Plain Talk on CNC, Part I

PUBLISHED: 22 FEBRUARY 2009

By Jerry Kidd

Editors Note: Not long ago, the author a technical representative for an Italian stone-
machine manufacturer received a detailed inquiry from a customer in Turkey
concerning CNC machines. Several thousand words later, hed written a response that
reflected his lengthy experience in the field, with plenty of common-sense advice for
anyone considering a CNC. What follows is the first of two parts on some personal and
interesting observations on owning and running CNC equipment.
MATERIAL SETUP
To be honest, its pretty easy to set up the machines in whichever style you chose to
run parts with. Basically there are three different styles.
Fixed zero: This is probably used the least, but its very simple. There is a fence, or
rails, or stops on two ends of the material that allow you to literally bump the stone into a
definite repetitive solid stop that never moves.
Floating zero: This is commonly used. It allows the user to position the stone (or,
hopefully, stones to be more-productive) in any desired position to get the optimum part-
placement and efficiency of the machine. This process sounds more difficult to people at
first, but once they do it a few times it is really quite simple and easy. People that
struggle to get the machine running on their own usually evolve to fixed zero, and people
that are trained by professionals usually are using a floating zero.
Laser-positioned: There are at least three different laser-positioning systems that can
usually be found in the back sections of the stone-industry magazines. These systems
claim to save close to 30 percent of the normal setup time. I believe this is a strong
possibility.
Most manufacturers are not providing them with the machine because of the initial cost
of the laser. The machinery market is very competitive now, and anything that adds to
the price of the machine is heavily scrutinized.
The idea of the laser is to take the same geometry drawings that you must create in the
machining CAD-CAM software and project that or those drawings right onto the table so
you can quickly set the suction cups of the stone into position. These drawings that we
create can be exported as a DXF file (the most-common file type, along with DWG, for
industrial use). This may take a minute when you are first using it and are moving a little
slower.
As far a lining the stone up, the real question is: How accurate and square is your
saw? If you are only cutting the front edge of a countertop stone, you can literally split
the laser so half falls on the stone and half goes on the table. The projection is in
approximately 1/8-wide lines, so its not difficult to accurately locate the laser.
Imagine a table with three parts on it. The suction cups (no matter the shape) are
projected onto the table; after they are placed and the suction lines are attached, the
parts are projected that need to fit onto those suction-cups areas. No guess work at all,
and no limitation of a fixed stop that is sometimes in the way; just locate the suction cups
and parts on the laser lines, turn the suction cups on, load the part programs, and then
run the parts.

TOOL CALIBRATION
This is not a good machine/ bad machine issue. The real question is: Does the
machine come with the capability to measure the tools automatically and adjust the
machine for tool wear when found?
All of the tooling manufacturers suggest an exact amount of thousands of an inch that
the tools should be positioned from each other to achieve optimum finish and wear. If
your machine has a device to measure the tools, you can plug in those exact physical
relationships from one tool to the other in your software; then, youre ready to run after
performing your measurement program so your tools are staggered in an ideal
relationship to each other.
I recommend that if you remove one set of tools from their holders, you measure them
again. If the tapered portion of the holder is only a few thousandths of an inch different to
another holder, it could cause changes that would lose the ideal relationship from tool to
tool. This is why its cost-effective to have tool holders (or cones) for each set of tools.
Having a system that measures the tools creates an opportunity to have your tools
perfectly adjusted in one to two hours. Not having such a system requires you to make
test cuts on a piece of stone and use instruments to actually measure the amount of
difference between tools. To make these measurements, its necessary to make test
cuts with the tools coming out a few inches from each other, so have something to gauge
both vertically and horizontally. I have seen this process take almost all day to perform.
Worse yet are operators who make a pencil mark on the stone, run the next tool, and
stop to see if all of the pencil mark is off of the test stone. How many thousands of an
inch did it take to remove that pencil mark? The tool manufacturers give exact values so
you can achieve optimum finish and wear of the tools. If you are using measuring tools
or a pencil two months later, how much tool wear do you need to adjust for?
There is a difference in quality of these devices, so ask the manufacturers about their
accuracy. (Ours at OMAG, by the way, is plus/minus .00005.)

SPINDLE LIFE AND HEALTH

I have one on a Profiler installed in 2001 that is in perfect health today. I have another
machine that was built in 1998, been abused horribly since it was purchased, and is on
its third spindle.
I believe a spindles life is dependant on its care and use. Clients performing the
maintenance, and using their machines intelligently instead of crashing them all of the
time, can expect a long spindle life. Ive been a machinist since 1976 and a CNC
machinist since 1978 and based on my experience, I would not consider rebuilding
one.
Cooling the water flow through the spindle is really dependent on how the spindle is
built. At OMAG, for example, we build our own spindles on the expectation that the water
temperature is whatever your water system delivers, so we dont require additional
cooling.
Ultimately, my personal belief is spindle construction with proper maintenance and
minimizing crashes is what determines spindle longevity. Even with those machines run
by people who do not seem to care or pay attention, my worst-case scenario is an older
design that lasted two years through incredible punishment.
One other thing to note about spindles is actual performance speeds. OMAGs delivers
15 HP at any speed of 100-9,000rpm. Others may show larger HP output, but possibly at
maximum rpm. A check with the tool suppliers shows that almost all granite tools are
built to cut at 4,500rpm, and polish at 3,000rpm or slower. And thats the level that you
need to know power delivery to make good comparisons.

SOFTWARE
There are many different software packages in the industry for CNC, and nearly all of
them were developed in other industries and adapted for stone work. My bottom line is
find the machines at the trade shows that interest you the most, and then have them walk
you through the software and see for yourself just how easy it looks.
Please dont be fooled by nice graphic displays. Look for how many details it takes to
accomplish the job. One thing I would suggest is have them show you what it takes to
create a new set of tools to work with and how you apply them. This alone can be
crucial.
Most countertop software is programmed for two-axes restricted 2D. There are some
sinks that this type of software can do, but they must have the exact same radius coming
down the side walls of the bowl all of the way around the sink. An oval sink with the
normal compound radii on the two sides cannot be done with this software.
A 3D software allows you to move three axes at a time, and this software is whats
required to do most of the sinks that people like to produce. The difference usually is that
3D software is about triple the cost of 2D software.
I guess it is time to ask you what you really are making your money on. Are countertops
the real production of your shop, or do you have the time to take possibly a good part of
a day to get out a sink? I have many countertop clients that would all love to do the
fancy things, but the reality they face is the fact that their business is countertops.
Unfortunately, because of the costs of things in the United States, you can almost
always buy a sink bowl cheaper from a foreign country than you can produce it
here. Sad but true.
The software I use is made in the United States; theres technical support from
California, so there is no huge time zone difference in getting help. Its software that is
still openly made for metal work, but I personally find it is the simplest for countertops.
My reality is that I need software that is simple for the clients to use, and therefore
causes me the least amount of follow-up technical support. The sooner that the current
client is running confidently, the sooner Im heading for the next client and getting them
trained.

RADIUS CUTTING
Any CNC should be able to do any size of radius and then move right into normal
shaping without hesitation. The CNC doesnt care what shape it cuts; it just cuts.
One note on completely round pieces the smallest Ive produced is an 18 circle. The
issue is that vacuum power is rated in square inches. Big suction cups have much
greater square inches than small ones, regardless of the fact that they are all run by the
same vacuum pump and deliver the same amount of suction. I am sure that, with the
right configuration, a much-smaller round could be made, but I havent done any testing
to find out just how small.
Jerry Kidd is the North American Technical Representative for OMAG S.r.l., a stone
machine company headquartered in Zanica, Italy. Kidd, whos worked with CNC
machines for more than 17 years, is based in western Colorado.

This article first appeared in the May 2005 print edition of Stone Business. 2005
Western Business Media