Until recently the company used a stepper motor control system, CAD/CAM system and operator interface designed by themselves. The performance of this configuration was falling behind the requirements of the educational institutions. Additionally their system was somewhat difficult to support worldwide as it used outdated EPROM based technology.

The companies new control system had to be compatible with their existing CAD software and operator interface. NEE Controls worked closely with the companies engineers designing and developing the complete control system as specified. This also resulted in significant production cost savings for the company as machine build time was reduced and system wiring considerably simplified.

NEE Controls suggested to the company that their CNC milling machine should use 'microstepping' stepper drives. Adding these further improved machine performance and reliability, improved the machined part quality, and made the machine motion far smoother and quieter.

During development tests our control system proved too fast for the data fed to it by the companies CAD/CAM software, slowing machine execution. NEE assisted the companies engineers in improving the performance of their software so that the full benefits of the new system performance could be realized.

Maximum milling speed has not been significantly increased. The additional productivity is achieved by operating the milling machine at the optimum milling speed wherever possible, unnecessary slow downs have been removed. The previous control system reduced the milling speeds due to limitations in the controller and the control algorithms.

The companies new machine range is 400% more productive even when using conservative controller setup parameters. Additionally the machine has more features, and is far easier and less expensive to support