Tool Monitoring System

Picture
​ The SlyTrackr Tool Monitoring System (TMS) provides highly accurate, real time data about your machine tool’s cutting process. The SlyTrackr TMS can greatly reduce tooling cost associated with broken tools, increase your machine up-time and reduce scraped parts. Typically, as the sharpness of the tool deteriorates, the amount of power required to cut the material increases. Based on this principle, the SlyTrackr TMS can react to a worn tool before its critical breaking point. During the “Teach Mode”, the TMS sets three limits for each Tool and each Section of your program: Extreme Limit, Wear Limit and Undercut Limit. While in “Monitor Mode”, if the Tool Load reaches the Undercut Limit, the TMS has detected a broken tool and stops the program, runs a Macro to retract the Z-Axis, make a tool change to a backup tool (Sister Tool) and re-runs the tool path that it was running before the alarm occurred. When a Wear Limit is reached, the TMS flags the current tool as “Worn” and that tool will be skipped during the next tool change and a backup tool will be used instead. When the Extreme Limit is reached the system responds in the same was as an Undercut Limit.