Poll offers snapshot of what matters to CNC users

Bob Warfield is the owner of CNC software developer CNC Cookbook Inc., Aptos, Calif., and is “The CNC Chef,” a regular video blogger on Cutting Tool Engineering’s website.

He also produces an electronic newsletter for 100,000 subscribers, who include machinists at OEMs and job shops, educators and hobbyists. In September, Warfield polled his readers on which CNCs they use and what they like and dislike about them. (The poll results are at tiny url.com/CNC-survey1.)

When asked which CNC they use, the 500-plus poll respondents mentioned more than 50 brands. When asked what they like and dislike about their current controls, however, there was a surprisingly large confluence of opinions.

A machinist checks parameters on a Centroid control. Image courtesy of Centroid.

Even though it was a single, informal poll, the results offer a snapshot of what matters to actual CNC users. Three control makers (all of which admittedly had notable rankings in the poll) spoke to CTE about how they address concerns that the poll revealed.

Easy Does It

“Ease of use” was the quality most cited in answer to the question of what users most like about their CNC—and the most cited by users regarding what they find unsatisfactory about their current control.

Paul Gray is the manager of path planning, front-end design and R&D for Hurco North America, Indianapolis. Hurco’s CNC ranked highest in satisfaction in the CNC Cookbook poll, and Gray thinks the company’s focus on ease of use could account for that.

“We are continually developing new technologies and delivering them in a usable way to improve our customers’ productivity,” he said. “There is no point in developing great technologies if they are not accessible and easily understood and used by our customers.”

Gray cited as an example the control’s ability to import solid models. “Our customers can now load solid-model CAD files directly into our WinMax control and simply select features to program conversational data blocks instead of having to type in the geometries from prints,” he said.

The FANUC iHMI display is designed for intuitive use, much like a smartphone’s. Image courtesy of FANUC America.

Gray added that customer expectations for the human-machine interface (HMI) are changing. “Our 3D graphical simulation and our new CAD interface are just the beginning of an evolution toward further advancements in our control,” he said. “Naturally, the challenge for Hurco is to further improve the intuitive nature of our control interface while ensuring that we do not alienate present users.”

Backward and Forward

For Paul Webster, CNC engineering manager for FANUC America Corp., Hoffman Estates, Ill., guaranteeing that the control is easy to use calls for a design that looks forward without ignoring the past—a tough balancing act for the company whose G code has been the ISO standard for 40 years. FANUC was ranked most used in the poll.

“The baseline of our ease of use is making sure that there is backward compatibility,” Webster said. “If a shop has 10 machines, each a different age, the same operators should be able to run all of those machines.” With a FANUC control, you can “train a new operator on one machine and he’ll be able to operate all of the equipment.”

But focusing primarily on backward compatibility wouldn’t bode well for modernization, Webster acknowledged. “In the last few years, FANUC has been adding features to the HMI to make it easier for younger generations to operate.”

The MAX5 control on Hurco’s VMX6030i VMC is demonstrated at IMTS 2016. Image courtesy of Hurco North America.

The company’s iHMI interface is designed to be an intuitive, easy-to-use touch screen, with a launcher page that “looks like what you would have on a smartphone, where you can hit the icons and launch different applications,” Webster said. Through it, the user can access features such as full 3D simulation with back plot and easier conversational-type features. “For example, you could [program] a pocket without using full conversational [mode],” he said. “You just type in the features you want, and it will generate the G-code program for you.”

The interface is intuitive enough that if end users are comfortable with an older interface, they don’t need retraining, according to Webster. But if they prefer, an icon on the launcher screen lets them work instead with the interface screens of the older controls.

Centroid, Howard, Pa., has made controls since 1981, so backward compatibility is an important concern, according to its vice president of product development and marketing, Keith McCulloch.

“A lot of major control makers have controls that have a cycle life of about 7 years—and if your control is older than that, you’re done,” he said. “You can’t get parts for it; the software is dead. We’re the opposite of that.”

McCulloch said the Centroid control has been “massaged and tweaked” over the years in a way that preserves what was an intuitive system. “Someone who used our control in 1991 would actually feel very comfortable walking right up to a new Centroid,” he said, “because he’ll see a very similar menu-driven part setup, tool library and conversational programming.”

The company’s control ranked fifth in the list of most used controls in the poll, a notable leap from 14th in the 2016 poll. (McCulloch explains how Centroid, “the Rodney Dangerfield of controls,” made this leap in a feature on CTE’s website: Go to tinyurl.com/CTE-Centroid.)