This is the ....

[Frenchman]

Radius:

What you are getting is a is a HURCO Control built on a BRIDGEPORT 2J Frame. Last one was built in 1980. (Serialnumber will tell for sure.)
Good simple control. Not a lot of options were available. The emulator replaced the original tape drive unit. The tape unit was used to load the MASTER PROGRAM (operating system) and was used to save parts programs. The emualtor was a vast improvment.

[Radius]

Originally Posted by Frenchman Radius: What you are getting is a is a HURCO Control built on a BRIDGEPORT 2J Frame. Last one was built in 1980. (Serialnumber will tell for sure.) Good simple control. Not a lot of options were available. The emulator replaced the original tape drive unit. The tape unit was used to load the MASTER PROGRAM (operating system) and was used to save parts programs. The emualtor was a vast improvment.

Hi Frenchman

Yup, that's exactly what it is. Pretty decent machine really, especially considering the vintage.

I've made a few parts with it which has caused me to get more serious about a real VMC.

Thanks,
Michael

[Steve@Reliance]

We got a VM1 in january with Mastercam. very happy so far.

[jp41558]

I don't own them, but I do work on them, we have 12 Hurco's ranging from Max 2 KM-5 to Max 3 50's. We have a continuing struggle to keep all of them up at the same time, but when we do, we are running a lot of product out the door

[JohnF]

Originally Posted by Radius Hi Frenchman Yup, that's exactly what it is. Pretty decent machine really, especially considering the vintage. I've made a few parts with it which has caused me to get more serious about a real VMC. Thanks, Michael

I'm sure you've figured out that there are no parameter etc. disks for this machine. That one guy is, apparently, not familiar with the old Hurco "B" controls. The KM-1 is about the most popular of the old Hurcos and a great garage machine. They're cheap, relatively easy to program, fairly cheap to repair (although that is changing) and it has the power and torque of the Bridgeport head even though you have to manually vary the RPM. I have a lot of info on the old machines as far as troubleshooting problems and such, not a complete reference by far but good info. There are several good websites for these old Hurcos too.

JohnF
Phoenix

[Stu_M3]

I have a Hurco ultimax SSM Things I dont like:-

1. Poor screen visibility. The human eye is most sensitive to green so it must make sense to make it orange!. displayed digits are too small, you'd be ok if you were 7 ft tall with telescopic vision.

2. Sometimes loses datum when using DNC link.

3. Poor start to canned cycles no ramping thats just lazy programming ive written pocket mill macros, its not rocket science.

4. can only look at a conversational programme one line at a time

5. If something goes wrong only Hurco can mend it. and they charge over the top for spares.

6. PC Max software only runs on a pentium 166

The best thing about it is the manuals and the programme interupt.

[RON MEYER]

stu m3, green monitors have been gone for a long time. the ssm console was an economical alternative to the more costly dual screen. customer's choice of consoles. unhook the vga cable to your monitor and hook up color vga monitor and you will have a much larger color display. the video card will sense the color monitor and display color just fine. if you are using the serial port to dnc programs, try using a five wire cts/rts hook-up. i would assume you are using the more common x on/x off protocol. serial communication is very dependent the length of the line and the protocol used. try the cts/rts or a lower baud rate. if you have version 2.12 or higher, you can get the ultinet software option and used true ethernet to download and upload files. the transfer can be done in the background while the machine is running. if you upgrade the software to version 2.33/2.34 or higher, and have ultipockets, you can get helical ramp entry to allow ramping into a pocket instead of just a straight plung. this allows the operator to enter the pocket at any designated point with a helical plung. very user freindly and fast. pcmax will run on most pc's, but beware there will be an issue with most new video cards. there is a workaround for some of the video cards. you need to set up an autoexec.bat file to start pcmax to work with these video cards. contact steve artz at hurco in indianapolis for that info. you can contact him through the hurco website. you will probably get the best results running pcmax in pure dos, win95, win98, or nt4. hurco has for some time now had a replacement for pcmax called winmax desktop. it runs well with winxp. don't know about vista. don't think anyone knows about vista!! you might lsit the machine model you're using. good luck, ron

[Stu_M3]

Ron, Thank you for your comments. I will certainly look into what you have said.
I've never had the time yet to contact hurco. It is not a machine of choice I just inherited it when i bought the buisiness. At the moment the power supply is dead so im not using it at the moment.

Regards Stu