Top Tips on setting up your facility to achieve premium flower
Some basic principles need to be followed to make a significant difference in your grinding performance. For example choosing the right coolant system – including chiller, filtration and oil can save money and improve performance.
Andrew Ritchie, ANCA Product Manager said: “Our goal is for customers to get maximum performance from our machines and we have a range of support to help them achieve that. For example, our machine maintenance tasks can be found in the User Manual which identifies regular routine activities that customers should carry out on the machine. ANCA can also offer customers a scheduled maintenance contract to arrange planned service visits and carry out preventative maintenance to minimise machine breakdowns.”
“If you have any concerns with the infrastructure of your facility, contact your relevant services supplier – whether it’s your electricity provider, your air compressor or coolant system and coolant,” Andrew concluded.
1) How to achieve premium power
- It is important no matter what brand machine you have that the electrical earthing, quality of power circuit components (including RF filters), transformers, etc. meet the requirements of the machine.
- Don’t have the machine power connected to a power board where any noise-generating equipment is attached, such as electric welders or electric discharge machines, as a low-quality power supply can negatively impact a machines performance.
- A qualified electrician should wire the electrical circuit for the machine and make all electrical connections to the machines, factoring in the overall equipment and building power demands.
2) The importance of compressed air
- Compressed air must be clean and free of any impurities. Low-pressure air purge is used on ANCA machines to keep coolant out of the grind spindle, work head spindle, servo motors and their encoders to avoid contamination. The compressed air supply must not contain gross liquid or contaminants (NO oil and water!).
- ANCA strongly recommends the air compressor to have an air dryer fitted and meet the air quality standard of ISO 8573-1 Class 4. In locations where it is humid for only a few weeks of the year, unless there is an air dryer, condensation can find its way into motor windings and encoder surfaces creating expensive and untimely failures.
- The air supply must meet the air pressure and consumption needs depending on the machine configuration, including any other machines in the facility. A facility with many machines and insufficient compressed air, not only operates continuously and uneconomically, but usually has problems with a lack of air supply on the last machine furthest from the compressor.
- Regular air compressor servicing to ensure the quality of air is maintained and does not become contaminated.
Finding the right coolant system – including chiller, filtration if fitted and coolant oil
- The height of the coolant system must be lower than the machine coolant outlet to allow gravity return of the coolant to the coolant system. Raising the machine height may overcome coolant drainage issues, however the raised height affects the operators’ ability to use the machine interface.
- ANCA strongly recommends levelling the machine as low as possible to the floor, for machine stability under higher acceleration.
- ANCA machines are designed to use oil based filtered coolant, water based coolant is not recommended and using this may affect your factory warranty. For a list of recommended coolant oils please contact your ANCA representative.
3) Getting your Fire System in order
- Fire systems provide insurance and peace of mind against serious fire damage inside a machine.
An automatic fire extinguishing system is highly recommended when using oil based coolants, especially during unmanned operation. - An optional Pyrogen fire system is available on ANCA machines. If customers want to fit an alternative fire system, then consult your ANCA representative for support.
- The optional coolant mist extractor shut-off prevents a fire spreading into the factory duct work which prevents a catastrophe beyond just the machine.
