:drowning: allen bradley 8400 bandit 5 axis movement?

[AAI]

I have a Bandit and it has a rotary table that I can plug it in to and gain another 2 axis (u and V) and I was just wondering if there is a way to program it to run X,Y,U and V all in the same movement is there some kind of special command line I need to put first? I am teaching myself this G-code language and I am just not that familiar with it yet any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time
Michael K Chase

[sinha_nsit]

The control should be capable of handling five axes simultaneously.

[AAI]

When it put them on the same line
ie: x0.26 y0.07 u2.0 v1.0
I get a invalid error

[Jerseycnc]

Is that the 8400 control ? Do you have the manual to the control. Theres info on programming 5 Axis.

[HuFlungDung]

I've never seen an AB Bandit, but that is fairly old, right?

How would it take a feedrate command for something like that? I'm suspecting that its going to need some sort of inverse time feedrate, as opposed to the typical ipm feedrate. It might need a special gcode to turn on inverse time feedrate. BTW, inverse time is loads of fun, because its different for every move!

[Jerseycnc]

The feedrate command will Have G94 and C in the line for inverse. I have an allen bradley control 5 axis. Axis used are: XYZVW. V rotates about Y axis 90 deg. and W rotates about Z axis 360 deg. I have attached a sample file.

[ThePrecisionist]

The poor ole Bandito gets a bad rap on here. Yes, it's old, outdated and different to use from a Fanuc control. However I am the 2nd owner of a Bandit 1 on a Shizouka ST-N mill and the beast is still running! I also have many modern CNC mills and Lathes in my shop as well. From 1996 models to the present. All Fanuc's except for one Yasnac and one BOSS. The Bandit 1 is the control you want to have when looking into purchasing one. Now, my machine has not been molested. Some Bandits I have seen at auction have not worked. Many people have messed with and destroyed these old machines. I also can't stand these wanna-be CNC machinists who smash and yank out all the old Bandit cards and such to replace it all with some cheap PC based crap. These old controls were engineered by folks who really knew what they were doing. The build quality beats the hell out of the crap that some PC based system is made from. Also, why do you think Fanuc still uses card based systems. The PC is just too unstable to trust to control muti-axis real deal iron. Talk about crashing! I also get a kick out of these people who say "it's pricey" LOL. Recently a Fanuc Servo Drive cost me new from Fanuc $5,000.00. For a small box. Now that's pricey! You little-league boys think that $375.00 to a grand to fix a machine is expensive? That's a joke. Anyway, I digress. The Bandit 1 control is quite capable of machining 2D parts. Also, a CNC Knee Mill can do things a typical modern CNC mill can not. EX. Most average sized 40 taper CNC mills have about a 16-20" Z throat with the tool in the spindle. If you have a workpiece that is say 30" long that needs milling, drilling and tapping on the ends of the workpiece, you are crap outta luck in the fancy CNC over there. But alas, the old Shizzy with the masked man on the control can do it! Just like all Japanese products, the Shizouka is a take on another design. The Bridgeport mill. USA, USA! So, guess what? The Shizzy can Swivel and Boom out to allow you to hang a long workpiece off the table so as to machine it! Yes, do you have to stand there and manualy change tools? Yes, but it beats the hell out of Bridgeporting it. Or using yer teeth! So again, small jobs, weird jobs, one offs. The Bandit can still make you money. It's just like anything else. What you put into it, is what you will get out of it. I have never experienced all these card problems or the like with my Bandit 1. Again, mine has been in the same building for 27 years. And used by skilled CNC machinists. Not butchers. Lenn Albright is the man if you want to send him your burnt out boards. Very reasonable. Only ever had to do this once. After we peck-drilled 10,000 deep holes did the Z axis drive burn out. And that took 27 years! My experienced and true worded facts.

Good luck out there! I would take a Fanuc 18 over a Bandit any day

[wendtmk]

Well, PC controlled machines not stable or good enough to use in a real machine shop? Perhaps you should inform Stuart Stevenson of MPM Inc that it just won't work. He's got at least 3 of his operational machines running EMC2 on a PC. Here's a video of his rather large Cincinnati mill, running off a PC with EMC2:

http://www.mpm1.com:8080/machines/cinci/Machine2.wmv

But hey, I guess he knows that cheap PC based crap just doesn't cut it in today's modern machine shop.

Mark

[TXFred]

I have never experienced all these card problems or the like with my Bandit 1. Again, mine has been in the same building for 27 years.

It sounds like you have used your bandit for longer than some of us kids have been alive. With that much experience with it, it is likely that you know more about it than anyone else on the Zone.

Given your years of experience, would you have an opinion on the original poster's programming question?

Frederic