Need Help!- Any one know any good cnc controllers?

[slasher]

Hi everybody, I have just found out that my old allen bradley bandit 1 controller is pretty much scrap. So I need to know of a good controller that will work on my Shizuka knee mill with servos. I would really appreciate it to get some kind of idea of what there is out there. Thanks everybody

[Karl_T]

low cost - EMC and Mach3 - keyboard control step to servo drivers.

Mid range - look at Centroid/Ajax

High End - Camsoft (my favorite), Fagor

of course there are others. And, for the most part, you get what you pay for.

Karl

[slasher]

Thanks Karl T, so when you say you get what you pay for, you would'nt recommend the low end? I have a centroid cnc knee mill and to get a controller and servos is around $10,000 or more. I really don't want to spend that kind of money. What I'm wondering is what sets low range and mid range apart? I've read that I think Mach uses parts that you can buy from any electronic/computer dealer, but like what I have right now on the perticular mill that I need a controller for is a old allen bradley bandit 1 controller. Allen Bradley does'nt even carry the parts for this any more, so they had to send me to some other guy who they did'nt even know had parts supposabely. What I'm saying is these dealers can charge pretty outrageous prices for these boards, because you can't find them any where except for them. My buddy has a big strippit and he's needed to replace boards in his controller and they pretty much charged them what they felt like at the time, which was $2,000. Although I definately don't won't to spend $3-5 G on something that is going to work not good and always need repairs, so I'm still trying to get an understanding of what way I should go.

[123CNC]

my 2 cents

If you want to avoid the propietary hostage situation, then EMC2 is your answer. If you do the build and install, you will retain most of your rights on hardware. To retain closed loop servo control back to the controller, you are still on the hook for pricey amps/drives. I don't know of anyone has successfly reverse engineered the pinouts to the A/B Bandit servo drives, and where how the feedback terminates (resolver/tach) but perhaps?

The Mach3 route and servos require that you close the loop offboard of the PC, at amp/drive or motion control card (e.g. Galil).

At the low/entry level its all about how much you want to do yourself, which IMO offsets much of the costs of the mid-range options.

Personally, I still have a Bandit box, but Iv'e tried both EMC2 and Mach3, and over all user friendly-ness and increased program space absolutely unquestionably is light years better than dealing with the Bandit, IMHO.

Your intended use and how soon you want to be back up and running play a bigger role in best route (cost/benefit).

[Karl_T]

Originally Posted by slasher +3 I have a centroid cnc knee mill and to get a controller and servos is around $10,000 or more. I really don't want to spend that kind of money. What I'm wondering is what sets low range and mid range apart?

If you've already got a Centroid and like it, look no further. By going the Ajax route and shopping a bit, you can beat that 10K price considerably.

New, Camsoft is in the exact same range. By shopping, I've done my second, third, and fourth machines for about $2K each.

Mach has come a long way, but its still a hobbyist control. A great value, but don't expect the features you get on a professional machine. I put Mach on a knee mill and found I couldn't live without servo feedback, an operator panel for part setup, and extended Mcodes.

IMHO, EMC is for those with an almost religious conviction. You'll spend your whole life making it work. Note: I've refit a dozen machines to several controls but never EMC so I have no inside knowledge.

Karl

[slasher]

Thanks Karl T and 123CNC , when I said I have a centroid I ment I have a old centroid cnc4e controller hooked up to one mill. My other mill has a Allen Bradley that isn't working on it. I just really got into cnc machines, so my knowledge on them is'nt that vast. I really am not looking to put alot of time into putting together, programing, and going no where. I would much rather be along the lines of the plug and play type deal. So your saying that I can get a Centroid/Ajax or Camsoft controller for around $2k ? Although I don't want to get screwed over when I need a new part from them, do you know how they are when it comes to hardware prices?

[Karl_T]

Nether Centroid or Camsoft would be for beginners. Both are involved and complex to install. You can really save on the second machine because you already own the software. And, presumably, know enough to buy used parts that will work.

It sounds like you don't want to pay a pro to do it for you. I'd suggest mach 3 as a good beginner project. Plan on quite a bit of time if you haven't done this sort of work before.

Karl

[slasher]

You said not to expect the same features, what kind of features are we talking about? If you could name a few, thanks alot Karl T

[aghobby]

Personally, i have use Mach2, Mach3, Grex, Smoothstepper, EMC, Centroid and Camsoft.....

We have spend many $$$$!!

After 4 years of testing and reliability issues, we switched all our production of machine on Wincnc( www.wincnc.net) wich is for us the best of all, good price, good reliability, open architecture so you can built your own macros, screen, tool change etc....It come with a good manual and of course, excellent support!!!

www.ebfcnc.com