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Does anybody know what software upgrade is required.
Edit: Also are there any installation instructions currently available, I can't find any.
Phil
Originally Posted by howecnc
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I was surprised nobody had started a thread for this so I figured I would start the fire.
I know some will complain or not be impressed but I thought the price looked very good for the added accuracy and performance. From what I have read, they are not making much profit on this upgrade.
PCNC 1100 Series 3 Upgrade Kits now available « Milling Around
Does anybody know what software upgrade is required.
Edit: Also are there any installation instructions currently available, I can't find any.
Phil
It looks like a good deal to me almost doubling the rapids for my 3 digit PCNC1100 from 65 IPM to 130 IPM for $665.
Upgrading is the great thing about Tormach. With some companies like Adobe they make you buy the latest version with not just an upgrade. E.g. I have CS4 and just bought a Canon T3i. But Adobe won’t just let me directly use the .RAW mage files in PS with a simple download. They want you to buy CS5 or the latest version to be compatible with new camera RAW image formats. Perhaps the best one on upgrades was from HP. I had bought an arbitrary waveform generator from HP and found I needed additional I-Q capability. I ordered the upgrade for $2K. I was surprised when the upgrade arrived in an 8-1/2 x 11 manila envelope. The upgrade consisted of printed instructions as to what code to enter into the front panel buttons to unlock the software that was already in the ARB. So for Toramch to offer all the hardware for such a price is a good deal indeed.
Don
Last edited by Don Clement; 10-12-2011 at 08:15 AM.
It does look like a good deal. I'll be upgrading mine shortly.
In addition, I'd be interested in possibly purchasing any 'takeoff' motors if any of you also upgrade, in order to use them for a project I'm working on to extend the Tormach X-axis with a supplemental X-axis slide for use with long stock. I've rigged a linear slide up with a Tormach stepper motor and hooked it to the A-Axis hookup. This gets me an additional 16in travel (8in at each end) for long items (lightweight). I'd like to experiment with other configurations, so a few spare motors would be handy...
Until Tormach issues real installation instructions for the Series 3 upgrade, there's a pretty good how-to here:
saunixcomp's Channel - YouTube
I agree with SqibLoad, when you're done, you still have 3 perfectly good motors and drives. I ordered the upgrade this morning, and my old stuff is going into either a router table or lathe conversion, depending on if I find a candidate lathe soon. LOL
Terry
Thanks for that, it looks like a very useful video. It also looks like the instruction sheets are included with the upgrade, just not on the website yet.
Phil
One obvious difference is that the upgrade kit needs a swap of the motion control board, and comes with the latest DC Bus board, where that was not done in the video. Cursory comparison of the Series 3 vs 2 schematics show a few differences (J1-7,8 used now, unused previously), but I didn't see an obvious change of functionality.Thanks for that, it looks like a very useful video. It also looks like the instruction sheets are included with the upgrade, just not on the website yet.
Phil
At any rate, you could eat the $200 core charge, and keep the old motion control board and use it with the old drives/steppers to have a 5 axis machine (or more)
In all fairness to HP: I bought an HP 35 calculator back in 1972 that cost $400 and took ten weeks to get from the Neely sales division in Fullerton. It was found there was some bugs. For example: 2.02 ln e^x resulted in 2 rather than 2.02. When the bug was discovered, HP had already sold 25,000 units which was a huge volume for the company. In a meeting, Dave Packard asked what they were going to do about the units already in the field and someone in the crowd said "Don't tell?" At this Packard's pencil snapped and he said: "Who said that? We're going to tell everyone and offer them, a replacement. It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem". It turns out that less than a quarter of the units were returned. Most people preferred to keep their buggy calculator and the notice from HP offering the replacement. HP did sent me a notice but I never did send the calculator back in for the free replacement.
Don
I assume we only have HP's word for what happened. Somebody with a more skeptical nature might give it an alternative interpretation:
Let’s not tell. Good idea, but what if we get caught, it could damage our sales across the board, we'll lose millions. OK so let’s put our hands up and claim 'onest injun. Excellent idea, we can use it as a piece of marketing. All we need is for marketing to give it the right slant and release it to the press. Of course the marketing manager, being the marketing manager, would never miss an opportunity to suck up to the boss, so he writes him in as the hero.
Phil
I guess I will have three motors for that DIY plasma table I don't need, have no excuse for and am going to build anyway!
Phil: I might have accepted your skeptical scenario in the HP of today with the likes of Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman in charge (thank the gods California was spared from these two as governor and senator), but back in '72 when HP co-founder David Packard was in charge…NOT. HP was a different company 40 years ago when the “electronic slide rule” HP 35 calculator was really state of the art and had no real competition. At the time I was learning programming with FORTRAN on 80 column punch cards using an IBM 360 mainframe, the closest thing to the HP35 was a bulky Wang series 300 calculator that used nixie tubes for the display. I did receive a notice from HP to send in my HP35 for the free replacement but like 75% of those other 25,000 of the original HP35 owners didn’t act on the notice. I think your scenario is pure speculation and I accept HP’s version based on the excellent reputation of David Packard.I assume we only have HP's word for what happened. Somebody with a more skeptical nature might give it an alternative interpretation:
Let’s not tell. Good idea, but what if we get caught, it could damage our sales across the board, we'll lose millions. OK so let’s put our hands up and claim 'onest injun. Excellent idea, we can use it as a piece of marketing. All we need is for marketing to give it the right slant and release it to the press. Of course the marketing manager, being the marketing manager, would never miss an opportunity to suck up to the boss, so he writes him in as the hero.
Phil
BTW eight years later in 1980, I bought an Apple II PC. The late Steve Jobs said in his 2005 Commencement address at Stanford: “Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Looking forward, I believe that Tormach is giving us a great deal on this stepper/driver upgrade that will almost double the rapids on my 3-digit series PCNC 1100. I won’t be looking back speculating on Tormach's reasons why they are offering such a great deal.
Don
Last edited by Don Clement; 10-13-2011 at 09:52 AM.
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