CamSoft with Fanuc alpha servos

[cnc-it]

Hi,
I've been working my way through all the info on camsoft and the Galil motion controller.

I have a full Fanuc 16B control that i am looking to fit onto my Bridgeport Horizontal with Fanuc 6MB.

My problem is that the software upgrades from Fanuc to get the 16 control working properly on my machine centre look like being super expensive!

Is the CamSoft/Galili retrofit worth cosidering as an easier way forward or will it never be a match for the 16 control on performance.

I noticed the Galil has a 32bit RISC processor where as Fanuc can supply a 64bit processor for high speed milling.

By the way the servos I have are 3000rpm with 1million pulses per rev encoders.

Thanks in advance for any help,
John.

[Bob Pierre]

You have to check this out for yourself but they told me it would meet and beat the performance of the newer Fanuc 21i

I hadn't run a Fanuc 21i or 16m but camsoft does a damm good job from the other machines and older Fanuc models. You don't have to worry about available parts either.

Bob

[cnc-it]

Thanks Bob,

I've also looked at the Aerotech ststem www.aerotech.com which looks very good. It uses just one firewire connection from a pc to the first drive unit then the other drive units are daisy chained to it with firewire connectors.

It can do upto 32axis! and has no motion control card...just motion control software that is loaded onto a pc.

The downside is it has to be used with there own drives as far as I can make out but I am still looking into this one!!

John.

[Citron]

I ran a Fanuc 16m & Fagor on a wood router a while back. I don't carefor Fanuc that much and one of the reasons was that the programs we were given were long 3D splines which I could not run on the Fanuc or Fagor above 40 ipm because it would shake leaving a rippled finish.

We since run Camsoft using a Optima card and she rips at 700ipm on the same sort of splines. It's a night and day improvement over Fanuc and Fagor.

Johnny

[cnc-it]

Thanks Johnny,

I presume you replaced the 16M with the camsoft and kept the AC servos and drives intact or is the Camsoft on a new machine...?

The Camsoft sounds to have very impressive contouring speeds for a lot less money than a Fanuc control.

John.

[Citron]

The 16M was on a machine I once used , not on the machine we used for the router.

Johnny