Hurco retro fit

[Mr. LocoMartin]

Good Day group,
I have picked up a KM3P with very low hours and in very good shape. It's been setting so long that the batterys for the memory have long since gone south. The left CRT is bad, not the CRT board. And a few keys on the panel are dead. My Hurco repair man says he has all the parts and that it's worth fixing. But what i'm really wondering is if I would be better off putting in a newer control system. It's going to run about $3500. to bring the old boy up to speed.
So, I'm sure everyone has their preferences, so share them with me if this was your machine.
Thanks in advance for your time and input.
Martin

[123CNC]

Martin,

When my KM3 took a dive, when the RS232 cable got pinched, finding the replacement boards was like panning for gold. HURCO said they thought they might have one, would need to physically verify, but wanted a King's ransome, more then I had acquired the complete working machine for.

Armed with all the drawings and still working amps, I decided to just replace the controller. Since the drives are analog velocity control, I went with EMC2.

It is still a work in process. But in the end I will have a maintainable machine without any hostage/ ransome situation. Even if the amps go, there are a lot of replacement alternatives when the controller isn't proprietary.

It greatly depends on your needs and use of the mill. If it needs to be up and running tommorrow to meet production schedule, the ransome may not be bad compared to a whole NEW machine and any lost revenue. If you have other machines, this is a hobby or limited use, then your horizon broadens. It also depends how much of the conversion you would like or care to do yourself.

I've seen many HURCOs on the web and this site already traveled down this path.

Isn't the KM3 iron Taiwanese, I recall seeing some Clausing (?) or others that obviously shared the same genetic background, or should I say mold/castings.

[JWC]

For what you need, $3500 sounds a bit steep. If you shop around you can get a new monitor for under $500-repaired even cheaper. I've even considered putting LCD monitors in mine. The batteries are replaceable, for now, hit (enter-999-enter) to bring it up. Make sure there are no metal chips in the control console. That will cause some keys to go dead. Check ebay. If that's your only problems, it's definitely worth fixing.

[skullworks]

Martin,

Isn't the KM3 iron Taiwanese, I recall seeing some Clausing (?) or others that obviously shared the same genetic background, or should I say mold/castings.

Clausing/Kondia Iron - from Spain IIRC

Another prior KM3 user here, I'm still trying to talk them into selling me the dead ( both CRT's and MEM board ) machine so I can do an EMC2 refit myself.

[Buddy1]

parts and repair at www.amtsinc.com