Retrofit advice on Hurco km3P

[Jackal66]

Hello,
I am getting ready to retrofit my Hurco. Can you tell me what you guys have used and what you would change if you did it over?

I_R_machinist did a retrofit that I really like.

The only thing wrong with my mill is one of the main boards in the bottom is bad. After the mill warms up, the X axis goes wherever it wants to. We changed out the amps with known good ones to make sure that wasn't it.

All of my old parts are for sale. The Servo-mate amps, CRT, a CMC tape-emulator, etc. Send me a message if you are interested in any of this.


Thanks for the advice,

JAckal

[redford1955]

i will be doing the same thing over the next couple of months. i have two km3p's with one still running. i am half way done with a second attempt on a hurco sm1 that had the original dc servo's and rutex drives, and now will have ac servo's and drives from teco with a mitsubishi vfd. i had reliability problems with the rutex products, so it is time to switch. i will post some pictures next week of the mill. if all goes well the other two hurcos will follow.

keith

[Jackal66]

Thanks Keith,

I need all of the help/information I can get.

I'll be watching for your updates.

JAckal

[please no smoke]

I am nearing the end of an AJAX/ mach 3 retrofit on my KMC3. I have been at it for a year now. The hardware seems to be great and the tech is finally coming along. They now have manuals and documentation and a bulletin board. If it had all been in place when I started it would have been easier.

I bought different drives and HAD TO buy different encoders which was a cost that I was not planning for but I think this kit will be a good choice.

[Jackal66]

Glad to hear that, No Smoke.

It seems that you were on Buddy's site and having some of the same troubles that I am now. I bough my machine in April and you were a few months ahead of me on troubleshooting.

What kind of drives are you using? Also, did you have a 4th axis or toolchanger that you were trying to get operational?

Are you using Mach3 or Ajax?

Thanks,

All of the info will help me or someone else on here.

JAckal

[please no smoke]

As I said before I think the Ajax is a good kit. I also think that the fourth axis would be no problem, I'm not sure how mach deals with it though. As far as the install it took way longer than I had hoped. I have to honestly say that most of the time was waiting for tech support, however this is way better now and there is now documentation for most things. When I started there wasn't any. Scott at Ajax knows his stuff but others out there at Ajax and other users are learning and getting the system figured out so I think things will be easier from here on out. Before you consider buying go here and check out the newish forum AjaxCNC Support Forum • View forum - CLICK HERE TO SEE: AjaxCNC Support Forum. NO LOGIN NEEDED.

As far as the tool changer. All I hear is that the KMC3 changer was crap from the factory and age has not improved it. I decided to leave it out of the retrofit for now. You would also need to do a bit of programming and buy some add on boards. I have never seen this macine cut so I am trying to limit costs. I also am making my speed control manual. I contacted hurco and tried to figure out their voltak board speed system but there are strobes from the control that I can't get any info on. So for now I will just have the up down speed control.

For drives I have selected the AMC drives that you can get used off ebay for around $50 each. I am in the process of tuning them now. The 25A20 seem to be working well. 30A8's would also be great but the hurco voltage would need to be reduced with a new transformer. Also AMC still makes these and has a tech support line

Let me know if you get the kit and I will try to help you. I am on the Ajax site under the same name.

[Jackal66]

No smoke,

Thanks for the info. I am trying to decide right now how much wiring I want to do. The Ajax modular look nice. I'll check with the drives and go from there.

Thanks,
JAckal

[please no smoke]

I think that if I did it over again I might just use the all in one (DC3 I think) and maybe load all the pre done boss 5 programs and modify them. I think I have found the right drive but it was a little trial and error.