Simulators

[Fairlane6t9]

I've got 4 HAAS simulators in my CNC classroom. Can these be hooked up to a PC and run a simulation of the actual machine/tool to see crashes, etc.? Does anyone have experience with this type of thing?

[Geof]

The Haas Simulator does everything the controller on the machine does except physically move any axes. You can upload and download programs via floppy or usb, whichever is installed, and by RS232. It has the standard Haas editor. You can run programs in Graphics and you can simulate running programs in real time. When you are simulating real time running it gives you position read outs on the axis displays, shows spindle rpm and will give you a close approximation to the actual cycle time for the program on a real machine.

[Fairlane6t9]

Is there software to actually hook these up to a PC and get a graphical representation of the actual machine moving? So far, they work great on their own. I just wish we had a newer HAAS mill to go along with them. We have a VF0 from 1993...lol!!!! Very small memory makes it difficult to do any 3D surface machining without having to split the program up alot. Hopefully our budget will increase.

[automizer]

No there is no direct PC link/Software that can communicate the way you want with the sim. The sims are a standalone piece of equipment, now with that being said (Geofs post reminded me) there are the RS-232 Ports on the sims you may be able to DNC from the sim in to the machine. I have never tried this, but I do know you can go from one machine to another and the sim thinks its a machine so this should be passable.

This may be a good temp fix for the lack of memory on the main machine