NIT 5X Machine Controller

[gcode]

I used to work in a shop that had a PC based add-on to control 5 Axis mills

We had it hooked up to a small SNK 5X gantry mill and it worked really well

I think it was called NIT.

 

We have an old Cincinnati 5x gantry mill that is in real good shape.

It has a 3.5" flop drive to load programs and the reader is getting unreliable.

Aside from being unreliable, it's PIA because many of our programs run 15 to 20 meg

and we have to break them up into 1.3meg chunks.

That also cause long delays because it takes 20 to 30 minutes to load a disc

 

I'm not finding any good solutions to replace the 3.5" drive.

I'm coming up with relatively cheap USB or network DNC solution, but they eliminate the operators

ability to edit at the machine.

The other solution was replacing the control with something more modern.. but that is coming in at $250K

and would make a decade's worth of proven files obsolete.

 

Then an operator reminded me of NIT..and it might be the perfect solution but I can't find any info on the net

Does anyone have the contact info for these guys ... or a solution to my 3.5" floppy drive issue

[Joe788]

Does the old control have a windows front end? If you can get a new floppy drive, you could probably use a floppy-to-128mb SD card adapter. A guy on Practical Machinist did it with a Mazak control:

 

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/mazak/low-cost-answer-my-file-transfer-problems-220607/#post1522490

 

I don't think it will work without Windows though.

[Joe788]

Actually, here's your solution:

 

http://embeddedsw.net/EMUFDD_Floppy_Hardware_Emulator_Home.html

[mkd]

shop floor automations has USB floppy replacements.

also calmotion IIRC

 

in a perfect world, for $250k, some retro-fitter should be able to find a way to use the old programs.

[gcode]

that emulator looks like it might do the trick

[RaiderX]

Sounds like you found a solution but I used these years ago with good success replacing tape readers

 

http://www.grecosystems.com/products/cncstation.htm

[gcode]

found it

 

Numeric Interface Technologies

 

so old school they don't even have a web site

[NOTW Programmer]

Sounds like you found a solution but I used these years ago with good success replacing tape readers

 

http://www.grecosyst.../cncstation.htm

Doesn't this simply add USB support for non-USB capable machines? What GCode is looking for is a way to edit at the machine without having to break the program into chunks. How about using the DNC off the Flash Drive ?

[gcode]

NIT is way more than a DNC package.

Its a PC based controller that hooks into the original control

It runs off APT source code and gives you

Pivot length Control ... so you post tool tip output ... no more gage length hassles

Unlimited Fixture offsets

5 axis cutter comp

5 axis retract and Auto recovery

5 axis canned drilling cycles

5 axis reverse posting... so you can use your old proven files

 

I've programmed for this setup with an SNK A/B tilting head gantry mill and it worked really well

[Joe788]

Sounds expensive, G. What's something like that cost? How do they hook it into the control?

[gcode]

$10K.. I don't know how they hook it up...

It worked really well on an A/B tilting head SNK

on a C/A head .. not so much ... the direction of rotation for C axis rapid motion was optional and arbitary

It would make a rapid move in the CW direction 20 times.. then decide it wanted to go the other way.

It could get real exciting if you were working in tight quarters.

I talked to the guy today. This Cinnci has an Acramatic 950 control and he says he's done more of those than

any other machine.

I talked to MAG about a new/modern control and they said $250K minimum... so $10K sounds pretty good to me