We have an older BMC30 that,for various reasons we are considering a control retrofit. What recomendations can you guys make in regards to control mfr., operator interface, and machine integration. Also, what can i expect in the way of costs, and the amount of hours to do such a thing? The machine is a solid box way unit and does well except for the control.

Well, IMO the best control for HSM and retrofitting is the Numeryx.
Installed by many around the world, and they are based out of Dearborn Michigan.
Just across the pond from you...
http://www.numeryx.com/cnc/index.htm
This control is popular in the mold machining capital of the US for a reason.
Our cost less than 30k, installed.

In this case, money well spent as the CNC is more accurate and faster than many very expensive CNC machines at a fraction of the price. I recently met a retrofitter who installs a new Mitsubishi on his own 5 axis Kerney and Trecker CNC machines. Doing all the work themselves, their cost is 40-50k. All servos must be Mitsubishi...
No such requirments with the Numeryx, you can even mix and match AC and DC servos... You just cannot imagine the smooth servo motion until you see it for yourself.

Good Luck,

That looks interesting, I got that it runs under DOS, but I am not sure I understand how they handle the Hardware.
[QUOTE]NCPLUS is hardware independent.
Various servo controllers (e.g. Delta Tau®), displays, digital and analog I/O's and third party boards can be used without software modification, since they are controlled by device drivers.[/UNQUOTE]
All the popular makes of motion control boards have entirely different protocols, so I assume the drivers are written for each if no software modification is used?
I am using three of the most popular makes of board so I would certainly be interested in hearing more.
Al.

Since we are a machine shop and not machine builders ourselves, we don't have much expeience with this stuff. Is it something we can tackle in house? The machine has Fanuc servos on it right now. I have worked with Fanuc, Yasnac, and Mazatrol controls as far as programming goes. How does this control compare as far as simplicity and ease of use? I have seen Centriod controls but know nothing about them. Anyone else used these?

I can tell you right off, that what ever system you put in, if you do it yourself, and have never done one before, there is going to be a fairly long learning curve.
With a Fanuc system, unless they are analogue control drives on there, and DC servo's, you will have to replace them, Although I believe Delta-Tau motion has integrated AC servo's.
If you are thinking of replacing the servo's and amps. it often pays to look at a full system, due to the time factor of integrating everything in, it depends how much you value your time.
I don't know where Scott_Bobs buddy went wrong with the Mitsubishi costs, as a retrofitter, I have done whole machines including labour for less than $50-60k using Mits.
My personall philosophy regarding software, especially high-priced s/w, is that G codes, although a bonus if configurable, should work in a standard fashion, right out of the box.
And I get them when I order by machine type, e.g. Mill, Lathe Punch etc.
Getting G codes to do what they are supposed to do is just an extra time waster.
This is what I expect and get when I use a full blown system.
M codes are another matter and have to obviously be written for a particular machine.
If you can do without the machine for a while and/or want to do to get experience for later projects then having a crack at it yourself MIGHT be an advantage.
Al.