I know that they work without mach, and they seem to do it very well from what I have read. My intentions were to be able to feed a program into the GREX and let it run on its own without Mach in a supervisor postion. Since this seems unlikely without mach or programing the GREX to do its moves internally, I have decided when I get to that point I will just use a PLC that I already own.
I have few obstacles to overcome, #1 I need to get the lathe I wanted to do this on, #2 convert it to CNC, #3 Add and then program the PLC into is controls. I am still only doing a very few parts at this point, maybe 4 this year so far, they are all simple moves, linear, one tool change. I wanted to free up the Mach for my mill, so I could do more complex moves on that and use CAD/CAM and not have another computer, I have limited space and amperage avaliable so every little bit counts.
I should probably state that I have not gotten the newest mill which I am converting to CNC, an X3, and still doing all my work manually on borrowed machines, so I have ALOT of work ahead of me before I get to this point. Thinking in advance I would rather intergrate now then try and retro fit and cause more problems. The reason I asked about 2 GREX's is my intentions are to outfit the mill with some sort of tool change for dedicated runs for the typical reasons, again saving me to program a plc and using modbus. In the end it will still be cheaper and easier for ME to do it with a PLC I am familiar with, others I cannot comment. Maybe by the time I get to point of install the controls I might still get it, but considering the PLC I use is nearly as fast, and about 3/4 the price outfitted similiar I willl stick with that(about 1/4 the price for the mill).
chris  |