Many of the MODBUS features are initiated or Handshaked by Setting and Clearing Coils(Bits) in the PLC.

In order to improve the troubleshooting capability when features are not working we have added Diagnostics to the XL to show the Coils(Bits), we call them Function Coils, as the XL sees them.

The diagnostics are accessed in the PLC Communications screen by pressing the F3-More Data key until the Screen data heading changes from "Configuration Data" to "Diagnistics. The coils are shown in 8 bit( 1 Byte) groupings. If bit 0 is ON within a group, the group will show a '0' for the first bit. Otherwise, it will show a '-' for the first bit. If bit 7 is ON the group will show '7' for the last bit. Each group has a heading showing the upper and lower coil number within the range. You can determine which coils are ON by adding the individual bit number to the lowest coil number shown in the group header. For example: If the group header is 15-8 and the group shows "-6----1-" then Function Coils 9 and 14 are ON.

In important detail to know about the screen is that it shows the state of the coils as read out of the PLC. If the XL turns on a coil that is imeadiately turned back off by the PLC, that coil will never show up in the screen as ON because it will get cleared before the XL can read it.

If enabled, the current value of the Remote Run Velocity Speed Pot is now shown in the PLC Communication Diagnostic Screen. If not Enabled, the value will show as "Disabled".

All of the controllers, with the exeption of the Closed Loop Feed to Stop, have IO that can be used by a PLC to determine if material is feeding. This change adds a MODBUS function coil that can be used to determine if the material is currently feeding. This change is only supported on Closed Loop controllers that are configured for Feed-To-Stop operation.

All of the remaining details are documented in the MODBUS PLC Interface Specification.

The Continuous Press Speed Control feature for MODBUS requires specific handshaking of function coils between the PLC and the XL controller.

The initial customer complained that the controller was getting stuck in single stroke mode.

To complete a speed change the PLC must request to change the speed and wait for the controller to lock its self into single stroke mode and respond with permission. If the PLC does not complete the handshaking correctly the controller could have gotten stuck in Single Stroke mode.

The controller code was modified to UnLock single stroke mode if the PLC cancels a Press Speed change before all of the handshaking has completed.

It may not fix the customers actual problem but it makes the controller more forgiving and fault tolerant.

Threading or unthreading a coil should cancel an Auto Crop but niether condition was doing so.

This change implements the part stitching, by omitting shears, documented in SCN 2681 on the RE Rotary Eccentric controllers.

It will be implemented for the remaining Die Accelerator types and Feed to Stop Closed Loops at some date in the future. The run section for each of these control types must be modified to process the shear operation, as if the press was going to be fired, so that all of the material handling, production tracking and appropriate production records are generated. The immediate need is for the RE.

On lines that cannot shear while the material is stationary, a special scrap piece is added to the queue to do what is called an AutoCrop. When the controller goes into run and the material starts moving it will do a shear to start the leading edge of the first part.

Many times this part is not long enough or they do not want it to go through the roll-former. In this case the operator has to remember to halt the line after the AutoCrop cut occurs.

A new setup parameter called Halt After Auto Crop has been added. It has two possible settings, YES and NO. When set to yes the controller will automatically halt after the Auto Crop has been completed.

This setup is by default locked with the setup lockout. It can be added to configurations. It is part of the Run Mode Options group. It is active and visible anytime the Auto Crop Length parameter is active and visible.

Operators who want to minimize the scrap caused by an Auto Crop have been frustrated.

In order to prevent small pieces from jamming up inside of the roll-former the largest of parameters like Auto Crop Length, Scrap Length and Minimum Part are used to determine the shortest allowable length of the Auto Crop part. The logic behind this is that we have no way of knowing if the operator is going to halt the line to retrieve parts short enough that could cause damage in the roll-former.

Another reason to limit the smallest size of the Auto Crop Piece is that it takes a minimum distance for the material to feed in order for the die to be able to accelerate and cut the scrap piece.

Operators, in an attempt to cutoff just a sliver of material, have backed up the line after requesting an Auto Crop. Backing up the line gives the controller more distance to accelerate up to cut a shorter part. However, for the above safety reason, the controller would still wait and produce the full Auto Crop Length part.

With the addition of the Halt After Auto Crop setup parameter we now know if the line is going to halt after the auto crop. This lets the controller know that the operator will be removing any short pieces that may damage the roll-former. When set to YES, if the operator backs the line up in an attempt to give the controller the opportunity to cut a shorter piece, the controller will now comply.

The XL208CL BOSS Shear originally had a Negative Line Velocity test in it to prevent the Die from tracking a target that was moving in reverse.

When the XL208CL was replaced with the RE the negative velocity test was simplified into a negative line position test. If the Die began tracking a target when the line position was negative or if the line position changed to negative while tracking the target it would generate the Negative Line Velocity error.

This simplification came with an unintended side effect. In order to cut a very small Auto Crop Piece or a small Coil Trim Cut piece, the line position must be negative while the die is accelerating. The side effect was that attempts to cut these short pieces resulted in a very confusing Negative Line Velocity error.

The Negative Line Velocity test on the RE Dies has now been restored to its original algorithm. The die must be tracking a target and line velocity must be less than -2.5 inches/sec for 40msec in order to cause the Negative Line Velocity error.

The Coil Trim Cut Distance setup parameter automatically adds a scrap piece, equal to the non-zero programed length, to the queue, after a new coil has been loaded. This scrap piece serves to do the leading edge cut for the first part and allows the controller to run parts as the material is being threaded through the presses to reach the shear press. This potentially allows nearly all of the material threaded into the machine to be used. Without this feature some lines would waste many feet of material before they could produce the first part from a coil.

This trim cut can be very short and may require an operator to remove it so that it does not jam up a down-stream roll-former.This feature remember to halt the line for them.

A new setup parameter called Halt After Coil Trim Cut has been added. It has two possible settings, YES and NO. When set to YES the controller will automatically halt after the Coil Trim Cut has been completed.

This setup is by default locked with the setup lockout. It can be added to configurations. It is part of the Run Mode Options group. It is active and visible anytime the Coil Trim Cut Distance parameter is active and visible.

A manual shear will now cancel any Coil Trim Cut that has been initiated but not Queued. Once a Coil Trim Cut is in the Queue, traditional Queue handling methods apply.

Prior to this change, once a Coil Trim Cut had been added to the Queue, the indication that a Coil Trim Cut is required got cleared. Unfortunately, on a shear only line, this behavior resulted in missing Coil Trim Cuts.

Shear only controllers do not maintain their queue when they exit the run mode. This opened up a hole in the logic. If a Coil Trim Cut was required but the controller exited the run mode prior to executing the cut, the Coil Trim Cut operation got lost.

The software has now been modified to only clear the indication that a Coil Trim Cut is required when a cut actually takes place.