Spindle systems that respectively range from 1 NM to over 50 NM for the axes Servo Systems and up to and over 50 KW for the Spindle systems with a broad range of working spindle RPM ranges to choose from. We even manufacture our own precision Rotary & Linear Encoders for virtually all machine tool applications. What is most important with these products is that they are all designed and developed to work in unison with one another and we guarantee it," Drane said.
For more information contact:
Southwest
Todd Drane
Fagor Southwest operations
281-463-3915
Southeast
Joel Kasnik
Fagor Southeast operations
813-654-4599
Northeast
Wayne Nelson
Fagor East Coast operations
973-773-3525
Midwest
Fagor US Headquarters
800-423-2467