Specialty CNC Retrofits
Specialty CNC Retrofits include custom machines with standardized retrofits.
Custom Drilling Machine Now with Standard CNC Controls
This custom built drilling machine utilized an Emerson TA-440 positioning servo drive that was no longer supported. This machine retrofit with a Centroid Control was justified just to simply bring it back to life. However what actually happened was that the setup and operation of the machine improved drastically.
The standard features in the Centroid CNC Control brought adjustability and refinement to the drilling operations that just were not possible in the old PLC. Along with completely re-wiring the machine, EMI also replaced all external switches, solenoids and valves that would be now be reliable for a decade and supported after that.
The owners realized that a new guy can now run machine, it was no longer a black box. The actual return on investment was astounding.
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After:
A New Control Brought Totally New Capacity on an Old CAM-Driven Vertical Shaper... and We Mean CAMs
This old shaper used CAMs, chains, and custom tools to produce ID parts with difficult geometry.
Now a Centroid CNC synchronizes the motion of three servo-controlled axes (two linear and one rotary) with the continuous vertical oscillation of the shaper head.
A standard control using conventional programming, enable this customer to do in standard program with standard tools what used to take all custom CAMs and tools.
One of the best parts of this job was how simple it was to make small adjustments to the final product, no more grinding tools and no more trial and error. In the photograph a hexagonal hole is being cut.​
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Before and After:
Drilling and Tapping Machine
This 4-station, 3-spindle drilling, chamfering and tapping machine was originally controlled by a PLC and "smart" drive. Change-over to any of the family of parts run on the machine required editing the parameters of the drive and setting appropriate switches on the control panel.
EMI replaced the entire control system with a Centroid CNC, enabling the customer to call up any part-program with a few keystrokes. Programs are now written in standard G and M codes.
Final adjustments are made with standard tool offsets not with a guess and a hammer. This customer reported nearly an order of magnitude improvement in dimensional tolerances and a 50% increase in production with the new control system.
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Before and After:
Palletized Desktop Milling Machine
EMI delivered a turn-key solution for batch processing some small, difficult-to-fixture parts. The machine was constructed from a Servo Impact-2 3-axis CNC milling machine, Tsudakoma rotary table and controller, NSK high-speed spindle and controller, and mechanical assemblies designed and fabricated by EMI.
The parts, snapped into pockets on removable pallets off line, are automatically picked into custom jaws on the rotary table, machined, and ejected into a collection bin.
