Hopefully some knowledgeable folks here can add information to this thread.
I have a Brother Speedio and and Okuma lathe. I also do work for a company with a bunch of Kitamura and Mazak machines (Mitsubishi) as well as Fanuc control machines. I am a former software developer/electronics guy turned CAM programmer/machinist/automation guy.
I am interested in doing data collection from various CNC machines. I know there are off-the-shelf solutions out there, but I am really interested in delving deeper into the actual NC controls and seeing what I can do by myself.
As an example, I know the Kitamuras with Arumatik Mi controls use a Windows embedded PC at the control which communicates to the actual NC unit. I believe someone at Kitamura told me they used "Easy connect" from Mitsubishi to build their Arumatik interface which was only available to machine tool builders, because it allows read and write access to anything in the NC unit. Does anyone know if that is indeed the case? Also, does anyone know the actual protocol that the NC unit uses to communicate to the Windows PC with? Is that ProfiBus?
I know Kitamura sells an MT Connect "adapter" but it doesn't offer the functionality I need, which means any off-the-shelf monitoring/data collection software won't be able to collect what I want - for example probing results. I can write a software application to run on the Windows PC but would need access to more data from the NC unit than MT Connect allows. I can reverse engineer the Arimatik DLL's and API but that would be hugely time consuming. Looking for other options?
Then there's Fanuc. I know about FOCAS which is the easy way to handle it, but IIRC Fanuc also uses ProfiBus so is that what's running on the back-end to communicate between the Windows PC at the actual control station and the NC unit? Actually on many Fanuc machines they are one and the same, I believe.
Then there's the Brother, which has a Linux/Unix O/S on the back end. Has anyone had any luck accessing real time data from that, or installing their own application in the control?
Pretty much the same with Okuma, which use Windows on their newer controls also.
Just looking for info/ideas/options from those who know stuff I don't
I have a Brother Speedio and and Okuma lathe. I also do work for a company with a bunch of Kitamura and Mazak machines (Mitsubishi) as well as Fanuc control machines. I am a former software developer/electronics guy turned CAM programmer/machinist/automation guy.
I am interested in doing data collection from various CNC machines. I know there are off-the-shelf solutions out there, but I am really interested in delving deeper into the actual NC controls and seeing what I can do by myself.
As an example, I know the Kitamuras with Arumatik Mi controls use a Windows embedded PC at the control which communicates to the actual NC unit. I believe someone at Kitamura told me they used "Easy connect" from Mitsubishi to build their Arumatik interface which was only available to machine tool builders, because it allows read and write access to anything in the NC unit. Does anyone know if that is indeed the case? Also, does anyone know the actual protocol that the NC unit uses to communicate to the Windows PC with? Is that ProfiBus?
I know Kitamura sells an MT Connect "adapter" but it doesn't offer the functionality I need, which means any off-the-shelf monitoring/data collection software won't be able to collect what I want - for example probing results. I can write a software application to run on the Windows PC but would need access to more data from the NC unit than MT Connect allows. I can reverse engineer the Arimatik DLL's and API but that would be hugely time consuming. Looking for other options?
Then there's Fanuc. I know about FOCAS which is the easy way to handle it, but IIRC Fanuc also uses ProfiBus so is that what's running on the back-end to communicate between the Windows PC at the actual control station and the NC unit? Actually on many Fanuc machines they are one and the same, I believe.
Then there's the Brother, which has a Linux/Unix O/S on the back end. Has anyone had any luck accessing real time data from that, or installing their own application in the control?
Pretty much the same with Okuma, which use Windows on their newer controls also.
Just looking for info/ideas/options from those who know stuff I don't