Okuma Conversational Lathe Control

[Mjölnir]

We've been looking at lathes and are starting to lean towards an Okuma Genos. Anyone have any experience with Okuma's "Advanced One-Touch IGF" conversational control and care to comment on it?

 

Our Mori Seiki is programmed with FAPT and Mastercam lathe isn't an option that's going to be considered and am wondering if the Okuma control is really as user friendly as it looks on paper.

[jeff]

Okuma controls are very user friendly.

I've ran both Okuma lathes and VMC's.. they run circles around Fanuc controls.

Once you use the mid-auto manual feature, you'll wonder how you ever did without it!

[Mjölnir]

Cool. Thanks.

 

Does user friendly include programming at the control too?

[Goldorak]

i rarely create NC codes for our 2 axes Okumas , about 99% of our jobs are done with IGF , it's very efficient.

[jeff]

Cool. Thanks.

 

Does user friendly include programming at the control too?

 

Yes, my lathe guy isn't the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he has zero issues with the conversational programming.

[jeff]

I will say this though,the only thing I dislike about this control is that there seems to be quite a bit of button pressing or mouse clicks if you want to change the program through IGF once it's already been created.

Kind of a non-issue, but it's just a pet peeve of mine really.

[Brad Lisle]

ask your local distributor for a control demo. I am sure they would be more than happy to show you the features of Advanced One-Touch IGF

[chris m]

Demos are nice but feedback from guys who actually USE the machine is very valuable since a good salesman can make anything look sweet in a demo. I cannot vouch for IGF because, although we have it in about [10] machines, we don't use it; our management philosophy (which I am in agreement with) is that we program offline.

 

As far as OSP controls; I think that they seriously kick a$$

 

C

[Goldorak]

Demos are nice but feedback from guys who actually USE the machine is very valuable since a good salesman can make anything look sweet in a demo. I cannot vouch for IGF because, although we have it in about [10] machines, we don't use it; our management philosophy (which I am in agreement with) is that we program offline.

 

As far as OSP controls; I think that they seriously kick a$$

 

C

 

i got an offline version of IGF on my PC, so no need to stop the production to use it

[chris m]

Martin, why do you use IGF on your PC instead of MasterCAM?

[jeff]

Martin, why do you use IGF on your PC instead of MasterCAM?

 

Probably because Mastercam Lathe is atrocious.

By the time you draw the part, fight with writing toolpaths and post it, you'd be making chips if you would have programmed with IGF.

At least for me it's faster, I only use Mcam lathe for the more intricate contours, like a fancy groove or something.

[overthecrossbar]

All of our lathes are Mazaks and the guys do all the programming on Mazatrol which is very easy to use.

[Goldorak]

Martin, why do you use IGF on your PC instead of MasterCAM?

 

I don't really program with it , i use the verification program include with ADMAC PART to check my NC code generate with mastercam

 

the simple part are done directly in the control by the setup man

 

 

PS, i really hate mazatrol.....

[Mjölnir]

Probably because Mastercam Lathe is atrocious.

 

Which is exactly the reason we'll never have a seat of Mastercam lathe. All our lathe programming to date has been done with PC-FAPT.

 

http://www.pcfapt.com

 

Thanks for the feedback folks, it helped make the decision to order an Okuma lathe a smidgen easier.

[chris m]

Probably because Mastercam Lathe is atrocious

 

I think that's a little harsh, though I am still running V9.1SP2; we have hundreds and hundreds of programs written using MC Lathe and it works OK for us.

 

C

[jeff]

Yeah maybe a little harsh, but you gotta admit, it isn't the greatest thing.

if you're still running V9 lathe, you're not missing anything. Save your money.

[Joe Bennett]

the okuma igf uses a very short program,requires less space in the lathes memery,has exelent graffics on the lathe and is extreamly fast and easy to use,the class in st louis is 2 days to learn igf

[Philcott]

I'm just cutting my teeth with learning how to program our Okuma. Many of our parts are on the complicated side so my question is do you mostly program simple face and turn with a drill and a bore kind of parts with the one touch? Can any of you post up a pic of some of the more complicated parts you did with one touch to give me an idea what it can do?

 

Thanks,

 

Phil

[Mr. M]

Phil, I can send you a few in a couple days. I've done some relatively complex parts in it for Y-axis lathes. If they don't have any 3d milling or a lot of pocketing where 2d high speed machining is needed I'll use AOT (the okuma software) a lot of the time

[Philcott]

That's interesting Ben. I was under the impression it was used mostly for simple parts. Also I didn't know Y axis could be programmed too. Don't forget I'm new to Okuma's.

 

Have you found any good training info on it or do you find the manuals that came with the machine and time at the control to be the best learning tools?

[Mr. M]

I used the AOT manuals and seat time to learn it Do you have the manuals for it?

[Philcott]

If you're talking about the one touch-igf-xl 2nd edition manual. Yes we do. Now about finding the seat time..................That's another story all together.

[Greg Williams]

IGF is pretty easy to use, For turning, threading grooving and boring IGF is very fast and simple to use