Whats The Difference? 88HS -vs- 32MP

[dfry]

What is the difference between the 88HS control and the 32MP control? Is the 32MP worth the $6500.00 option? Am looking at the Fadal EMC.

[nervis1]

32 is the 88 with a PC inside. The two systems communicate via 422 port. It comes loaded with Gibbs shop floor Cad/Cam, hard disk storage, disk, and transfer utilities.

You can add a CD or zip, or whatever as easy as you can to a PC so that is nice. Sometimes I have big files, 2-3 megs so being able to burn to a CD and walk it out, mid program start if I need to is real nice.

For 6500 bones I'd probably skip it, spend less on 4 or 8 megs of memory and just DNC the big files right to the control memory.

If you never use big files there would be little point, especially if you already have CAD/CAM software.


The 88 with a disk drive will pretty much do anything the 32 will do otherwise.

[dfry]

Ok, thats what I wanted to know. I would get the 8 or 16 megs anyway. I like having plenty of memory on the control and sending code via RS232. I already have CAM software so the 32 is no use to me. Thanks

[chrisw765]

ok so i just bought a 1984 vmc40 that has a cnc88 controller is it updatable and how is it diffrent from the 32 or 88hs??? i havent been alble to fire it up yet watting on a 3ph interter

[ctate2000]

The CNC88 is a very good control. I would save the money on any memory upgrades if you plan on running DNC. The memory included is sufficient for most needs. I have run surfacing programs for model airplane wing molds and had the memory half full of other programs and not had any issues.

CT

[chrisw765]

wow, you said you cut some molds for rc airplanes wings?? due to the airfoil it would have to be able to do 3d contouring,i didnt think that a 1984 controller had this ability??

[ctate2000]

My machine was a 1995 model. As long as you have two axis simultaneous control it can be done. All of the moves were Z and Y interpolative moves. The X was moved incrementaly to provide "step over". Difficult to do without software.

[chrisw765]

thx for the response i think a 95 model will have a 88hs contraller vs i have the orignal cnc88 im not sure what it is capable of doing yet im haveing a hard time finding info on it??

[DareBee]

chrisw

I have a 94 and the memory is laughable.
I believe the 95 ^ is the first year of the AC servos and they did have reasonable memory, my 94 (and I would assume yours is similar) has pathetic memory and I have to DNC anything over about 2500 blocks (starting with a clear memory).
As most anyone will tell you, just overlook the shortcomings and use the machine as is OR tear out the Fadal stuff and retrofit a new control. Upgrading the existing control will still leave you with a major underachiever and cost a lot.
For example - for me to upgrade the 88HS to 4XXKb memory (yes Kb) is 4 - 5k.

[Neal]

Darbee--
Your 94 Fadal could be expanded to 422K of memory which will hold a lot more than 2500 lines of code. In order to go beyaon 422K then you must have the -5 system upgrade. Then you can get up to a max of 16 meg.

Neal

[DareBee]

As I said it's 4 - 5K, that is WAY too much money for 422kb

[Neal]

Darebee--
I don't know where THAT price came from. 422K memory expansion card does NOT cost anywhere near that amount.
Call Fadal Parts and see what they tell you.
If your machine has the dash five and you want to go to 16 megabyte memory then your looking a high dollars due to the fact that this is NOT PC Simm memory. Its more complex than that.

Neal