O/T wireless shop??

[kkominiarek]

We are thinking of going wireless here in our shop.

 

At present we are hardwired with 2 servers. 1st server running Win2k server and 2nd server running winnt 4.0 server.

 

We are using Focal Point as our DNC software.

 

We have 15 CNC's and 40 workstation/desktops. (office and shop)

 

By changing over to wireless, does this affect anything else? (cad/cam - machining - machines)

 

Is it worth the cost?

 

Are there any other variables I should be aware of? Is there anything that I should be looking for or asking for/about?

 

Any guidance will be appreciated

[KCollins]

I always thought about going wireless here...we're not even hardwired...we're using a grecko box to load all our progams into the control as we dont DNC too much...the only thing i'd be concerned about is interference from the drives with the wireless signal....and as a seperate issue wireless ethernet has some security holes in it...substantial ones. So you'll have to adress those issues as well. Even hard coding a mac address into the DHCP server can be bypassed so if you're worried about that you might think about that too....

[specv]

I was thinking about this after i ran about 1000 feet of cat-5 cable, and i thought mainly about interference, i dont even know if that is an issue but that would be about the only thing that would stop me,plus the cost of going wireless.

 

Pete

[Rick Damiani]

The cost isn't too bad, actually. Wireless network cards cost about 50-75% more than wired cards, and the access points cost about the same as a good switch. The costs are easily made up by the physical wires you don't have to pay for. The real issues you'll likely have are performance and signal strength.

 

Performance will be an issue becasue even the fastest current wireless networks are less than half as fast as a wired 100Mbit network. Further, all the clients attached to a particular access point will be sharing what badwidth is avalible. Wired networks with switches handle that sort of thing differently, giving much better throughput. Leavign the servers on a wired network that your access points connect to will boost performance quite a bit.

 

I don't think signal strength in the shop won't be too much of an issue, as it's walls that slow things down. You'll likely not get much signal through the walls of a shop though. You could work around this with more access points connected to the wired portion of your network, but if there are a lot of seperate offices and such that can get expensive really fast.

[Jimmy Wakeford from Barefoot CNC]

We have a wired / wireless network for the pc's. I like the wireless (I can work where ever I want.) The reason that I went ahead and ran cat5 to the desks was because wireless is 10meg/ wired is 100meg.

 

It is very affordable to go wireless with pc's.

 

CNC machines I would recomend spending the extra money and getting high end hardware. Speed is not the issue, but realiablity.

 

Jimmy

[lou]

I agree with Jimmy

 

We have wire and wirless network. The only ones that are wirless if the sales people laptop's. I have see them setting there computer in different spots around the shop like a cell phone user walking around to get the best signal. So for realibilty I would go with (or keep) a cat5 network in your manufacturing area.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Have a good day!

[Andris Skulte]

We were wired for quite a while, and then the GM decided to get wireless PDA's for the supervisors to keep on top of things on the floor... The access point was at one end of the shop, and the far end had a very weak signal. We just added a 2nd wireless access point at the other end of the shop (about 10' above my desk), so we can now do programming at all the machines with the laptop. When I moved across the floor, we added a wireless card to my PC (I wanted to stay wired at 100mbit), but it's worked out great. Prices keep coming down too, with all the retailers having large rebates and package deals.

[Scott Sizemore]

Just out of curiosity, we have a lot of EDM equipment is a wireless network capable of running in that type of enviroment?

[Rick Damiani]

quote:

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Just out of curiosity, we have a lot of EDM equipment is a wireless network capable of running in that type of enviroment?

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I don't think it would be a problem. Wireless networks work in the microwave range - 2.4GHz. I have a wireless network set up next to a welding shop, and I've noticed no problems with the signal when they are welding.

[Rick Damiani]

quote:

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I have see them setting there computer in different spots around the shop like a cell phone user walking around to get the best signal. So for realibilty I would go with (or keep) a cat5 network in your manufacturing area.

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This is why setting up a wireless network should involve a site survey. Most wireless client adaptor software comes with the tools you need to survey your site. One of the most handy tools I use for such things is my iPaq with a Wi-Fi CF card loaded into it. Any Wi-Fi capible notebook should work though, as would a PC with a long extention cord on a cart. That lets you easily map out the dead zones and try different locaitons for the access point(s) to eliminate them.

[Fig sign]

quote:

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Even hard coding a mac address into the DHCP server can be bypassed so if you're worried about that you might think about that too....

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And very easily in any *nix OS .

When every device is a file it is not a problem .

I don`t want to tell U how , but anyone can find it in the net ,if he wishes .

[Rick Damiani]

quote:

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And very easily in any *nix OS .

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Easy on Windows, too. The registry can be a magical place. If you know the right spells, you can accomplish quite a bit.

[cadcam]

I have setup a Wireless DNC setup.

Works great.We used two access point's to make sure of covrege over 15 cnc's.

[kkominiarek]

Thanks for the responses all.....looks like interference is the biggest concern followed by speed.......we are having our building tested this week for signal strength/interference.

[jpschneid]

We are currently pursuing a wireless setup for our shop. At this point, we don't intend to drip feed. We just want to upload/download programs. The newer machines should not be a problem, since they will accept PCMCIA cards. The older machines only have an RS232 port, so I have been researching hardware for a wireless RS232 connection. I have found hardware from 3Com and Maxstream. Has anyone had experience in this area who could offer an opinion on the hardware options?

[Rick Damiani]

Shop Floor Automations has a wireless DNC setup that will work with those CNCs, even if you don't want to drip feed.

[Rick Damiani]

Shop Floor Automations has a wireless DNC setup that will work with those CNCs, even if you don't want to drip feed.

 

Shop Floor Automations

[cadcam]

Thanks Rick that would be me.

That is the Wireless that I was talking about..

 

As for the Drip feeding this about to change.

We are right about there sir.

 

Including DNC for PDA's

 

Rick how are you doing?

 

J

 

[ 12-05-2003, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: cadcam ]

[Chris Rizzo]

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