VB • MS Access 97 • RS Logix (PLC)
Since most people are not aware of what a ‘tenoner’ is, I will explain. In the woodworking industry, it is a machine in which you feed a piece of wood and it shapes the end. In the case of a double-end tenoner, it shapes both ends.
In the late nineties, while working as an Electrical Controls Engineer, I developed software that could control a double-end tenoner. The screen contained an overhead graphic of the machine and you could control every aspect it. Move a saw station by a fraction of an inch, spread the feeder apart for a larger piece, change the feeder speed, everything.
Then I added a database for storing part information. When a user selected a part, the machine would automatically adjust to that item. This was also the first project that I used SQL on and I used Microsoft Access for the database.
Little did I know it but this was actually the first CNC tenoner ever made that was controlled by custom software. I would also like to add that, in addition to developing the software from scratch, I also designed the entire electrical and hydraulic systems on the machine. I also spent some time with the operators to teach them how to run the machine. Several of which, had actually never used a pc before so we began with showing them how to use a mouse.
Eight years after I had left the company, they asked me to do some development work and a former colleague informed me that the CNC Tenoner was still running 24/7 and going strong.