Now, moving on to the machine itself and what can be done on the machine to reduce errors. The first thing I want to point to is a system that we call, ‘Automatic Pallet Confirmation.’ Automatic Pallet Confirmation takes the location of the pallets and the machine tool to an extra level of error proofing.  I have a flow chart describing what Automatic Confirmation is. Each time you load a pallet onto any machine tool, the pallet’s going to be clamped to the machine, typically, by some hydraulic clamping method. And within that hydraulic clamping circuit there will be an electronic limit switch to make sure that the clamp or clamps have been moved to the position where the pallet should be clamped, that it makes the switch, and it tells the control everything is okay and the program proceeds. 

Sometimes the clamps can be properly actuated and the pallet will be clamped to the machine tool but there may be some chips a couple thousandths of an inch thick interfering at the locating point for that pallet and, therefore, the fixture is on top of the pallet, the part mounted on the fixture, and the further it is away from that point of clamping, it can be off by a considerable amount from where it should be. 

What pallet confirmation does is use an air circuit built into the locators that detects the slightest little bit misalignment or mislocation of the pallets of the machine because of back pressure recorded when the pallet is clamped incorrectly. It attempts to correct the problem before the program continues. What would happen on this machine is pallet locates on the machine, there's a chip that’s interfering with the full location although the hydraulic clamps are fully clamped, the back pressure in the air sensing system will detect this, the pallet changer mechanism will then lift the pallet, a second time, blow air around the cones to make sure that if there's anything there it’s going to get blown away and out of the way, then bring the pallet back down and re-clamp. If everything is okay, then the machine proceeds with the program, but if there's still a problem in the back pressure of that air sensing system, then an alarm will sound and the machine will stop and you have a chance to prevent an error before it ever occurs. We put this on every Makino horizontal machine that we ship.