PC Upgrades

No matter the brand, BTI will replace your existing computer with a new, industrial BTI computer

The mechanical half of a balancing machine, gage or test stand lasts decades. The computer that runs it does not. Operating systems reach end of support, motherboards go out of production, expansion cards are discontinued, and a machine that is mechanically capable of another fifteen years of work becomes a liability because nobody can patch it, network it or find a replacement drive for it.

A PC upgrade solves that without touching the machine. It is the smallest, least disruptive project we do, and for a lot of customers it is the one that buys the most time.

When a PC Upgrade Is the Right Project

• The operating system is past end of support and your IT group will no longer allow it on the network
• The industrial PC has failed, or you are running on your last spare
• You need the machine to export data to a plant quality system it was never designed to talk to
• Boot times, cycle times or screen response have degraded to the point of slowing the line
• A hard drive is failing and the original image no longer exists anywhere
• You need remote support access that the current machine cannot safely provide
• Cybersecurity policy requires current patching on every networked device on the floor

If the machine measures correctly, holds its calibration and runs its cycle, and the only problem is the computer, do not rebuild the machine. Upgrade the PC.

What We Install

Industrial computers, not office computers. A commercial desktop dropped into a plant environment fails on coolant mist, vibration, temperature swings and dust. We use industrial-grade PCs selected for continuous duty on a production floor.

NEMA 12 enclosures. Our PCs are housed in NEMA 12-rated enclosures, which is what makes them survivable next to a machine that throws chips, mist and coolant. This is the difference between a five-year installation and a five-month one.

Commercially available cards and components. We deliberately build around parts you can buy from more than one source. Proprietary boards with a single supplier are how machines become unsupportable in the first place, and we are not interested in creating that problem again for our customers. The result is better availability, easier maintenance and lower cost over the life of the machine.

A current, supported operating system, configured so that your IT organization will accept it on the network: patchable, manageable and consistent with plant standards.

Solid state storage where the environment warrants it, which in most plants it does.

Software and Data

The upgrade includes bringing your measurement and control software onto the new platform, with part programs, tolerances, calibration data and stored masters carried across and verified.

It is also the natural moment to add the data handling the machine never had. A machine from an era when the deliverable was a printed label can be made to write a record per serial number, export to your quality system, and support trend analysis. That capability usually costs very little on top of a PC upgrade and is often the reason the project gets approved.

Onsite or at Our Facility

Basic and complex upgrades can both be done either way.

Onsite keeps the machine in your plant and is usually the right choice for a straightforward computer and operating system replacement where the measurement hardware stays as it is.

At our facility makes sense when the upgrade also touches measurement electronics, when the software needs substantial work, or when the machine is due for other attention anyway. A machine here can be run off properly against your parts before it goes back.

Where a PC Upgrade Is Not Enough

If the machine has also lost accuracy, has worn tooling or drives, needs guarding brought to current standards, or needs to do something it was never built to do, the computer is only part of the problem. That is a rebuild and retrofit project — and on machines built by other manufacturers, a competitor rebuild, where new controls and software are usually the whole point.

We will tell you which one you are looking at. A PC upgrade sold to a customer whose real problem is a worn spindle helps nobody.

What We Need to Know

• Machine serial number — if we built it, we have the record
• What operating system and software it runs now
• Photographs of the control cabinet, the PC and any expansion cards
• What the machine measures and how results are currently recorded
• What data you need out of it, and where that data has to go
• Your plant standards for networked equipment
• Whether the machine is otherwise running correctly

Frequently Asked Questions

Will we lose our part programs and calibration?
No. Carrying them across and verifying them is part of the work. If the existing data is degraded or partially lost — which happens on machines whose drives are already failing — we re-establish what is needed as part of the project.

Can you upgrade the PC on a machine you did not build?
Often, yes, though it depends on how proprietary the measurement hardware and software are. Where the existing software cannot come along, the project becomes a control retrofit rather than a PC swap, which we also do.

Can we buy an industrial PC ourselves and install it?
You can, and some customers do. The parts that catch people out are the expansion cards that interface to the measurement hardware, the drivers for them, and getting the software licensed and configured on the new platform. If you want to try it, call us first and we will tell you honestly whether it is straightforward on your machine.

Will this get our machine onto the network safely?
That is one of the main reasons customers do it. A current, supported and patchable operating system is what makes a floor machine acceptable to an IT organization.

How long is the machine down?
Less than any other upgrade we do. An onsite PC replacement on a machine in good condition is among the shortest interventions available, which is why we recommend it whenever it is genuinely sufficient.