Anilam 3300 mk or Mach III

[rktman8888]

What do you guys think. I just bought an 1999 Sharp TMV knee mill with Anilam 3300MK controller. Servo motors and ground ball screws. The machine and everything looks good. Very little use on it. Im so use to using Mach II and III with G320 drivers. Im wondering if it would make more since to stick with what I know. Abandon the 10 year old control system. It’s in good shape. I just don’t have a lot of time to learn a new system and get my PC to talk with it. Is there any performance advantage staying with an industrial Anilam type controller. Will Mach and G320's do the same job?

Thanks for any comments

Jeremy

[JoeFin]

The anilam will run another 10 yrs without too much trouble and a fairly large group of software engineers/mechanical engineers have done their best to idiot proof the control system's software.

For me it's a slum dunk - I'd keep the anilam and inveast in some good CAM software and starts making chips

[rktman8888]

thanks joe

[elnerdo]

I think you should think twice about abandoning a functional industrial control sytem for Mach. Most industrial control systems use a feedback system that makes use of a resolver and an encoder for the control loops. Drives run in velocity mode on one feedback loop and get wrapped with a position loop to the control system.

The strategy has advantages because the velocity is monitored independently of position. It works well when it comes to low speed linearity as well as using scales for feedback. (if you have them) You can/could put something like this together with EMC and possibly Mach but it would take more effort than learning the Anilam either way.

Find someone in your part of the woods that uses the Anilam and see if you can get a lesson on it. I think you'll save yourself alot of time in the long run.

[Custom Billet]

I had both. I started with the Anilam 3300. I bought an old Bridgeport and built the retrofit myself using the Mach motion control. The Mach worked good, but it was not as dependable. The Anilam is bullet proof. It just works.

I ended up selling off the Mach mill because I just didn't use it.

[mhmedders]

Will the Anilam 3300 mill 3d contour? An Anilam servo drive is over $800. Gecko is around $150. Service call for Anilam starts around $100 just to come out. Mach3 info is free. I'm not rich it a hobby.

[Custom Billet]

Sure, it has no problem 3D milling.

The Anilam servo drive is $500. I had to buy one a few years back.

You get what you pay for. In my opinion, there is not a better retrofit control than the Anilam. Also, their tech support is great, but you have to have a little knowledge about how the control works. If you don't own a multimeter and don't have any understanding of electronics, they can't help much and it would be better to have them come out.

[MrWild]

Stick with what works. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[mhmedders]

Are you saying that the Anilam 3300 can cut 3D contour surfaceing? If so, How?

[MrWild]

If my Crusader M control can do 3D, the 3300 will do it hands down .

[Toolbit]

Jeremy,

Most people buy a software program such as Vetric, Bobcad, or master cam depending on how deep your pockets are to gererate a 3-d model and the cam part of the program with the right post processor will generate the correct code for your machine. Next if your controls memory is too small for the thousands of lines of code that will be gererated for 3-d. It will be necessary drip fed the code to your machine. Sounds like a lot but it really isn't all that difficult.

[mhmedders]

I use MasterCam with Anilam1100 post. The controle converts gcode to conversation not sure why but I get error message like "unknown code" or something like that when the gcode uses Z and X and/or Y in the same line. Not sure if it's the post or some perameter in Anilam software. Any one got answers?