My Huge (new to me) CNC Mill

[matthewsx]

I like your idea of keeping as much original wiring as possible and staying in the original footprint. I can't imagine however a future owner wanting to go backwards after you've updated the controls but keeping everything onboard is a great plan.

Since you already have Galil figured out I would think spending the extra $$ to keep things the same in your shop is worthwhile. The initial purchase price should justify this as well as the fact that if you do sell the machine it will be easy to assist any new owner with set-up and troubleshooting.

If it were me, and if I had your experience I would do it exactly how I wanted even if it cost a few hundred more than the least expensive way. That thing is cute beyond belief and I could see it having a life as a mobile training center some day....

Cheers,

1ohn

 

[T Bredehoft]

I;m coming late to the party, but

So far I have not been able to get it to load a tool,

Can you not write a subroutine for a tool change? I'm 20 years past using M or G codes but it seems like I could have done so if the machines I ran had tool chanters.

 

[JimDawson]

I;m coming late to the party, but

Can you not write a subroutine for a tool change? I'm 20 years past using M or G codes but it seems like I could have done so if the machines I ran had tool chanters.

Well, yes I could. But I want to click to select the tool, then click to load the tool. Then once the tool is loaded, I want to click one more time to set the height offset. 30 seconds and done! That just makes sense to me.

This is how it should work. This is from my lathe software, but the same still applies.



Why should I have to select 3 different screens, and hand write some G code and manually enter offsets just to setup one ^%(*&&# tool, that's just crazy. Even our 2016 Haas has roughly the same sequence to change and set a tool, there is no load tool button.

Time for me to get up on my soapbox here. Machine operations have not changed substantially since the paper tape days, with only minor differences, it's still the same G code. There is no reason that operator conveniences can't be built into the machine operating code, it would improve productivity. It doesn't matter if it's running on a Windows, Linux, or some proprietary operating system. It's just programming and if you don't want a mouse on the system, then put a physical button on the thing to do the same thing. The operator panel on the Haas looks like a space shuttle control console, has a button for everything except a tool change or load tool.

It's just stuff like this (and a bad experience with Mach3) that caused me to write my own CNC software to begin with. My goal was to make it as easy as possible to run from an operator perspective. Do I follow the normal conventions that have been in place for the last 50 years? No, I just plowed ahead and made it work in a way that actually makes sense. I understand why it was done that way 50 years ago, but with modern computers it's easy to make improvements without changing the overall functionality. OK end of rant.

 

[T Bredehoft]

In any case, I'm still jealous of your toys. I just got through putting an iGAGING 6" DRO on my Ames turret lathe. That will take some guess work out of it.