Siemens 810d REPOS, are You Repositioning?

This article is about the Siemens 810d REPOS key.

I am so lucky that I get to meet so many fascinating people. Recently I worked at The National Oceanography Centre.

These guys do all sorts of scientific research shit. Most of it I don’t really understand but I do know they have their own ship and they go out to sea taking samples and fixing stuff.

This is what they say they do:

We provide industry with innovative solutions to their problems, train the engineers and audiologists of the future, and impact on society through our world-leading research.

Oh and they have this baby:

It’s a Hardinge VMC 600 and it’s got a Siemens 810D control and I love it. I definitely get too attached to the machines I work on and this one is no exception.

A bit grubby at the minute but they assure me she’s gonna get a makeover soon.

I Hate Celebrities

Tonight I’m stuck in my hotel room and the only thing on the telly is a load of Z list  celebrities competing to see who can make the best frittata. This gives me a problem in that I hate celebrity culture and I don’t have a clue what a fuckin frittata is.

Oh and on the other channel it’s celebrities on a games show crying cos they couldn’t win two thousand pounds for their chosen charity. I mean, fuck off , these guys spend five hundred quid on a pair underpants and could donate twenty grand to a charity without batting a surgically lifted eyelid.

Enough About Celebrities

Having not worked on this Siemens 810d control for a little while a few things had slipped my mind but it didn’t take long to get back up to speed.

Thanks for sending us the manuals YeovilMachine Tools YMT (within a couple of hours) not bad eh?

This machine is 15 years old and I would put it up against a lot of new machines for ease of use and just about everything.

Graphics Mmmmm…..

The graphics, as usual, are an absolute pile of dog-shit. But honestly what machines do have good graphics even new ones?

Don’t you just love em?

I mean graphics, they kind of serve a purpose in that you know that you are somewhere near what you want. Unfortunately that’s where it ends I’m afraid.

Anyway what is this self opinionated prick going on about today? You may ask.

Well………

It’s the Siemens 810d Repos Key

If you use this REPOS button all the time and you know what it does then you are on the wrong website. Clever people like you don’t belong on this website.

Yes this is it the Siemens 810d Repos

I’d just forgotten how useful this is so you will forgive me for getting really excited about it.

The great thing about being old, and there aren’t many, is constantly forgetting things. I know that sounds weird but you can get excited about something you already knew but forgot.

The button for fuck sake let’s hear about the button.

OK the button.

So you milled half way along a part and you want to have a look at it before you go on and possibly scrap the part.

Here Is what You Do

Hit CYCLE STOP, that’s this one….

It will oblige by lighting itself up. Now you can go into manual or jog depending on the age of your machine.

Now move your X Y or Z anywhere you want so that you can have a good look at the part. Maybe check it or something?

You will need to stop the spindle if you want to open the doors.

Then when you are happy to carry on just hit CYCLE START button.

If you’re thinking “hang on Dave, you didn’t switch the spindle on”

Clever Siemens 810d

First of all don’t call me Dave, I fuckin hate it, my name is David. Actually you don’t need to switch on the spindle, clever old Mr Siemens just does it anyway.

Your tool will just move straight back to where it was n carry on.

“But Dave what about REPOS”

Please stop calling me Dave or I’ll end this article now and you’ll never know.

The problem is that although the control is clever enough to know it’s got to go back to where it was before it carries on.

It will still hit things on the way like this.

So what do we do?

Yes we use REPOS

Then we can separately move each axis back in whatever order we want.

Don’t worry if you get the direction wrong, it will only move in the correct direction and also the correct distance.

Each axis moves back to it’s original position with no fuss. Then when you’re ready.

Turn off the REPOS and press CYCLE START.

You actually press JOG to switch off REPOS which is a bit strange but once you are used to the logic (if there is any) it’s just fine.

On my machine the JOG button says Manual, I think Hardinge made their own button for this. Probably from recycled pubic hair.

I’m all for reducing carbon foot print n stuff but I prefer good old JOG.

I did warn you the machines not clean yet.

So this is how it works

Not painful at all.

We do loads of Siemens training at the CNC Training Centre