Practical tool condition monitoring

Manufacturing Engineering, Jan 1998 by Meredith, Don

Technological leaps in controls technology have spurred the development of high-speed digital signal processors. Now under test, they use a synchronous signal from an encoder to locate the tool's position in relation to the workpiece, then compare each tool against all other teeth at running speeds.

Machine tool builders too must recognize that their customers may need some level of monitoring. Machine designers need to keep the cut simple, hold some location open for sensor placement, and find out what the tool monitoring vendor needs to get the most out of the user's sensor system.

Tool monitoring is moving through a three-stage process. We begin by first focusing on the systems themselves, then moved on to the middle stage, where multiple sensors tell us what's going on in the process. The last stage will be effective adaptive control, just now beginning, where we constantly adapt the process to conditions in the tools and the part.

DON MEREDITH

VICE PRESIDENT, ARTIS SYSTEMS INC. ANN ARBOR, MI

Don Meredith can be reached at 313-761-4205 or on the Web at artis-systems.com.