leaving machines on

[majariley]

should you leave a machine on over night if you aren't going to be running a program on it? what are the pros and cons? the type of cnc is a fadal .

[Leehound]

Cons: Waste of electricity

[Marty A]

i heard of machines losing there place when

turned off. example if you are running a

program and turn the machine off and go home

your settings would be different when you

turn the machine back on.you would have to

re-pick up.we turn ours off at night if we don't

have anything to run. but who knows

 

marty

[Fred @ Slate Industries]

I turn them all off over the holidays.

If they have a PC controller I turn them off

Whenever there not being used

Just like any PC they can get screwy without a reboot now and then.

[Toolfab]

On a few of the Maho's we have we leave them on because there internal battery is gone and if the power gets dropped, they lose there constants. We haven't had any adverse affects by leaving them on.

 

As Tony said, if it is PC controlled, (our Walter CNC Cutter Grinder is) we turn that off everynight.

 

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Our Cinci's will loose position (sometimes as little as a few thou here and there or as much as .100) so they are left on. The Mori Seiki's we'll turn them off if not in use. They fire up without having to chase offsets. We leave outr Pallet Pool on 24-7 even if it's not running parts so that the reports will be accurate for non-machining time. Batterys do need to be changed periodically.

[Thad]

We shut the machines down every night. Some only get powered down for a few hours each night, depending on what night shift is running. We have Fadals and others. Strictly an electric bill issue, AFAIK.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Thad

[IntegrexMan]

Most of our machines are powered down for the night. We do have machines that have the Auto Power On feature so we can warm them up before the operators come in. We hold very tight tolerances on UHMWPE and the machines run better when they are warm. We had some thermal expansion issues early in our development.

[Jammer™]

I leave my Fadal on all the time. No problems.

[richardtraver]

you should always turn the machines off. leaving them on while not running a program seems like they arnt getting used but, think about it, machines are working when they are just sitting there. they have to fight to hold the specific position and are still generating heat in the servos, thus wearing them out and burning them up. it even a good idea to hit estop durring lunch to shut the servos down.

[wildcat99]

We power down our router at night and turn off the compressed air for the cabinet cooler mostly to save electricity. We were told powering off will also provide some protection against lightning, power surges etc.

 

We don't have a problem losing position after power has been off. As part of startup in the morning we do a reference search (re-home) the machine, warm up the spindle and are usually good to go after that.

[wildcat99]

quote:

---

it even a good idea to hit estop durring lunch to shut the servos down

---

Our machine doesn't get a lunch break

[Salahuddin]

we turn the machine off at night, and next day after making Ref-pos , starting to work without any problem.

battery change every 6 month, not a big deals

[Storkman]

We leave ours on most of the time. We also have a Mazak we can't power down or it will lose it's parameters. Some of these machines are 30 years old and have never had servo issues from being left on. Machines will float. Even some of the new ones cut different when cold, that's why if they do get powered down, we run warm up programs.

[Surface]

I usually shut my machines off at night. A few years ago, lightning struck the powerlines outside the shop. It fried anything that was on. For this reason alone, I turn everything off.

[richardtraver]

all machines cut different when cold. thermal expansion sensors only od so much and in my opinion are not that great. i took a class that went over machine dynamics which went over everything from controls to the different stances a machine takes throughout the day and what it takes to move and slow down to hold tolerance. when cold the head on a VMC sags down then as it warms up the head will lift in the front. once it is warmed up the head will once again start to sag. this sag is very small on most machines but if your trying to hold .0001 first thing in the morning this could be really challenging

[HEAVY METAL]

Even if the machine is on but sitting idle it cools down and moves a little. so I dont see the point in leaving it on. I think this will just decrease the life of the machine in the long run. I do think it is a good idea not to let a machine set for a long time . If there is no jobs to run on it you should fire it up and run thru some dry cycles just to keep everything lubracated. Especially older machines and controls which tend to get buggy if let set for long lengths of time.

[Fred @ Slate Industries]

Richard

"they have to fight to hold the specific position"

 

You can have The Gain for each axis fine tuned

to eliminate the Fighting.

 

Thad ,I am still trying to figure out "AFAIK"

Grammar edit

 

[ 08-25-2004, 12:33 PM: Message edited by: Tony_Microplastics ]

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

As

Far

As

I

Know

[Shawn Wentzel- Wenteq Inc]

We had a power surge blow up the main power card it a power surge. The machine was off but the main breaker on the machine was on. The breaker now always get shut off with the machine.

[Tim Aydt Prototek Engineering]

I have worked at companies that shut them off every night and I have worked at companies that left them on all the time. The only thing I didn't like was the excessive amount of way lube in the coolant tank.

[MetalMarvels]

Mine are off when ever they arre not actively in use. The electricity bill adds up amazingly fast with the machine just sitting there idling.

[Nominal]

quote:

---

On a few of the Maho's we have we leave them on because there internal battery is gone

---

Either they don't make the batteries anymore or the guy that owns your place went to the same school as the guy that owns this place.

[Thee Cutterman]

Welcome to the forum Majariley

I Programme and run a 1.5year old Okuma MB56VA. I will leave the machine on over night only when the next morning.s operation has a tolerence of 0.01(MM).

 

all machines cut different when cold. thermal expansion sensors only od so much and in my opinion are not that great

 

+1 Richard traver

 

REGARDS DARREN

[DavidB]

Wiyh our Mori seki's we left one of them on one night and there was a bad storm lots of lighting came in next day and the machine was DEAD.They are now turned off every night.

If my other machine's (Makino) are running over night I set the Auto power off to on, so when a M30 is read the machine trips the power supply to its controller

 

Also if the machine is left on overnight the compressor must be left on to

 

Welcome