Haas question

[Ewood42]

Going to do some more searching so I might get an answer before a response, but is there any way to lock the control so an operator cannot restart in the middle of a file? If editing is locked, they can still cursor through the program and pick up wherever they want, which is how the machine has been crashed 3 times in the last 3 weeks.

 

We have a machine that runs one part only, day and night, 7 days a week. We also frequently have people on that machine that know absolutely nothing about running a CNC. Apparently, just telling the operator and off shift supervisor to stop trying to pick up a 5 axis program from the middle is not enough to prevent them from doing it. Short of having Haas come out and save our part program as a 9000# and have the part program just call a sub, anyone have an idea?

 

The last two crashes were not too bad and I just had to replace some hardware on the fixture, but the the one before those two cost us thousands of dollars in repairs alone (still not right, we went with a band-aid fix), not even counting lost revenue due to down time and the expense of remaking the fixture. Trying to avoid having to do that all again.

(I proposed we just buy a pallet handling robot, and a second robot to change out parts externally, but I don't think that's going to happen.)

 

 

[RaiderX]

DNC?

not elligant but a thought?

I hear your pain

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

5 minutes ago, Ewood42 said:

Short of having Haas come out and save our part program as a 9000# and have the part program just call a sub, anyone have an idea?

That sounds like a good idea, and you don't need Haas to do it, you can do it yourself.  There's a parameter to allow editing of 9000 programs, I think setting #23.  Flip it back off when you're done.

Either that or kick the operator out and lock the shop door.

 

Just had another thought; you could have a variable that gets updated as the program progresses (set to a certain value at the end of each tool or cut), and have each section check that it has the correct value before beginning; error out if it doesn't.  Not entirely idiot proof, but it could help.

[YoDoug®]

It's been a long time since I ran a has but I seem to remember there being a parameter that locks the ability to restart in the middle of a program. 

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

4 minutes ago, YoDoug® said:

It's been a long time since I ran a has but I seem to remember there being a parameter that locks the ability to restart in the middle of a program. 

You mean this?

https://www.haascnc.com/service/codes-settings.type=setting.machine=mill.value=S36.html

 

It doesn't lock restarting in the middle, it just makes the machine scan up to the restart point.

[Ewood42]

41 minutes ago, Matthew Hajicek™ - Conventus said:

That sounds like a good idea, and you don't need Haas to do it, you can do it yourself. 

Funny you say that, I just found that out. I worked with mori's mostly for the last few years, so I'm used to all that stuff being password protected. I think that's what I'm doing.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[YoDoug®]

35 minutes ago, Matthew Hajicek™ - Conventus said:

You mean this?

https://www.haascnc.com/service/codes-settings.type=setting.machine=mill.value=S36.html

 

It doesn't lock restarting in the middle, it just makes the machine scan up to the restart point.

That is the one I was thinking of. 

[Colin Gilchrist]

Dude!

Just use setting 36. I came in here to post that, but Matt beat me to it.

It will load all the prerequisite codes, so the machine is in the same state as when they paused the program. Also, it will prevent the operator from restarting at a location where Cutter Comp is active. 

[Ewood42]

I'll have to try that out again. Tried it a few years ago and it tried to move the tip of the tool 5-6" through the part when getting back to the position it was cutting in, haven't used it since. Maybe just a fluke.

It's a short cycle though, so honestly, I'd rather they just start at the top every time. The off shift person running the machine had literally zero CNC experience as of Tuesday. We ran a few hundred parts on day shift only before having swing run it again. Zero issues. Now that swing is running, we're finding random gouges in the fixture and the tools causing them should not be anywhere near where we're finding them during a normal cycle. Swing shift lead says there are no issues, and those things just happen. No. No, they don't.