Galil Motion Controllers Used in Waterjet Machines from CNC Machines International |
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
Galil Motion Control
3750 Atherton Rd.
Rocklin, CA, 95746
USA
Press release date: April 22, 2009
April 22, 2009
When water is concentrated into a high-pressure stream shot from a waterjet at 60,000 psi, it can cut and shape a wide array of materials like cloth, foam, glass, plastic, and rubber as fast as 100 ft. per minute. Water can even cut through harder materials like wood, granite, stone, aluminum and steel.
One application of waterjet cutters is to cut designs into artificial turf and carpets. CNC Machines International (CNCMI) VLF series is a high performance waterjet cutter that can precisely cut and inlay intricate logos into carpet and turf.
To ensure precision and speed of their cutters, CNCMI selected the compact DMC-2153 5-axis Ethernet motion controller from Galil Motion Control. According to Stephenson, "Waterjet cutters like our VLF system need to keep the water stream tangent to the material for precise cuts. This rotary water axis must be kept tangent to the XY motion at all times. A unique feature of the machine is that it allows a bevel cut to be specified up to 45 degrees. Bevel cutting is useful in carpet cutting when you want to fit a logo cutout into the base. A straight edge cut would allow the logo to fall straight through the base material." The DMC-2153 easily handles the motion required by the application: the XY axes control the linear and circular patterns (rack and pinion), the Z-axis controls the height of the water jet, and the Y-axis controls two motors for gantry function. The fifth or rotary axis controls the motion of the water jet stream by keeping it in tangent to the XY motion in order to maintain precision cutting. In addition to tangential motion, the DMC-2153 handles constant velocity, slaving, and linear and circular interpolation.
As is common with computer numerical control (CNC) machines, the VLF reads G-codes to enact motion. To accommodate this, CNCMI specified the Mach3 graphical user interface from ArtSoft to translate the G-codes into motion commands for the Galil controller. The software performs all calculations for precise control of up to six simultaneous axes using a trajectory planner that feeds the Galil controller a series of linear interpolation commands that are 4 msec apart. The Mach3 software also comes with ready-made drivers for Galil controllers, resulting in significantly reduced set-up time . "The Mach3 software met our expectations, and worked seamlessly with the DMC-2153. For us, it's been a winning combination," said Junius Hunter, Director of Sales & Marketing for CNCMI.
"We chose the Galil controller because it is feature-rich, provides better performance and an improved communications interface," said Mark Stephenson, President of CNCMI. "It is the easiest controller we've ever worked with."
The CNCMI VLF works at speeds of up to 1200 inches per minute over carpet areas as large as 16 ft. x 96 ft. with a positioning accuracy to .010 inches. Because waterjet cutting doesn't generate heat, it cuts without damaging or distorting the surrounding material (as opposed to traditional methods like a die press)
For more information about the Galil's DMC-2153 motion controller, please see http://www.galilmc.com/products/dmc-21x3.php. Please see www.cncmachines.us for more information about the VLF waterjet cutter.
About Galil Motion Control, Inc. (www.galilmc.com)
Privately held and profitable for over 95 consecutive quarters, Galil Motion Control, Inc. was founded in 1983 by Jacob Tal and Wayne Baron. Galil became the first company to produce a microprocessor-based servo motor controller without tachometer feedback. Since then, Galil has continued to advance motion control technology and has found industry-leading acceptance with over 500,000 controllers successfully installed worldwide. Various applications include machines for the medical, semiconductor, machine tool, food processing and textile industries. Recently, Galil has introduced several motion and I/O controllers for the Ethernet including the high-speed Accelera motion controllers and the RIO Pocket PLC series.
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