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Discuss Thermwood 3-axis Machinery, Controller, and Software.

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Thom Davies
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This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

Hey Hows it going?

I was thinking b4 to check on how the guy was going on running the thermwood and what sheet he was running and whats happening if there was a way that could bring up a window showing the screen whats happening.

I know thermwood doesnt want to release the super control program out to thermwood owners if in case it gets in to the wrong hands e.g another cnc company which is fair enough. but just a screen on whats happening down there and to track on how production is going and if the guy is mucking around or if my boss ask's me when such and such a job will be ready for the guys to put together i can bring up the screen and say "it'll be ready in half an hour" kind of thing.

I'd like all types of feed back, If this kind of thing would help you run your factory/production running. Rather than running down to the guy.


Cheers

Thom Davies
Glenn Van Reason
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Glenn Van Reason »

Hey Thom, If you want to know what your guys are doing in the factory, look at these guys. We put this in a month ago and I must say I'm impressed. We are still in the early stages of setup and running but it's already giving us great feedback on our factory. And they are closer to you lol

http://www.empowersoftware.biz
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Thom Davies
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

Cheers Glenn

But I was more meaning for me to be able to check how the thermwood is running and what sheet he's up to. as im in charge of the thermwood and putting jobs though it.
Glenn Van Reason
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Glenn Van Reason »

Yes Thom, this will do that....and more. You feed your machining times into this and the system then shows you what's being worked on, how much longer the job has to go etc etc. It will track what is going overtime, reworks.
I know your only interested in one section of the factory and this will track with great accuracy where everything is and what is ahead.
We know exactly when jobs will be finished, we also know when a job goes over in a section what impact it will have along the line. Our foreman use to spend lots of time constantly reporting back to production managers what was happening in their section, now the system does it automatically leaving them free for other duties
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Thom Davies
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

far out!

How much does it cost and how much do you think your company is saving?
Glenn Van Reason
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Glenn Van Reason »

It varys depending on the amount of staff you have, as for savings, well it's a bit too soon to quantify for us but some of the places we visted that are using it are getting a few hundread thou savings over the year.
What I have noticed so far is the it is also our bundy clock now, and it gives me a good snapshot of downtime at workstations, also of some people may be overcomitted so I can rearrange staff into different areas to get them back on track.
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Paul Ford
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Paul Ford »

Hi Thom,
Something you could possibly look at is a sub program which writes to a notepad or text file when each sheet is started and when each sheet is complete, showing the time that each sheet was started/completed. You should be able to do this with notepad and you could get it to save to a network folder so you can view it from any computer that is on the network.
Thom Davies
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

That would be what i want paul.

But where would i start? i dont know to write one or how to get it to work in the nest.
Paul Ford
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Paul Ford »

Hmmm well I'm not too sure where I would start with this. I know it can be done, and under sheet settings in RN you can put the sub program file name so it calls it at the beginning of each sheet.
I'm sure the guys at Thermwood would be happy to help you with this, and Doug Gilford is a bit of a wizard with AFL.
There are also a few instructions/codes in the back of your 91000 super control manual which could give you somewhere to start.
Either way, let me know how you get on and I will see what I can find out for you from my end. I don't have any manuals on me at the moment to read through.
Thom Davies
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

Can any1 from thermwood that could help me where to start with the sub program pauls talking about?

Thanks

Thom Davies
Daniel Vonderheide
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Daniel Vonderheide »

Thom,

In the back of the 91000 Controller Manual there is a section on the AFL language. It is very similar to the old Microsoft Q-Basic in most respects. You would want the file being written to be stored on the machines hard drive otherwise it will cause errors if it cannot find the network drive. The AFL falls under custom programming so you may want to contact Ryan Hochgesang here at Thermwood to discuss this further. Depending on how far your office is from the router, you may be able to run a video splitter and have a "copy" of the screen the operator is seeing. The farthest I've ever seen the second screen from the machine was about 50 feet. Since the machine is Windows based and on a network, you could also use email on it to contact your operator and have him report in on how things are going. You have alot of different options, I would look at all of them.
Grady Robertson
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Grady Robertson »

We use this: Ultra VNC Viewer
http://www.uvnc.com/
Grady Robertson
Wood Graphix
http://www.woodgraphix.com
grady@woodgraphix
Thom Davies
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Thom Davies »

Thanks Grady

Do u have a thermwood?

Once on the site where do ou go from there? What im i wanting to go 2 and download?

Cheers

Thom Davies
Grady Robertson
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Re: This might be helpful

Post by Grady Robertson »

Thom, yes I have a model 40. I did not install this program myself, the guys that work on my system and network did. It works great. Sorry I can't help with info on the download.
Grady
Grady Robertson
Wood Graphix
http://www.woodgraphix.com
grady@woodgraphix
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