West Manufacturing News • January 2016 • New Touchscreen CNC Console

Centroid has re-engineered its M400 CNC operator console into a new slimmer design and has added a touchscreen LCD display. This Windows- based CNC software allows the operator to directly touch the CNC console screen to operate the CNC control, in addition to using the full size standard keyboard.

" Cen - troid's CNC software has long been menu-driven and now is even easier too perate because the user interface is naturally geared toward selecting and editing all of the dayt o-day CNC operator functions, such as tool and part menus and programming CNC operations, simply by touching the selections needed," said a company spokesperson.The new M400 SlimLine CNC console is only 2.88" wide and comes with four USB ports on the right side, which can be used for importing and exporting part programs with a USB thumb drive. A variety of other USB compatible devices can also be used, such as USB hard drives, speakers and Web cams.

Made in the USA, the all powder coat steel construction is a sturdy design that allows several mounting options. The top arm mount hardware, with its smooth heavy-duty 90° swivel, is reversible to also accommodate bottom mounting configurations. A floor stand option is also available, which is popular on large machine tools and with operators that spend a lot of time at the machine. This adjustable floor stand allows for a comfortable sitting or standing arrangement for the operator. The full-size keyboard tray angle is adjustable to meet the personal preference of the operator for the most comfortable typing arrangement. A waterproof full-size keyboard with number pad is standard equipment with the new console, although a variety of USB keyboards can be used. Use of a standard USB keyboard also allows easy and inexpensive replacement when necessary.

Equipped with a tactile feedback operator control panel, the M400 console has dedicated "hard" buttons for commonly used CNC machine tool operations such as axis jogging, flood, mist and spindle control along with feedhold, cycle start, e-stop and an analog feedrate override knob. These dedicated controls allow easy access to common CNC functions with one keystroke without menu changes for the efficient use of both operator and machine tool time.

The M400 console also has nine programmable auxiliary "hard" keys that can easily be customized to perform a wide variety of machine tool functions.The seprogrammable keys facilitate customization of the CNC control to a specific machine tool and its use in a straightforward way, which makes both the CNC integrators and the CNC operators job simple while increasing machine tool efficiency.

The M400 console is designed to be used with Centroid CNC control hardware such as the new OAK single board CNC controller, the MPU11 CNC Cpu and the AllinlDC CNC controller.

In addition to the floor stand there is an add-on utility tray along with an add-on mouse tray. The utility tray mounts under the keyboard and is useful for storing commonly used items such as calipers, touch-off tools and notebooks. The optional mouse tray gives the operators a convenient place to operate a USB mouse. While not a requirement, some customers may use a mouse to operate the CNC control, especially if they are r u n n i n g a CAD/CAM system or other thirdparty software on the CNC control.

The M400 is available for use with a wide variety of milling and turning machine tools, and other configurations are available for specialized machine tools with up to eight axes.