Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit recommendations wanted.

On Tue, 2003-12-16 at 08:09, doug.rasmussen@... wrote:

<snip>

> With a budget of 15K, IMO, you'd be far ahead by purchasing a used
> commercial machine. In that price range there's plenty available
> given the current state of the used machine tool market.
>
> The dedicated commercial controls of even 15 years ago generally
> will be far ahead in functionality of the hobby-oriented (EMC,etc)
> PC controls.

I highly disagree with this statement, on a number of fronts:

a) *some* controllers, ie my version of TurboCNC, has everything a
modern CNC controller has (and then some) and much, much more than a 15
year old controller has. For example, many 15 year old controllers did
not have hellical milling routines (ie G72/G73), decent on screen code
editors, etc. It is highly unlikely that an older controller could be
made to perform a rigid tapping operation, for example. 1988 was 15
years ago. PCs were just beginning to have some power. The controls on
a 15 year old machine are likely to be quite limited.

b) the control electronics on 15 year old machines are quite old and
subject to various problems. What does one do when a control card quits
on a 15 year old machine ? We just retrofitted a 13 year old machine
because the owner couldn't (or wouldn't) fix a failed operator interface
panel.

c) the flexibility and power of a "source code available" controller
allows the owner to get the machine to do things the way he wants it to,
not the way the programmer *thought* it should work 15 years ago.

Kim


> --
> Kim Lux <lux@...>