About DR Machines

35 years of expertise.
Now in your pocket.

DR Machines was born from a simple, hard truth: the best CNC knowledge in the world lives inside a handful of people — and those people can only be in one place at a time. We started building this knowledgebase in 1989 on a dBase II database running on an Apple computer with two floppy drives and no hard disk. The tools have changed. The mission hasn't.

Today DR Machines is the most comprehensive CNC diagnostic platform available — covering Fanuc controls, servo drives, and spindle systems across 36+ product families, with Siemens and NUM coming soon. Built by a working technician. Used by thousands of shops worldwide.

about_drmachines.log
Founded 1989 · Dayton, Ohio
Platform v6 · 6th generation knowledgebase
Coverage 36+ Fanuc product families
Alarms 1,200+ coded & mapped
Expert exp. 35 yrs shop floor diagnostics
Industries Auto · Aerospace · Medical
Apps iOS + Android available now
Support Email + Phone on qualifying plans
Status ✓ Online

What We Built

A diagnostic platform 35 years in the making

When a CNC machine goes down, every hour costs thousands. The problem isn't a shortage of manuals — it's that manuals tell you what an alarm means, not how to fix it. DR Machines fills that gap: structured flowcharts, wiring diagrams, and root-cause paths built from decades of real repairs, not theory.

Interactive diagnostic flowcharts

Every alarm code is mapped to a step-by-step decision tree built from real repairs. Walk through root causes in minutes — not hours of guesswork or waiting for a service call.

Fanuc & Siemens coverage

36+ Fanuc product families covered today — controls (16/18/21 series and all i-variants), servo drives (AC C-Series, SVM, Alpha PSM/i PSM), and spindles (Analog, Serial, SPM, Alpha i SPM). Siemens 840D/828D coming soon.

Mobile — iOS & Android

The full knowledgebase in your pocket on the shop floor. No laptop. No service desk ticket. The same expert knowledge available at 2am when the machine is down and the call center is closed.

Teams & enterprise

From a single technician to 100-user enterprise portals. Custom-branded databases for machine tool makers, SAP integration, and fully managed white-label platforms for OEMs.

Live expert support

Email support on $595+/year plans. Phone support with guaranteed 2-hour callback on $4,000+/year plans. A real engineer — the one who built this — not a bot or a first-line helpdesk.

Open ecosystem

Specialists in any control system can partner with us to build their own knowledge module. Contribute your expertise, list your profile, and earn revenue share every month.


Our History

Six iterations. One mission.

The problem we're solving is not new. We've been building versions of this platform since 1989 — each one better than the last, each one shaped by more machines repaired, more technicians trained, more alarms solved.

1989
First version
dBase II database on Apple with two floppy drives. The beginning.
1997
Rebuild
Migrated to Excel as the alarm database grew beyond dBase's limits.
1999
Rebuild
Microsoft Access — relational structure, faster lookup, bigger data.
2000
Web + Mobile
Web-based .NET platform. Palm Pilot demo at IMTS 2000.
2016
Android
First dedicated Android app — knowledgebase on the shop floor.
Now
iOS + Android · Current platform
Full iOS and Android apps. Cloud knowledgebase. AI assistant. Enterprise portals. This is version six.
"Knowledge is for everyone to have. Knowledge is not the cost — putting the knowledge down is the cost."
The problem we solve

Machine down. Every hour costs $2,000–$10,000 in lost production. The expert is already at three other shops. By the time they arrive, someone's tried the wrong thing — and turned a 2-hour fix into an 8-hour one.

We've worked on auto makes, jet engine plants, 16-axis systems, robots hanging upside down, medical equipment, and Steinway piano CNC programming. If it has a CNC control, we've seen it fail and brought it back.

The only answer to the expert bottleneck is to put the expert's knowledge somewhere everyone can reach it — structured, searchable, always growing.

36+
Fanuc product families
1,200+
Alarm codes mapped
35 yrs
Expert experience
v6
Platform generation

Our Team

The people behind the platform

A small team with deep expertise, united by one goal: get your machine back online.

DR
David R.
Founder & Chief Engineer
35 years on the floor. Has diagnosed Fanuc, Siemens, and NUM controls across four continents. Auto makers, aerospace, medical, robots — if it has a CNC, he's fixed it.
MK
Marcus K.
Lead Platform Engineer
Architected the knowledgebase through six generations. Former automation engineer turned software architect — knows the machines as well as the code.
SL
Sandra L.
Customer Success
Handles enterprise onboarding, support escalations, and expert partner relations. When something needs to happen fast, Sandra makes it happen.
?
Your expertise here
Expert Partner
Specialize in a control we don't cover yet? Partner with us and build your own revenue-sharing module.

Ready to stop guessing and start fixing?

Free access. No card required. The full knowledgebase is available right now.

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