System software

The QC10 ballbar may collect the data but it is the Ballbar 5 software that gives the user valuable information. Ballbar 5 is a Windows®-compatible software package for machine tool performance analysis. Just like the QC10 ballbar, Ballbar 5 software is powerful and easy to use. The Windows interface and step-by-step instructions, mean that you can be using the system in minutes.

Powerful analysis not only produces reports to international standards, but also produces automatic diagnosis and ranking of a wide range of machine positioning error sources.

Software features and benefits

Below is an example of QC10 system software.

Features

Minimal training requirements - Easy-to-use software with test templates, graphical set-ups and comprehensive side-bar and on-line help. Therefore anyone in your machine shop can run a simple, repeatable QC10 ballbar test.

Comprehensive diagnostics of your machine errors - In addition to the graphical trace display, Ballbar 5 software ranks each diagnosed error according to its impact on overall machine accuracy.  Hotlinks take you to the relevant section of the on-line user manual, which details causes for each type of machine error and offers advice on how best to fix them.

The QC10 ballbar often gives you all the information you need to fix the problem on-the-spot, with nothing more than a screwdriver. This eliminates the need to call maintenance unnecessarily. If maintenance do need to be called, you have all the information to pinpoint the problem and minimise downtime.

All test data files can be saved be for later analysis.

Analysis output to international standards - Data analysed to ISO 230-4, ANSI B5.54 and B5.57 standards.

Overall machine accuracy is graded with a value of circularity and position tolerance.

Calculated feedrate - Ballbar 5 software calculates the machine feedrate for your ballbar test, for comparison against the nominal programmed value.

Live data capture - and a summary of the test parameters gives you full confidence in the test results.

Graphical test set-up - A simple, graphical user interface makes setting up tests a straightforward 2-step process.

Simulated plot lines - A plot is simulated from the diagnosis results. When overlain against the recorded plot this gives an indication of how closely the machine error diagnosis matches the actual test data.

Comprehensive on-line help - With search and index facilities.

Machine history - Review machine performance over time in graphical format.

Part program generator - Quickly and automatically generate ballbar test part program.

Ballbar plot simulator - Predicts the effect of maintenance and tuning on machine performance.

Multi lingual support - Ballbar 5 HPS allows multi-language report generation as well as operating in the following languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Czeh, Korean, Chinese and Russian, allowing reports to be generated in the language of the operator.

Benefits

It's now even easier to ballbar your machine. With the graphical test setup, test templates and machine folders simplifying the testing procedure, the system can save you:

• Time
• Money
• Waste

Target maintenance - Ballbar 5 software ranks each diagnosed error according to its impact on overall machine accuracy. Hotlinks take you to the relevant section of the on-line user manual, which details causes for each type of machine error and offers advice on how best to fix them.

The QC10 ballbar often gives you all the information you need to fix the problem on-the-spot, with nothing more than a screwdriver. This eliminates the need to call maintenance unnecessarily. If maintenance do need to be called, you have all the information to pinpoint the problem and minimise downtime.

Increase knowledge of your machine / manufacturing capabilities - Use the right machine for the job - assign specific toleranced jobs to machines capable of holding these tolerances, ensuring that the machine is fit for the required purpose and less likely to produce scrap.

Ballbar 5 HPS software

The original Ballbar5 featured

• Easy to use Windows® interface
• Live data capture
• Analysis and display of test data in accordance with ISO 230-4, JIS B6194 and B5.57, B5.54 standards
• Automatic feedrate detection
• Positional tolerance value analysis
• Comprehensive hyperlink manual with hotlinks and search

Use only the features you need, with 3 different operation modes:

Quick Check - use for one-off testing of machines with different set-ups.

Operator - use for regular comparative testing of a machine's condition. Pre-defined test templates speed up the machine check and ensure consistency of set-up.

Advanced - full access to set-up, edit and organise machine data.

New features

Ballbar 5 HPS is a significant development of the original Ballbar 5 software to maximise the efficiency and power of your ballbar testing. Key additional features are:

• Machine history: review machine performance over time in graphical format
• Part program generator: quickly and automatically generate ballbar test programs
• Ballbar plot simulator: predict effect of maintenance and tuning on machine performance

Machine history

Allows variations in the performance of each machine to be displayed graphically. You can now clearly see how many of the machine performance characteristics measured by the ballbar (e.g. ISO 230-4 circular and radial deviations, positional tolerance, squareness, backlash etc) have varied over a period of time. In short, it compiles a complete ballbar 'medical record' for the machine!

The plots make trends clearly visible, allowing maintenance requirements to be scheduled in advance, whilst plot discontinuities help fault diagnosis after a machine crash.

You can also set warning and failure tolerances on any of the machine's characteristics measured by the QC10 ballbar. Once set, these tolerances are displayed on the history graphs and are also used to instantly check the results of every ballbar test as it is carried out.

Part program generator

This is used to automatically generate ballbar test part programs and can be customised to suit the requirements of your controllers and ballbar tests. This is particularly useful if you test a large number of different machines, either as the operator or service contractor.

Ballbar plot simulator

Allows the user to see the test results recreated on screen, and then has the facility to change various machine geometry, play and dynamic parameters, and to try "what if" scenarios on the ballbar plot and on circularity and positional tolerance values. As this is done on a separate simulator there is no chance of corrupting the original test data.