5 Simple Steps That Eliminate Maintenance Chaos

How do you keep track of scheduling maintenance in your shop? If you use a clipboard next to your machine tool, or calendar alerts on your laptop, that’s pretty common. And yes these procedures can work, but they can also be somewhat of a hassle. You still have to manually manage the process at some point, and if you have several CNC machines, maintenance scheduling can become a tangled, chaotic mess. You can eliminate the chaos by using a simple function that’s ready-to-go on any Okuma CNC machine. “User Maintenance” is an onboard maintenance function that comes standard, and it’s very easy to set up.

Right On Your Machine Tool

The User Maintenance function is located on your OSP control, in the parameter mode. You only need to set this up one time, and it will always keep track of required maintenance – right on your machine tool. Perhaps most importantly, this function tracks actual usage hours for each particular machine, which is hard to do using a clipboard-type system. You set the number of hours of run time desired between maintenance procedures (it’s a good idea to follow recommended maintenance schedules) and the control counts run time for you. Then it sends an alert when maintenance is needed.

5 Simple Steps

Here are the 5 simple steps to follow when activating the User Maintenance function on your OSP control:

1. Go to the Parameter mode
2. Scroll through the dropdown menu and select “User Maintenance”
3. Hit “Enter”
4. Here you’ll see up to 24 fields where you can enter what you want to track for maintenance reminders
5. You can set two types of reminders:

• Notification: Establishes your desired lead time for notification before the service is required (this gives you time to order supplies and schedule machine downtime). This will flash an alarm D message at the scheduled time, without preventing the machine from running.
• Warning: Generates a C-level alarm letting you know you’ve exceeded your run hours between maintenance. This warning will still allow you to make parts, but at the end of each one it requires you to reset and start the CNC machine.

For more detailed information on how to maximize User Maintenance, refer to your user manual, publication LE32-155-R05, or contact your local distributor. For those who want even more functionality, there’s a free machine tool app in the Okuma App Store called Scheduled Maintenance.

Have you devised an ingenious system for scheduling machine tool maintenance? Or perhaps you’re already using the User Maintenance function, or maybe the app. If so, please comment and share your thoughts.

Richard Turner is Senior Principal Engineer, Okuma America Corporation.