Controller Input/?

[Ken_Shea]

Several CNC mill machines I am looking at use the Anilam 3200 and 3300 and the Centroid M-15 and M-400 as well as the Fanuc but this model is on the out side of what I really want to spend.

Since I am new to CNC and not to this planet the learning curve is important to me.

Any personal preferences opinions on these models?

Thanks
Ken (Shea

[hardmill]

I grew up on this control and am prejudice therefore
But i honestly believe that its the best(my personal opinion)
and believe me i've used about all of them.

I'd do a little more research before diving into one.
Consider the complexity of your work and the ability of
the mentioned controllers to handle all aspects.

PEACE

[Mortek]

Ken,

What kind of a machine are you looking for? What price range and capability?
The first machine I bought was a Milltronics with a centurion VI control. The control is a PC based system. I've had it now for six years and have had realatively few problems with it. The control is wonderful, it has many canned cycles like circular pocket clear & finish...Rectangular pocket clear & finish, circular & rectangular frame milling, parametric programming, nested subroutines, helical milling, even tapered wall pockets and some. The great part is it came with a floppy drive to put programs into the machine. I have since taken out the floppy and installed a Zip drive thus eliminating DNC cables. I also added a hard drive (2 gig) I now DNC right from the hard drive or if I want to, the Zip drive. I make a lot of aircraft parts and molds on this machine and it is capable of more than I even know. The best part is that it is easy to work on, all American parts. Many parts I can get locally and don't have to go to the machine builder to buy them. I installed the Zip drive and hard drive myself, cost me under $50 plus a little time and a little tech support.
I have also owned two Chiron machining centers with Fanuc controls. Anything you need to upgrade on these controls will cost you dearly. I needed a new I/O board for one, $3000.00, They have limited memory and as far as I know no hard drive or Zip capabilities. These machines were Geman made, hard to get parts for and hard to work on.
Also I owned a Mazak with a 640M fusion control. It had the floppy and I was also able to install a compact flash interface in this one myself, also I networked it with my office PC allowing me to just move a program directly to the control in my office instantly. This machine used a PC base to run a Mitsubishi control (very simular to Fanuc)
Out of all these machines I like the ease of use of the Centurion VI control on the Milltronics the best. If you haven't looked at one, take the time to do so. Best of luck.

Ken

[Ken_Shea]

Hi Ken,
Looking into a new Knee Mill:
3 axes CNC
10x50-54"
5hp
Inverter driven variable speed
(I like the idea of generally higher RPM and programmable spindle speeds)
Power draw bar.
Want to keep the price at $25K or very close

These specs are not carved in granite.
As far as capability goes this should not be a problem on any machine that fits these specs.

I do lean toward PC based controller as I have had very expensive personal experience on automotive diagnostic equipment that was proprietary IC board upgradeable/repairable only. Faster block execution times seem to be faster on the PC based as far as I can tell compared to other machines I have looked (I.E. can afford)

Thanks, and I will look at the Milltronics.
Ken