fanuc memory

[lynn vandike]

We bought a used Kitamura with a 0-m control on it. I think it has only 16385 kb on storage. Is there any way to up that with a change in settings or do I have to buy a new board with more memory? The machine is from 93.

[Guest]

More than likely, you;ll have to purchase more memory.

 

I'd look around though for something used on a machine that old.

[?Mark]

There is a chance it could be upped with a parameter change, if you're friendly with your local fanuc (or machine) service guy...

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I think max memory with the modules you have would be either 32k or 64k. That control is pretty limited. No matter what, it'll cost because even if you replace the memory modules, you STILL need the memory option turned on and for that, Fanuc needs to come out... at least officially they do...

[?Mark]

I bet there are CNC Apps Guys that can do it over the phone...

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Craig De Garmo at Multi-DNC fixed us up with memory for FANUC OM-A contols a few years ago. I think they are now Spectrum CAD?CAM in CA www.multi-dnc.com

[doyleg]

I just asked Kitamura about this same thing. They e-mailed me back stating that they can be upgraded to 320m of memory (whatever that means). The machines we have now, according to Kitamura by giving them the serial #'s of the machines, are supposed to have 80m on them. I know that 2 can hold 32k while the other one only holds 16k.

 

Thay said fanuc had to give me a quote for this. However I have yet to hear back from them. It has been about three days now.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

that is 320 meters (1050 ft) of tape. I don't know why they still use this old method, but they do.

[doyleg]

yea but how many bytes is 320m of tape?

[3R!< W3NG3R]

don't know for sure. My best quess is around 87Kb

[foolsh]

why not use DNC?

[Plastmo]

320m = 125984b

[?Mark]

4kb=10M

 

320M=128kb and so on...

[doyleg]

thanks Mark. at that point this is probably just a parameter that needs to be changed. not the whole board. it's a shame 'cause new to go from 80m to 320m is probably somewhere between $500-$1000.(for a parameter change)

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Just wait till you get on a 31i Control... It's not just a parameter change anymore. Fanuc has REALLY locked stuff down. You need special SRAM cards to do anything and they are like $10k to get one. We were going to get one at the company I'm at but after seeing the pricetag... we decided to call Fanuc in all the time now.

[YoDoug®]

Years ago I worked at a shop that programmed at the machines. It took about a year but I finally convinced the owner to get CAM software. Then we realized we had a lack of memory in out CNCs. We had 3 Hitachi w/fanuc and an OKK w/mitsubishi that all needed expanded memory. When we got the quotes the owner nearly fainted. We ended up getting multi-dnc and a 8 port hub, complete installation and cables for the price of upgrading one Fanuc memory.

 

The point of this story is that CNC memory upgrades are not cheap - I would go with DNC.

[Tim Johnson]

quote:

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Just wait till you get on a 31i Control... It's not just a parameter change anymore. Fanuc has REALLY locked stuff down.

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The 18's are like that also (I'm not sure about the SRAM cards though). It costed us $1000.00 for them to get out of their parking lot + the upgrades. When they got here the tech guy had to call Fanuc, give them a number off the screen that I was told changed every day, and use that number with another number he got from the phone call for permission to upgrade. Once that was loaded he could do whatever he needed.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

The 16's and 18's do need passwords. I think the Fanuc guy was blowing smoke about the number changing every day, it may change from builder to builder (which for him may be every day), but the passwords from one day to the next for the same machine would remain the same.

 

The process starts from control power up, you press and hold a few keys and it boots up to a menu, you have to go through a procedure, accept some legal stuff, input a few passwords each 8 characters in length, then the control boots up in a mode that allows you to change option parameters. For the 16's and 18's it's definitely not as easy as it used to be unfortunately. It really sucks for me because often I need to demonstrate a machine function and sometimes the machine does not come standard with that function so now we HAVE to call and bother Fanuc. Usually we're not charged for testing the options but still it's a hassle for them because they have to schedule a tech and take him out of the field which they didn't used to have to do. But I can see why they want to protect their intellectual property. Because so many have abused it in the past, they were pretty much forced to do it. I've heard stories of techs (machine tool builders, distributors AND even Fanuc Techs) taking money from customers and loading up their machines with all the options. Personally I've never done it because the pittance I'd make doing it IS DEFINITELY NOT worth sacrificing a job and/or reputation for, plus I could be prosecuted by Fanuc. That's not to say they would prosecute but they definitely could and it would defintely be in their best interest to do so.