Re: Newbie - Help & Clarifications

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "David A. Frantz"
<spinwizard@f...> wrote:

> Fred Smith wrote:

> >In the not so distant past, many machining centers and turning
> >centers were shipped fully enclosed, and with door interlocks

that

> >prevented access to tool, part, and/or fixtures. There was

little

> >if any provision for view ports into the enclosed machine

workspace.

> >
> >
>
> As far as I know they still come this way.

Yes, many do, but now the controllers have a setup mode which allows
the spindle to be used in setup mode. There are also the "toolroom"
lathes and mills, which are not fully enclosed, and are still
considered safe.

> >That is they could only be used with preset tools as there was no
> >method provided for a setup person to use simple tool touch
> >techniques to set tool length and work offsets. No accomodations
> >were provided to use edge finders for example, to set part zeros.
> >
> >
> That is an issue and accomodations can be made for zeroing out

tools.

> In any event those tools are enclosed for a number off reasons.

Mostly CYA related to lawyer, insurance and darwinism costs.

> >Few production or tool shops left the interlocks in place as it

was

> >impossible to use the machines for any but strictly dedicated
> >production jobs.
> >
> >
> That is the excuse that I hear from a number of people.

It is not an excuse. There was a whole generation of American
machine tools that were unusable.

>Usually the
> same people that have war stories about getting injured on the job.
>
> >These machines were a combinaiton of paranoid safety reactions

and

> >lousy/inadequate controller design. The legal environment left

few

> >options available to US machine builders. This was a major cause

of

> >the failure of the US machine tool industry between 1980 and 1995.
> >
> >
> Fred; I find your post in these forums interesting to read but I

believe

> you went of the deep end here. The safety devices where put in

place

> due to real accidents that often maimed the person being

injured.

Nope.

> All importers have to conform to the same safety regulations as

the

> domestic manufactures.

Absolutely not, they have to conform only to the extent that they
have deep pockets, within the importing country.

>In any event this makes no sense due to the
> very stringent regulations in europe. Often European machines

come

> in to the country with far more tought put into safety than the

domestic

> brands of that era.

Yes and they were pricey as well. Unless you are thinking of East
European machine tools, which were another story.

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby