1990 Kitamura MyCenter 2 Advice

[shaffin]

Hello,

I am new to VMC's and lack any experience with them (coming from the manual world) but am thinking of purchasing a used 1990 MyCenter 2 with Fanuc O-M that comes with pallet changer and chip auger, ATC, 10HP spindle and fully enclosed at a little higher than mid 10k. Can someone please share their:

(1) Thoughts about the machine?

(2) Being in Canada (East Coast), any reputable dealer to go to for parts/repairs?

(3) What would someone pay for this machine (value)?

(4) Since I have never owned a VMC, is the Fanuc controller conversational and easy to learn?

Any feedback/comments appreciated.

Thanks,
Sam.

[underthetire]

Decent machines. Here parts and service are no problem. That however is a production machine. Om control is made to be programed off line. It is a straight gcode control. Not the most operator friendly. Price doesn't seem too bad for something like that.

[skullworks]

I have worked on a few Kitamuras.

I would want to talk with a kitamura service tech about the exact model you are looking at. It seems that as they age, Kit pallet changer machines tend to "loose" some of the original guarding which keeps chips out/away from the pallet locator points.

You can go nuts trying to figure out dimensional drift when it is just chips shifting the pallet postion.

Those areas need to be put on a PM maintaince list and cleaned and checked regularly.

The 0m is a 0m - its basic machine control in its raw form. There is volumes of info about this elsewhere. But you will need an Off line PC cad/cam system to write/edit/store programs and a proper serial cable to transfer those programs.

Best of luck should you proceed - Oh yeah, this is a 3ph machine and it won't be completely happy if you try to run it on a phase converter.

[shaffin]

Thank you all for your advices thus far. Can you provide some good contacts that I can call and find out more on service, parts and thoughts about this machine.

Thanks,
Sam.

[sieza]

Hi, I recently bought a 1988 kit 2 with APC. I am trying to get it going but I have an alarm that I cannot get rid of. Ram parity error (high). The Machine will not clear the alarm and the hydraulics will not start. Does anyone know what this mean? I am also looking for manuals to buy of somebody. Please help! running out of options here.

[tahlinc]

RAM Parity Error can occur when batteries are low and some of the memory gets corrupted. Check the voltage of the batteries on the door. Remember, you loose every thing when batteries are removed when machine is off. We had to reload parameters and diagnostics. Not trivial. Call Kitamura Parts, Brian Weber, 847-520-7755 $75 Push E-Stop in before loading Diagnostics.