Happy new year to the CNC Zone community from Mikini Mechatronics.
We’ve had few requests to publically respond to comments and “straighten out” a few posts on this forum site. It’s not our place, in our opinion, to do so. We are here to help however, and after reading and reviewing many of these threads, we had some thoughts from the team we’d like to share.
1) We’re not perfect.
No manufacturer is (or supplier / company, individual, employee, …is ). However, we make a huge effort to build best in class tools that represent great value, and support them beyond expectations. If there’s an issue, we’re 100% committed to making it right.
2) Early generation machines, were, early generation machines.
Without question, Our first generation (2008 model year) machine drive and control systems proved to be less reliable than intended in customer use. They were based on systems in use to this day by low cost machine tools which had been modified at our direction and design and hardened by our suppliers -intended for industrial use.
Although component failure rates were low and thousands of hours of pre-release tests were performed, cumulative issue rates exceeded our internal standards in the field, especially in regards to overload and overvoltage protection.
We based the V1.0 systems on overload and over-voltage standards of commonly available drives and systems that are used in industrial machine tools today (150% overload for example and a 3HP system based on a 3HP off the shelf chipset). We reacted promptly and by early 2009 new systems were shipping in all 2009 MY machines.
Our second and third generation control and drive systems are clean sheet designs from a supplier of industrial control systems and have proven themselves in years of commercial service, worldwide.
We accomplished this by overbuilding substantially - for example our V2.0 standard spindle drive has a 400% overload, and is rated at 3HP and is based on a 5HP continuous drive system sourced in the USA). It’s nearly impossible to kill one of our second generation servo drives by overloading. Don’t take our word for it - our users document (online, directly, and in firmware results) that they apparently “try” on a fairly frequent basis – and have done so for years.
(boy, I hate to think how some of our users drive a standard transmission car). :stickpoke - Mostly kidding - turns out this is the reality of automated industrial tools - at least in this particular case)
3) Generally speaking, it's easier to find the complaints than real story.
Results show the systemic reliability of our Mikini V2.0 control and drive systems from 2009-2011 exceeds that of highly recognized industrial automation systems in use today from some of the largest suppliers in the world in our testing. In short, we’re extremely confident of our machines, and sub systems, performance and reliability. And we're not stopping here.
4) We continually work on improvements
We continue to “hunt” for higher performing and more reliable components, at reasonable costs. One of the “nagging” issues for any enclosed machining center (or severe duty automated IP54 + rated device) is electrical switch performance and reliability (in our case limit switches). We use Omron industrial switches, and are looking for better (though the same switches are used on $125,000 dollar class machines) . With 9 switches per machine, the chance for failure is greatly increased. Got ideas, let us know. We’re continually testing new switches.
5) We're 100% committed to our products and users.
We stood, and stand, behind all users and operators of all machine tools we have built to this day. For owners and operators of 2008 MY machines we extended warranty service to these at no additional cost, with no questions, years beyond term.
6) Be discriminating
Don’t believe everything you read or hear – good, bad, or indifferent. This is especially true online. There are a huge number of inaccurate statements from un-informed users of machine tools (independent of our machine or any other, inaccurate statements regarding fundamental issues such as power, torque, loading and machining calculations). Many of the threads here bear out these inaccuracies, others do not. It is our policy not to correct these in public forum. Feel free to contact us, or verify with any accredited source, these facts.
7) Learn as much as you can - Don't assume
Seek out as many sources of truly informed knowledge as possible. Be very wary of information from anonymous sources, or sources without (or weak) credentials. Don't make assumptions, or at least verify them once made.
8) Learning, especially self guided, is tough.
Be fully aware that attempting to operate any professional use tool, including a CNC machining center, without proper (comprehensive) training and understanding of system limitations and performance will be a challenging, and often times expensive, process. Even with proper and comprehensive knowledge (which takes thousands of man hours to aquire), expect some things to be challenging none the less. True for all sorts of professions.
9) We make a huge effort to remain customer focused.
We welcome and encourage users to get in touch with us at any time with questions, comments or recommendations.
10) Further to this ...
Tell us what you want. We’re strongly considering producing a machine (configuration of the 1610 platform) aimed at a segment of the market between the 1610L and bench-top machine for 2013, with lower longevity, cost, and features than the 1610L. We believe it would be suitable for most applications documented in these forums, and welcome input. Food for thought - if we get lots of input we'll make it a dedicated thread :
- Do you really need tenths absolute accuracy, or is say 1 thou ok ? Or does a benchtop more or less do what you need at 2-5 thou ? How important are thermal fits and other high precision applications ?
- How important is surface finish, relative to material removal performance ?
- How important is bearing life – is 2500 hours reasonable ? (out tests show some benchtops only go 500 or so hours, and the -L uses 5000 hour rated systems). Note that 2500 hours would be 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for well over a year of operation.
- How important is industrial safety compliance performance ? Is it okay to allow safety systems to be controlled by control software in your application ? Okay to take 3 seconds to shut down a machine or process ? Okay to be shutdown compliant 99.0 % of the time, not 99.9% ?
- How important are “accessories” – flood cooling, lighting, tooling shelves, trim, pendant control, etc ? (All standards on the 1610L)
Be Safe and Productive in 2012.
- Mikini Mechatronics, LLC
Watsonville, California, USA