SCHAUMBURG, IL – HEIDENHAIN Corporation now offers a new option to its iTNC 530 contouring control, now making possible the automatic measurement of a machine rotary axis. Called KinematicsOpt, this new software option, coupled with a mounted HEIDENHAIN touch probe into the CNC machine spindle, increases the accuracy of this already high functioning control. The iTNC 530 can control up to 13 axes and a spindle.

The introduction of KinematicsOpt is the answer to CNC accuracy requirements becoming increasingly stringent, particularly in the area of 5-axis machining. With KinematicsOpt, it does not matter whether the individual axis being measured is a rotary table, tilting table or swivel head. The measurement process is the same.

The procedure begins after having defined the measurement resolution and the area of each rotary axis that is to be measured. The operator then initiates probing of a calibration ball fixed at any position on the machine table. From the measured values, the iTNC 530 calculates the statistical tilting accuracy, with the KinematicsOpt software minimizing the spatial error arising from the tilting movements.

At the end of the measurement cycle, the machine geometry is saved in the respective machine constants of the kinematic table. A comprehensive log file is also saved, recording the actual measured cycles and the optimized dispersion (measure of the statistical tilting accuracy) as well as actual compensation values.

www.heidenhain.com