hurco machines

[3R!< W3NG3R]

Does anyone have experience with Hurco machines. A friend of mine is going to buy one and asked me what I think, but I have never used one.

[kunfuzed]

 

 

[Guest]

kunfuzed,

 

so your still undecided huh.

[kunfuzed]

A few more that apply...

 

 

At least this goes for the 4020, BMC30, Hawk 5, and a little blue one I've run. The veried from 10 to 20 years of age. Don't know what the new ones are like, but these were primitive. They did'nt even have seperate offset files for lenght and radius. And if the machine gets shut down, you lose your part setup.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

I guess thats why I paid 86000 for my mazak and he got a quote for under 40000 for about the same size machine.

 

He also mentioned that it would be about 5-6K to got to the option of DXF import. I think I convinced him to get Mcam included instead.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

any idea about rigidity?

[kunfuzed]

No, Hurco has no idea about rigidity.

[TKDBB]

I remember being at IMTS some years ago when there was a short power outage. Happened past the Hurco booth after power was restored and they were taking apart the tool changer. Seems the machine was in the middle of a change when power failed. Something crashed, bending the tool change arm. Not a good sales gimmic.

 

Mike

[Troy Gossett Indepak Inc.]

What model Hurco? pm me and I can give you the info for the guy who can answer just about anything you want to know.

 

We have a couple of mid eighties Knee type mills, that owe us nothing, the one runs 24/5-6days a week.

They have held up very well for what we are using them for ( surfacing synfoam ). I wouldn't buy one unless the price was right.

 

BTW if you write down your offsets they can be re-entered and you are back in business.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

I'll find out the model tomarrow, if I can get a hold of him.

[#Rekd™]

Hi Eric,

 

Some of these machines will not do "3d" without buying an option or they require the use of their software$$$$.

 

We looked at Haas, Daewoo, Milltronics and Fadal.

 

We bought the Daewoo, all were within $6000.00 of each other but the Daewoo was more solid 12000 lbs vs hurco 6000 lbs. The Daewoo came standard with the Fanuc control and motors and drives.

 

John Ford

[kunfuzed]

I'd take a Whirlpool over a Hurco if it had a Fanuc control.

[Carl Hessig]

I've been running Hurcos for 20 years.

2 knee mills > 20yrs old

1 BMC 20 > 10+yrs

1 BMC 40 > 10+yrs

1 VMC 30 > 6+yrs

1 VMX 30 1yr old

1 SNC 64 makino

All have the dual screen Ultimax controlers

Programing options > DXF & 3D

Conversational programing is very easy to learn

less than a day for most.

Any shape you can program for a 3axis mill with mastercam you can cut it in a hurco without buying the 3D option. The 3D option is only for conversational programing. You can rotate about Z or X or translate a contour in Y. You can't program a constant radius that does not lie in the X,Y, or Z plane. That is what mastercam is for.

We do all our holes using conversational. Very fast you have alot of control to change anything

in just seconds. Peck,depth,retract,location,add holes,add tools and alot more.

Plus the best thing is you can see anything you program on the graphics screen in any of the 4 standard views.

Hurcos are capable of taking some hard crashes

with no more damage than a little pride. The Makino could not handle a small crash without at least tipping the spindle or table.

Are hurcos the best built machine out there. NO but you can be cutting parts without much training or an offline programing system the day the machine is first powered up.

You can switch between NC and conversational

and not loose your part or tool setup.

You can turn the machine off and back on and not loose anything.

 

If your still kunfuzed goodluck in the laundry business.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

Thanks Carl,

 

I think he made his mind up now, and it is a good thing to hear some good news about it as well. He knows he is not getting the best machine, but it is all he can afford.

 

I started 6 years ago with one Milltronics. It has its place still, but most parts are done on the Mazak if possible now. (more accurate, better surface finish ect... ect...) He doesn't have the financing to spend that much now i guess, so its nice to hear at least some good news.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, and have a Happy New Year!!!!!

[kunfuzed]

To tell you the truth, as much as I hate Hurcos, they do have a purpose. They're cheap and can start making parts fast without an offline system. So in this case, I think it may be a good choice to start with.

 

Carl,

 

It sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with Hurcos, and I'd love to ask you a few questions, and maybe get a little advice.

 

I am currently using the ISNC editor on our '97 4020 with the Ultimax SSM control(single screen). One problem I have is when the part setup coordinates are new or modified(G54), on the first XY move in my program, the spindle wants to perform an XYZ move, Z being to an uncomponsated Z0! I touch all of my tools of the table with a 2" block, and then use a heighth gauge to find part 0. I store these offsets in the offset file, not the conversational tool set up file. I set my tools this way so that "A", offsets are not lost on power down, and "B" if my Z hieght changes or I throw another job in, I don't have to re touch all of my tools. To get around the uncompansated Z move, I have found that if I manually Z the spindle all the way positive, it only moves down to the toolchange position, and then back up, and then finall comes down on my first G43Z move. I've tried puting a "G91G28Z0" at the top of the program so i don't have to manually do it each time, but no luck.

 

Here is some sample code:

 

%

(101-1)

(12-28-06)

 

(T10 - 3" FACEMILL - H10)

(T11 - 1/2" DRILL - H11)

 

N100 T10 M6(T10 - 3" FACEMILL - H10)

S8000 M3

G0 G90 G54 X-8.65 Y-.4999 M1(wants to move in z here)

G43 H10 Z.1 M8

G1 Z0. F100.

X2.7 F65.

G3 X3.6375 Y.4376 R.9375

X2.7 Y1.375 R.9375

G1 X-7.15

G2 X-8.0875 Y2.3125 R.9375

X-7.15 Y3.2499 R.9375

G1 X4.2

G0 Z.1

M5 M9

M25

M1

 

N200 T11 M6(T11 - 1/2" DRILL - H11)

S8000 M3

G0 G90 G54 X-1.3 Y.82 M1

G43 H11 Z.1 M8

G83 Z-1.2002 Q.1 R.1 F50.

X0. Y0.

G80

M5 M9

M25

M30

%

 

Any input would be greatly apprieciated. Thanks.

[Richard Bechard]

+ 1000 to Carl

We Have a km3,

bmc 2416 and a vm1.

We have had good luck with them.I use conversational and nc programming.Sometimes both on the same part.For the money they are good machines.Machine options can up the price quickly though.

[Richard Bechard]

another thing to remember if you program with Mastercam is the Hurco has a backwards G18.You need to change switch in post.