Four Elements of Lights-Out Turning
A lot of planning has to happen before you pull the trigger on lights-out machining.
Share
A lot of planning has to happen before you pull the trigger on lights-out machining.
The benefits of lights-out manufacturing are clear. There’s nothing better than flipping on the lights Monday morning to find that your CNC lathes have churned out batches of good parts on their own. Shops often take the first step of attaching a bar feeder to a lathe to provide a constant supply of material to the machine, but other technologies exist to optimize the unattended machining process and/or make it safer.
The following four articles I wrote highlight various technologies that can help you get the most out of your lights-out strategy:
Fire Safety First
A New Spin on Parts Collection
Automation for Chucked Parts
One Tool, Two Turning Functions
Related Content
-
Cutting Part Programming Times Through AI
CAM Assist cuts repetition from part programming — early users say it cuts tribal knowledge and could be a useful tool for training new programmers.
-
CNC Machine Shop Honored for Automation, Machine Monitoring
From cobots to machine monitoring, this Top Shop honoree shows that machining technology is about more than the machine tool.
-
Which Approach to Automation Fits Your CNC Machine Tool?
Choosing the right automation to pair with a CNC machine tool cell means weighing various factors, as this fabrication business has learned well.
