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Heidenhain Corp.'s Acu-Rite brand introduces new software for its versatile 300 series digital readout (DRO) that now allows users to control a sinker EDM. This new development broadens this established DRO’s use to include all of the most common manual shop machines such as milling, turning, grinding and now EDM in a single DRO.
When Acu-Rite’s new EDM software is loaded into a DRO300 and coupled with an IOB 610 interface box, it enables the simple control of sinker EDM through the use of three relay signals. This software is now included on all new multipurpose DRO300s.
Some Key new features of the Acu-Rite DRO300 for EDM control are:
• Automatic Depth Programming - The EDM’s ram can be configured to automatically retract or dwell at the target depth.
• Dwell Cycle – The relay holds the Z depth until spark-out occurs or can control an orbiter cycle.
• Reverse Fault Detection - This prevents creep out of the bath during a burn cycle.
• EDM Display Mode - This shows the current ram depth, the maximum depth reached and the target depth simultaneously on the three-axis displays.
Acu-Rite now offers one DRO platform that is rugged and easy to use for all common manual machines.
Related Glossary Terms
- electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
Process that vaporizes conductive materials by controlled application of pulsed electrical current that flows between a workpiece and electrode (tool) in a dielectric fluid. Permits machining shapes to tight accuracies without the internal stresses conventional machining often generates. Useful in diemaking.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- grinding
grinding
Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- spark-out ( sparking out)
spark-out ( sparking out)
Grinding of a workpiece at the end of a grind cycle without engaging any further down feed. The grinding forces are allowed to subside with time, ensuring a precision surface.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
