Tip of the Day 128: Cross-Copy Does More…

More than what? Well, more than just copy mold configurations between eDART™s so that they can run on different machines. The name “Cross-Copy” denotes this one function but it was designed and built to do much more (note: This applies to EDM users and those with cross-copy installed on test Insight Servers.). Some customers have thought that since their molds are dedicated to one machine only they don’t need the “cross-copy” function.



Here is a short list of functions that you can do to enhance your network experience:





  • Pre-create molds, materials or cavity setups in the “eDART Configurations\…” folder on the EDM and have them ready to go on the eDARTs when a new job starts.


  • Copy a mold folder from an EDM in a plant or tryout shop and drop it into a folder on the EDM at your plant to get the whole configuration: sensor locations, pin sizes, templates, alarms, controls (valve gate and other), graph setups etc.


  • To set up a new job on a mold with a new material, copy and paste a current material into the mold folder. All of your current settings will then be ready to run as a close starting point if you start the job with the new material. Any adjustments you save will not affect the process setup for the previous material.


  • Drop photos and setup notes into EDM folders and have them ready to read on the eDARTs when the job starts (see tips # 71 and 72 )


  • If an eDART is damaged and must be replaced, all the configurations exist on the EDM for both mold and machine (e.g.s sequence setup, injection pressure scaling etc.) and are therefore not lost. The new eDART will accept the configurations when it is installed, identify the machine from the Sequence Module and set itself up as it was before.


  • Install an eDART on a new machine and have mold configurations ready to go to run one of your existing molds on the new machine.

  • Even if molds do not move between machines the cross-copy system copies the security settings across the plant. Thus you only need to set security on one eDART to get it set up on the rest.

  • The above is also true of views and default settings for Cycle Graph colors etc.

  • If a mold, material or cavitation is named improperly you can re-name it on the EDM. This will change the name across the plant.

  • If molds are retired or were junk (e.g. the “test” mold that no one knows what it is) you can delete them from all of the eDARTs by deleting the mold name on the EDM.

With all of the above available with cross-copy I recommend that you leave it operating.



This sheet contains some of the basic concepts and how-to instructions.



Concerns:




Even with all of the above advantages some customers have expressed concerns.



1. Someone can rename or delete a mold on the EDM and wipe out its settings across the plant. Here are some ideas for mitigating that risk.




  • Have the IT people set up domain security for the eDART Configurations folder.

  • Always copy (or cut) and paste mold folders to an “obsolete” area, never delete them.

  • If enough people ask we could add a switch to the configuration to prevent any deleting and re-naming plant wide. If you actually did delete a mold on the EDM the eDARTs would copy it back up again.


2. Some valve gate controls need to be different for the same mold run on a different machine. We don’t have a “clean” solution for this yet. But here is one idea.


  • Use the “Cavities” level to specify the machine. The valve gate control strategy is saved under the lowest level used. Then teach the technicians to select the machine from the list under “Cavities”.


    This is not automated but would work for now.


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