Patent ID: 8977381
Filing Date: 2015-03-10
Classification: B23C,B23Q,G05B

Abstract:
1. A CNC controlled horizontal mill and rotating workpiece holder comprising: a tombstone attached to the horizontal mill; at least one CNC controlled rotating workpiece holding fixture mounted to the tombstone; a CNC controller generating rotating workpiece holding fixture commands for each rotating workpiece holding fixture; an M-code relay receiving activation signals from the CNC controller and forwarding the activation signals to a control box; a CNC position command for each rotating workpiece holding fixture generated by the CNC controller and provided to the control box; multiplexed position commands generated by the control box and provided to the tombstone after receiving the activation signal; a controller residing in the tombstone and receiving the multiplexed position commands and de-multiplexing the position commands to obtain individual rotating workpiece holding fixtures commands; communication between the controller and the rotating workpiece holding fixture providing signals to the rotating workpiece holding fixtures and providing rotating workpiece holding fixture position information back to the controller; communications from the controller to the control box providing a first motion finished signal to the control box; communication between the control box and the M-code relay providing a second motion finished signal to the M-code relay; and communication between the M-code relay and the CNC controller providing a third motion finished signal to the CNC controller.