Bar Code reader on order

[thewoodcrafter]

I took John Ming's advise and ordered a bar code reader. I also have a Dymo Lable printer coming.
The wife had an extra one at work.

I started cutting an 80 sheet job Friday, figured I could afford the cost of the reader in a job that size.

I was cutting about 4 3/4" sheets an hour Friday afternoon and cut 7 1/4" sheets in 30 minutes that morning.
That was not even breaking a sweat.
I think I will be ready to start using the off fall and doing the flip ops by Tuesday. Hope the reader shows up by then.

It is really a pleasure processing this job with the SB link compared to how I did it before.

My setup is a 3 HP spindle, a PC router for drilling and a 15HP regen for hold down. I also setup air powered pop up pins to locate the sheets.

[porscheman]

Roger,

The labor savings across an 80 sheet job probably will pay for the cost of a $50 scanner. If you ordered the programmable barcode scanner, make sure to reconfigure it so that it does NOT include a carriage return after the text string that it scans. If that carriage return is present, then when you scan the barcode during flip-op processing, the bot will immediately begin the cut. Stated more accurately, the SB Link will begin executing the machining code for that part if the carriage return is there.

By leaving out the carriage return, I can scan the part with the barcode scanner, then flip the part over and lay it down on the table (aligned by positioning pins), and finally hit the Enter key on the keyboard to accept the text string which was scanned, which begins processing that part.

Your comments regarding machining productivity are right on - I took the time to relocate my edgebander closer to my Bot, so that when I'm cutting a large number of sheets on a job, I get to play "Race the Bot". I attempt to edgeband all the parts which came off the previous sheet while the Bot is cutting the current sheet. With the bander close to the Bot, I can still keep an eye on the machining and intervene in the event of a problem (very rare, so far).

Like yourself, I'm running a 3HP Colombo on a PRT Alpha (non-7.2 motors) at 8IPS in two passes (3/8" bit), and drilling (along with very narrow dadoes for drawer bottoms) is via a PC router on the 2nd Z-axis with a 5mm bit. I'm using the Brady-Vac concept for material hold-down, which has been working good so far.

John

[dlcw]

Roger,

Just finished cutting 100 sheet for the current project. Now I get to start assembling everything.

Got my reader on Friday and hooked it up today and what a time saver. Like JC says, make sure you reprogram the terminator to be NONE instead of the default CR+LF. Really easy to do, point and click.

Picked up flip op parts and off-fall perfectly without any mistyping on my part.

Ain't technology wonderful (sometimes) :-)

Don
www.diamondlakewoodworks.com (http://www.diamondlakewoodworks.com)

[thewoodcrafter]

Got an e-mail from them confirming my order.
I don't think I will see it till the end of the week. I have plenty to keep me busy.
It is shipping out of Washington state so maybe 3 days.

[myxpykalix]

You guys and your fancy scanners and link and such. You better be careful or this bot might get so automated that it won't even need YOU!

It sounds like you have got this down to a science, it sounds like a neat operation.

[dlcw]

Roger,

If you ordered from the internet site that says they are in WA, it turns out they are an order taker for the company that actually makes the scanners and ships them from Mississippi. At least that's what the UPS label says on the box I got my scanner in. I got mine pretty quick and I live in WA. So it sounds like you will get yours pretty quick also since you are in CA.

Don

[thewoodcrafter]

You are right Don.
It was shipped out of OLIVE BRANCH, MS.
Should see it the 3rd.

[myxpykalix]

Just because i'm curious...is this a handheld scanner? I owned a chain of video stores and we would stick on preprinted barcode labels on each vhs tape and when we checked them out we had a wand shaped reader like a pen that we would swipe across the barcode.
So lets say you have a sheet of plywood and you have cut 4 parts out of it. How do you know what barcode goes on which piece, and once it is cut whats the point of having a barcode unless you cut these different jobs across different sheets of plywood.
And could you mount your scanner on the bot to scan for the barcodes?
"Inquiring minds want to know"....

[Gary Campbell]

Jack...
Yes, a handheld, not a pen. USB connection. The Link allows you to print a "map" that can tell where every label goes, including off falls. You also tell it what your minimum size to save is. It also keeps track of all the sizes and species of all off falls so that you can use them if you wish.

You could mount it on the bot, but all the parts and pieces you need to scan are not on the bot... so it would be unproductive.
Gary

[thewoodcrafter]

Jack,
The scanner is just to save you from having to type in 8 - 10 numbers/letters to identify the part for the computer. I only type with 2 fingers and make mistakes with those.
You are identifing parts that either need machining on the backside or scrap (off-fall) you want to use up. These pieces have already been taken off the machine.
The software is so smart it keeps track of the size, shape and species of the scrap. When nesting the next job you can tell the software to use the scrap pieces. It will nest your new job on the scrap till the piece is full and then go to the next piece, then it takes that scrap piece out of the data base of off-fall.

This software has really given us ShopBotters a new level of productivity that we have never seen before.

[myxpykalix]

hmmm...that sounds "smarter then the aver-age bear, eh boo-boo!"

I KNOW most of you should know what thats from...

[thewoodcrafter]

I recieved my scanner today.
Plug and play, seems to work just fine here at home.
I'll try it tomorrow for real on the machine.

And with John Ming's help I got my Dymo lable printer working.

Now I need a USB hub to plug all this stuff into.
I have -
The Link Doggle
wireless mouse
lable printer
sheet printer (For lable layout)
scanner
and don't forget the ShopBot
Can anyone recommend anything or will anything work just fine?

[jerry_stanek]

Shopbot supplies the IOgear mini hub with their PRS tables that work very well. You may want a powered hub.
http://www.iogear.com/solutions/connectivity/?view=40

[porscheman]

I've encountered a number of postings on these forums that indicate that performance/reliability does vary between USB hub mfgs. I found a number of positive comments regarding Dynex hubs, bought one of their powered units, and it has worked fine. The Bot USB connection goes through the powered hub to boost comm speeds.

Another trick I've been using with good results is printing my full-sheet label layout content to a "virtual PDF" printer. This is just a free software app that you install which will spool the print job into an on-screen PDF file that you can page through. By using "virtual paper" for this task, I save some paper/ink (not a big deal) and keep another printing device from taking up space near the Bot control PC. Obviously the PDF files can just be deleted (or overwritten) when the job is done.

John

[bcammack]

CutePDF Writer is a terrific, free virtual printer for creating pdf files. Just google "CutePDF" to find it.