The Hammer and Pry Bar Incidents
As with any CNC machine, and Excellon is no exception, it is wise to make sure operators keep the hammers and pry bars away from the table tops. Operators seem to continually try to challenge the structural integrity of the machines by placing tools on top of the tables or in the path of machine carriages and powered XYZ assemblies, and then decide to hit the park button or typing a high speed jog command into the keyboard. Loud thumps can be heard clear across the production floor. More than one machine has taken a crash over the years. Actually, this type of crash is a very common occurrence in the life of a drill and rout cnc machine. Even cnc milling machines and other types of automated servo controlled equipment and robotics have been known to take a hit or two from someone leaving a tool on the table or getting it wedged between the XYZ moving parts. Excellon drilling and routing machines only had spindles to contend with, on the z axis overhead assembly, a crash was much easi...