Machine Upkeep: The Retrofit Solution

Control retrofit is essential to increase the efficiency of production by improving system availability and communication. This helps to update old machines with new and latest technologies rather than changing the whole machine.

There are many such kinds of machines that use control retrofit to terminate issues and increase efficiency. Whenever any issues come in the retrofit, there are spare parts available that can help to rerun the retrofit. Various companies provide spare parts, but the best are Fanuc spare parts and Fanuc CNC parts for CNC machines. The parts of the company are compatible with the machine.  

Retrofitting mainly describes the measures that are necessary for any manufacturing industry. The main advantage of control retrofit is that it lowers the cost of maintenance. It helps to run old machines with new and latest technology. 

Retrofit benefits every industry in one way or the other. Let us hear more about its benefits and help:

How Does it Help?

 

Retrofitting is when you replace the CNC, servo, and spindle systems on machines that are overall in good condition to extend their useful life.

Retrofit usually updates the CNC, the spindle motor and drives, the servo motors and drives, and a portion of the associated wiring and related electromechanical components. Presuming that the machine is in good working condition, a retrofit is the bottom price option used to augment a legacy machine tool's performance. Most of the retrofitting is done at the machine's site, which helps avoid expensive machine rigging and transportation costs while minimizing downtime. It also helps avoid any malfunction due to transportation. 

 

Benefits of Control Retrofit

• Increase Machine and Process Reliability

Many industries still use old methods. However, they have limited communication capabilities. They take time to interact with the processes.

Retrofit is a modernized system. It helps to centralize things by storing division wise data. By doing so, the work becomes easy to manage. Everything remains in one place, and it becomes easy to maintain and handle. You can quickly access all the real-time information remotely. Using remote monitoring in different ways can help you with better security. With modern controllers, you can always keep an eye on your systems and processes.

• Reduce Costs

Control retrofits reduce the cost of buying new machines when old machines stop working. It revitalizes the new updated parts to fit in the old or outdated parts, saving the cost of having new machines.

• Reduce Unplanned Downtime

When machines stopped working in the old times, the time and labor required to repair them increased. With control retrofit, it is not a problem anymore. It has a higher MTBF (the mean time between failures) than other controllers.

As retrofit only needs an engineer to run the source code, the process becomes faster. Besides, modern technology makes it easy to debug and troubleshoot problems.

• Improve Safety  

With modern controllers, retrofit provides all the safety in the safety programming of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). Using them reduces the usage of external hardware like relays to troubleshoot the problems.

The old relays cannot reach everywhere while troubleshooting. The safety relays do not have any portal to view, debug or troubleshoot the device. Moreover, dual-channel safety circuits need to complete connections on each channel within a very small time frame. Without a detailed guide, the chances of fault in the circuit are high. Thus, modern controllers come with detailed troubleshooting guides. 

However, it is advisable to conduct Safety Risk Assessment while upgrading the controls. It ensures that the circuit has achieved the right SIL (Safety Integrity Level) to migrate risks.

• Open Architecture  

Control Retrofits provides all the documented source code to control hardware and software. It uses ISA standards to organize and set up PLC programs for ease of use and diagnostics.

Other Uses of Control Retrofits:

• Saves capital expenditure
• Optimizes components of the existing plants
• Adapts new plants for new or changed products
• Easy availability of spare parts
• Increase reliability
• Environmental engineering for new projects

End Words

Control retrofit helps to update the old machines with new and latest technologies. It benefits the manufacturing industries in various ways. Retrofit is compatible with the machines to help them work efficiently with new technologies. The Fanuc spare parts and Fanuc CNC parts are most compatible to use for retrofitting.

Source: https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/machine-upkeep-the-retrofit-solution

Laser Cut Signs Ideas for your Businesses

Is it welcoming invitations, danger warnings, or shining signboards of comfort and relaxations that rule our world? Be it simple restroom signs, directional street signs, 10-foot tall letters advertising corporations, top skyscrapers, and important communication tools. They help you navigate everyday life facets, even if it might sometimes feel like blocking the scenery.

These types of signage are useful for industrial purposes and require elaborative engineering and professional installation. In this post, let us show you the ways you can make signboards use them professionally.

How to make a sign:

Out of all the endeavors, signs are some of the straightforward lasers cut projects. There are many things one must consider from size, laser machines, try to use the one which has amada parts and fanuc CNC parts as they are easy to replace, and material to design the overall aesthetics.

The sign consists of three things:

Audience + Message + Delivery Method

Audience: This includes the number of people you are trying to communicate with. It consists of things like age, gender, language, reading ability, etc.

Message: It includes things like what you are trying to communicate, i.e., rules, ideas, or images.

Delivery Method: It includes the best way to convey the message to your audience, i.e., either verbally, graphically, or both the ways. At what distance the message you need to see, what colors can communicate the message while attracting the audience’s attention, what is the perfect location for your message to grab your audience’s attention.

Once you set these three things, then you can start with making your signs. In the old days, you might need to have a tradesperson, a perfect painter whose hands are steady. But, with the advancements in technology, laser cutting is making these things easier to handle.

1. Make signs using laser cutting:

Laser cutters are an easy solution for making signs. Lasers can cut and engrave designs from flat sheet materials like acrylic, metal, or wood. The output is always pixel perfect and depends on the material thickness, and is three dimensional, which makes it look professional.

It provides easy options from flat panel to individual letters to backlit or edge-lit designs. For the artsy types who want to bring some uniformity in hand-painted signs, then you can cut custom stencils. You just need to start making signs via laser cutting as a vector design file, and this can also help the laser to work.

Pro-tip: While designing, make sure to consider the position of the sign. Whether it will be hanging, mounted, or freestanding, this will provide you with clarity on how many holes, hooks, or screws you need to add. Additionally, make sure to consider the size and weight of the sign. You can display the small interior signs using small adhesive screws. Whereas on large sign boards will need heavy hardware to install securely.

       1. Laser cutting process:

• Set the type of sign that is best suited for your audience, message, and delivery method.
• Choose the sign material from different materials like metal, plastic, wood, etc.
• Draw the designs on the computer
• Send it to the laser printing/engraving machine
• See you parts being created
• So if any finishing touches needed
• Sell the product

While designing, make sure to research some of the basic design principles, so your signboard comes out very well and has aesthetics added to it.

          2. Turning designs into signs:

If you are making a signboard, then providing a vector based file is essential to cut the design properly. Pixel-based pictures are not a perfect solution to solve. If the sign includes text, expanding the font to curves will ensure that the letters cut correctly without any actual font file loading on the laser cutting computers.

Make sure to follow the above-given instructions using the correct laser machine, which has parts like Amada parts and Fanuc CNC parts, making it easy for you to replace when and where needed.

Source: https://altpartsinc.wixsite.com/altpartsinc/single-post/laser-cut-signs-ideas-for-your-businesses

Difference Between Laser Engraving, Etching and Marking

The craze for laser engraving, marking and etching is increasing day-by-day because of the regulations set by the government regarding product identification.

All of them provide permanent marking solutions that can add that distinct mark on your products.

But, there are only a few people who understand the difference between them. While these three techniques look similar, their applications set them apart.

 The major difference between laser marking, engraving and etching lies in what they could do to the marking surfaces. The difference also lies in how deep the laser goes and the way it changes its overall appearance.

Laser marking damages the surface of the material, whereas laser etching and engraving removes the portion of the area it marks.

The other difference between laser engraving and etching is the depth at which it enters the surface.

Without any further ado, let’s explore more differences between them.

1. Laser Marking Process

Laser marking is the process when beam comes in contact with the surface of any material and alters its properties or appearances. You should use laser machines having parts like Mazak parts, Fanuc spare parts, and Fanuc CNC parts for best laser marking results.

Here we have mentioned steps for laser marking which will give you some insights on how it works.

• It uses a method called distortion by moving a low powered beam across the material. This creates high contrast marks without damaging the material.
• Laser heats the material and causes the oxidation under the surface turning the material black.
• It uses low temperature to solidify the surface.
• The major advantage is that all these steps do not damage the surface.

Now, let's look at some of the characteristics which make it different from the other two:

• Laser marking is not a common thing and there are only a few that provide these services.
• It is known as laser coloration, laser dark marking or charring when it works with plastic materials or annealing metals.

There are four types of laser marking:

                 - Annealing

                 - Carbon migration

                 - Foaming

                 - Coloration

Laser marking is popular in the medical device industry for marking stainless steel and titanium parts, but you can use it on other materials as well.

A laser market is perfect for bar codes, UID codes, QR codes, logos, etc.

2. Laser Engraving Process:

In laser engraving, the laser beam physically removes the surface of the material and exposes a portion of the image at the eye level.

Let’s look at laser engraving steps:

• Laser releases excessive heat during the engraving process which results in vaporization of the material.
• It is a quick process that vaporizes materials at each pulse.
• This makes the surface vulnerable and noticeable to eyes and you can touch it too.
• If you want deeper marks on the material then make sure that you repeat the process several times.
• Below mentioned are features of laser engraving which will help you know the difference between them and the other too:

There are three types of laser engraving: - Etching - Deep laser engraving - Laser ablation

• The major difference between the above three engraving types is the surface you are engraving and how much you remove.
• Maximum engraving depth for metal is 0.020” but it can even go as deep as 0.125” in materials like graphite.
• Mostly, people use engraving when they want to create personalized items.
• It is not suitable to mark the critical parts.
• It is the fastest way to create a mark with a laser.
• It’s suitable for parts expected to experience high wear and tear.
• You can use it to engrave serial numbers and logos, among other things.
• You can engrave on almost any kind of surfaces like metal, plastic, wood, leather, and glass.

3. Laser Etching Process:

It is a subset of laser engraving. It occurs when the heat from the beam melts the surface of the material. For best results, invest in parts like Mazak parts and Fanuc CNC parts.

Below mentioned are some of its characteristics:

• It uses excessive heat to melt the surface of the material.
• It expands material to create a raising mark.
• The depth here is 0.001”.

The major difference between laser etching and the other two are:

• Laser etching changes the reflectivity and increases the contrast of the metal and so it is preferable when you want to provide a better finish.
• It removes 0.001” or less from the material.
• Etching works on bare, plated metal surfaces, polymers or ceramics.

Wrapping it up:

I know there’s a lot of confusion about these terms among people which is common and people use it interchangeably very often, but there are wide differences between them and their applications. After selecting the process, make sure you are choosing a laser machine with the right laser parts like Mazak parts, Fanuc spare parts, etc.