we have a v-center 105 mill that was purchased 3 years ago and it came with a smw accu-smart rotary. we can hook it up and power it, and rotate it, everything except the air lines i believe. the problem is i have no idea on where to start to get it to communicate with the controller. it currently has a Fanuc 18-M controller. i contacted Fanuc and they told me to contact the manufacturer of the rotarty. ive got the user manual but when i google the company nothing comes up. Any one know what to do with this thing? Hopefully we dont have just a huge paper weight sitting around.
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SWM ACCU-SMART ROTARY help
- Thread starter cnczack
- Start date
- Replies 14
- Views 2,991
TeachMePlease
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2014
- Location
- FL
Well, are you sure it's SWM and not SMW? SMW is a popular maker of chucks and work holding devices for CNC machine tools....
lol yeah youre right SMW
ATS sells those.
CNC Rotary Machining Tables and Systems — ATS
The controller is made by SMW, and the indexer is made by Kitagawa. We put one on a machine earlier this year. The people at ATS were helpful in getting us going. It's a nice unit.
Is it already wired to the machine? Then you should just look for the M-code to activate an index.
CNC Rotary Machining Tables and Systems — ATS
The controller is made by SMW, and the indexer is made by Kitagawa. We put one on a machine earlier this year. The people at ATS were helpful in getting us going. It's a nice unit.
Is it already wired to the machine? Then you should just look for the M-code to activate an index.
Yes its already wired to the machine. I got a hold of ATS. they basically said it was an "obsolete" unit and its just a table indexer. I was thinking it was a 4th axis. what do you all use your indexer for? i would think a "super spacer" that you physically turn by hand would be identical in getting whatever job it is done that would need to be rotated (except for square parts). im just trying to think of how this thing would be used in more of a "job shop" type setting with 1 offs as comparted to several parts with multiple holes. also trying to image ingraining mastercam with something separate such as this indexer.
Hardplates
Stainless
- Joined
- May 8, 2019
- Location
- What once was a free country
Positional 4th axis work, which makes up the majority of 4th axis work.
We actually installed ours on a machine that already had a 4th axis on it. We made a trunnion that the ATS indexer controlled and put our existing 4th axis on that trunnion, giving us a home-made 5th axis. It has been working pretty well. Like Hardplates said above, most 4th (and 5th) axis work is positional for us- rotate the part 90 degrees to drill some holes on the side of the part, etc. We don't have very many jobs where we actually need to rotate the work with the tool cutting at the same time. We're a production shop, though, so your needs will probably be different.
Do you run have the controller for the machine and the controller for the rotary communicate with each other? As in, do you have an m code programmed into a program you are running in order to activate the rotary to start the rotation on the controller? Currently I can program them both separate I would like to have an m code in the program so it will drill a hole, activate the rotary controller, run the rotation programmed at the rotary then then return to the machine to drill its next hole. Basically to not have to hit start on both controllers through-out the program.
Mine works like you described it. An M-code in the program starts the indexer, the program waits until it gets a finish signal from the indexer, and then the program continues with the machining. When we're running production, there's no need to press any buttons on the indexer controller.
we have a fanuc controller. Ive tried m27-29 but it just reads it and moves on. i also tried m85,86. it reads m85 then just seems to stop and then times out i think. it throws an alarm after about 30 seconds. do you have any suggestions? im really lost on this one lol.
If it were me, I would trace the wires from the SMW controller back into the machine control cabinet. Then, I'd work backwards from there with the wiring diagram to try to figure out how the signal is being sent to the controller. If you're not comfortable doing this, I think that any CNC tech should be able to figure it out as long as you have complete wiring diagrams for the machine.
Depending on how its wired in you may need to put a pause in between.
vegard
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2006
- Location
- San Diego, CA
Try m20 or m21
stumbled across this via a google search - I have integrated this with my M560 w/P300 control via rs232->Rj45 - Rj45>RS232 and have setup a Lib file I can call to with G codes for abs and inc moves via RS232 and get a complete signal via m-code answer/finish relay. Works like a dream. There was no documentation on this so I took an older install guide from ATS and reworked it to reflect the install, including wiring diagrams and photos of what I did, along with all the program code typed out to make it work. I gave it to them a few years ago, never got that shirt they promised me.
Anyway, it can be done, and works great.
Anyway, it can be done, and works great.
