Re: CNC, Fix it or replace it: More comments
Posted by
Ray
on 2001-09-08 08:26:15 UTC
From: "Bruce Klawiter" <bruce@...>
<s>
work it's done. It is much more solid than most imports and it's a CNC
already. (Ball screws and such) And most important, you own it and it's
sitting at your place!
screws and for the temperature of the shop that you put it in.
who define the meaning of quality product and support.
had now for less than $150. You will always have the software and you can
add and customize your machine as much as you want/can. Some folk say that
parallel ports are on the way out. I say, "so buy two or three PC's now
and put them away for when the last one dies. If you figure Paul's rate
for a Fagor at $1.5 dollars to a Pound, that's several PC's. That's also
a very low price for the Fagor control.
make a self-done retrofit more costly than a commercial conversion kit.
The way I look at it, if I had the parts contract in hand, I'd go find a
repo Mazak 414 mill for half price and get it here next week. I'd also
order $15k of tooling and a roll-around storage cabinet -- just for it.
Half a year would pay for it , the labor to run it, and the debt service on
the loan.
"But the EMC is a labor of love," I say. SWMBO says "BS." Truth is it's
all a matter of point of view.
Ray
<s>
>I have been looking at EMC for sometime now and thought about building orI think so also. You know how the machine has been treated and how much
>converting a mill with it until I purchased the mill from work. Now I'm
>thinking this is a good candidate.
work it's done. It is much more solid than most imports and it's a CNC
already. (Ball screws and such) And most important, you own it and it's
sitting at your place!
>There are some things with the AnilamYes it does. It also has the ability to adjust for some errors in the ball
>control I don't like. It does not have a keyboard so programming at the
>mill is time consuming; there is no accel, decel, or continuous contouring.
>I don't know that EMC has this either but doubt I would be going backwards
>if I used it.
screws and for the temperature of the shop that you put it in.
>I'm leaning towards using EMC, I have talked with Jon Elson and he thinksJon's stuff and his support is "top drawer." There are folk on this list
>I can do this conversion with his parallel port axis control and has said
>he would give me a wire by wire hook up if I need it, and I will. That will
>be one of the big reasons for me going with the parallel port axis control,
>he is very helpful. He says I'll need a few other things also but none of
>the items seemed to pricey.
who define the meaning of quality product and support.
>I think with the EMC I'll have a better controlThis is very true. A motherboard, 800 meg chip and 256 meg memory can be
>and repairs down the road wont be so high.
had now for less than $150. You will always have the software and you can
add and customize your machine as much as you want/can. Some folk say that
parallel ports are on the way out. I say, "so buy two or three PC's now
and put them away for when the last one dies. If you figure Paul's rate
for a Fagor at $1.5 dollars to a Pound, that's several PC's. That's also
a very low price for the Fagor control.
>I know very little about electronics so I'll need some hand holding onSomeone pointed out that shop rate (now around $50 an hour) would quickly
>that. I also know nothing about Linux but would hope the list could get me
>through my trials and tribulations on that. This is a CNC for my home shop
>but my ultimate goal would be to make some money with it.
make a self-done retrofit more costly than a commercial conversion kit.
The way I look at it, if I had the parts contract in hand, I'd go find a
repo Mazak 414 mill for half price and get it here next week. I'd also
order $15k of tooling and a roll-around storage cabinet -- just for it.
Half a year would pay for it , the labor to run it, and the debt service on
the loan.
"But the EMC is a labor of love," I say. SWMBO says "BS." Truth is it's
all a matter of point of view.
Ray