Jump to content

Welcome to eMastercam

Register now to participate in the forums, access the download area, buy Mastercam training materials, post processors and more. This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Use your display name or email address to sign in:

Controllers


Robby GM
 Share

Recommended Posts

If you're going to be using Mastercam for your programming, Fanuc, Fanuc, Fanuc. Any so called user friendly control (conversational and the like) have lots of bells an whistles that make it a breeze to write code at the machine. If youre sitting at a computer and sending finished code to the machine, you have no use for any of that stuff. Also, the more "hand programmable" the control, the more complicated and convoluted (and expensive) the post processor inevitably gets. I say Fanuc because the default post for Mastercam will always be mpfan (fanuc) and it is always kept up to the latest and greatest that post processors have to offer (just go through the posts that come with v8.1 and count how many actually support sub-programs, full 4-axis, and the like).

My 4 $.005

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to say this, but I think you have miss read the question. What is the best Controller? Not what is the best Cad/Cam system. The best controller has to be the easiest to use, with and without Cad/cam system. Take the video cassette.

What was better Betamax or VHS, Betamax produced the better quality picture, but VHS was cheaper for the manufacturer, so VHS won, but it was not the best video system.

 

Just my few Rappers worth (Swiss small change) wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest CNC Apps Guy 1

I think Fanuc is the easiest and best. Very straightforward, none of that conversational CRAP. I bought a $13k CAD/CAM system, NOT a $100k CAD/CAM system with machine included. ANYTHING European I've tried is a pain. Vickers 2100, slow as molasses in the DEAD of winter. FANUC, FANUC, FANUC!!!!!!!

BTW, did I mention FANUC?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am sorry to disagree with you guys but I thaink the best Controller would be the Tosnuc 888 made by Toshiba. It is a lot easier for the machinist to edit the program end to move from one page to the other. Plus, The books that come with the Machines are also well written with lots of examples.

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best controller really depends upon your application, Fanuc seam to have the lions share of the lower and mid range of the market, but probably the best controller Ive used is the Acramatic 2100, although the Mitsibushi 625 is growing on me.

NB Masak now use the 625 as the heart of their Mazatrol systems, ours is on a Hartford machine and is called a Hartrol, the only difference is the application software!

The real issue Ive found with controllers is how well they have been applied to the machine hardware, a very good application of a poor controller can be vastly superior to the poor application of an otherwise excellent controller, and this is down to the guys who are building the machine in the first place.

And in reply to the guy with the juvinile name, the most popular is NEVER the best, if that were true then VHS would have been better than Betamax, AutoCAD would be worth the paper its written on, and Delcam and MS would not be quite as tempting as they are currently looking in comparison with MasterCAM... (but Im kinda expecting MasterCAM will pick up the slack in its fortcomming releases)

[ 09-20-2001: Message edited by: bryan.davis ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know what the worst controller is. It is made by a company called AH-HA. I know a guy that tried to build a machine around it and had a string of horror stories I have never heard before. Though limited in functions, the only controller I have ever run that did everything I asked and never crashed was a centroid retrofit on an acer cheapmill. An old 386 with pc dos 6.2. Stayed lit from the time we unpacked it till a year ago when they sold the shop. Came with mastercam 3.0. I realize that in no way makes it the "best" but after dealing with 4 AB series 10 controllers for the past 4 years I do miss it.

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest CNC Apps Guy 1

quote:

...Mazatrol is the best NC software for 2D I ever used, but it's expensive.

. eek.gif Yeah, it's expensive allright, it's the price of a machine tool! eek.gifeek.gifeek.gif

I mentioned FANUC was the best, right???????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMO, the 'best' controller depends on the application, and the machine manufacturer.

For a form maker, the best choice is a Heidenhain control (preferably a TNC 430).

For production, an Yasnac control with an upgraded HD looks best for 3 axis milling, while 2 axis turning goes best with an Okuma lathe (with an Okuma control). For 3-4 axis lathes, advanced Fanuc controls are best, while the best choice for 4-5 axis milling centers are Heidenhain or advanced Siemens controls.

The above is my opinion, others may not share my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course we can only speak from our own personal experience.

We have Yasnac M3X, i80, J300, G-Tech (Siemens)

Siemens 840C, 840D

Fanuc 16, 11, 6, 5(oh yes and still going!!!)

Simple set up's and changes for someone who know's what they are doing Fanuc or Yasnac using ISO code.

High Speed/Feed 3/4 axis Heidenhain/Siemens/Yasnac(IZ1/IZ2 option). (Fanuc lags a bit here)

Rugged + Reliable : Yasnac (I have 1 system with only 1 board fault in 12 years - which is 2 board faults total for all Yasnacs), Fanuc is also good. Don't know about Heidenhain, Mazak.

Conversational: I have Siemens which are OK but I think Mazak are probably better. Don't use it much.

Worst file handling ever and over complex procedures - Siemens 840D. Oh yes, folders for everything, canned cycles stored seperate from the main prog, subs with different extensions etc. etc.

High Feed 5-Axis - DMG say Heidenhain, Fanuc is not so good here, I have a new G-Tech (Siemens-Yasnac love child) which, er, is doing it (controlled feeds to 60m) but is currently having a software re-write as the file handling and editing is poor. (Cimco editor on a 486-100 is 5 times faster than the machine editor which based on p3-500!).

My favourite control (as a fairly competent ISO coder) is the YasnacJ300 with IZ1-50 high feed option. This spent a 6 month period doing constant high feed work at 120+ hours per week this year with no probs. Now thats what I want from a control.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 15 years later...

Toolmaking and 5-axis definitely Heidenhain.  But nobody will believe it until they've done a days work on it. And  NO  to the 430. The newer the better. Since the 430 Heidehain

has had the possibility to create a "Table of contents"  called sections .  So a program containing several thousand lines can be summed up  automatically from the postprocessor in a few lines (picture ) .  In the picture You can see at a glance that the program is one profile with a stock to leavr of zero , the diamter of the tool is 2 , etc

 

 

Unfortunately the processor speed  of the 430 is too slow to use it. So this feature is usable from the i530 onwards.

But what makes Heidenhain the rock star of them all is Basic Rotation. I f you can just throw the part on the table ,  ROTATE THE MACHINE axes , not the part mind you and get the origin in under 2 minutes , then you have a better control then the Heidehain .  I have two EDMs where I need to gauge the parts parallel to the axes and not  the other way round , so at best I have the part setup in about say...under twenty minutes (rechecks etc),  say we compare the time over a 1000 parts x 18 min = 300 hours :) .

 

 

SAM_0763.thumb.JPG.85ddfa125c76fac2646d8b941e67992b.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best controller is the one that YOU know... :D

For one offs and tooling, I don't think you'd beat Prototrak lathe or mill. Sooooooo simples!.

For production latheing, I vote Siemens Shopturn above Mazatrol.

The new Fanucs are now a huge amount more user friendly for editing/copy paste etc (I'm talking the 30 series and the new F controls). The old cheaper B,C controls based on 16/18/21 architecture were painful - copy part of the program you want and call it program 0 and insert program 0 to where you want it etc. Would have been okay 30 years ago but for 2010 era, that's a little 'last Wednesday' :rolleyes:

I wish Fanuc would do what Haas do and allow embedding of internal sub progs, but that would be copying someone else and I think they're a little too proud to do that...

For the 5ax prismatic type parts, Heidenhain is well up there. A lot of the F1 companies run it so it must be for a reason - cycle 19 anyone!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Join us!

eMastercam - your online source for all things Mastercam.

Together, we are the strongest Mastercam community on the web with over 56,000 members, and our online store offers a wide selection of training materials for all applications and skill levels.

Follow us

×
×
  • Create New...