here my findings running a CNC machine shop full time we now have 4 machines on Linuxcnc (3x Laths all hardinge , 1x VMC leadwell) soon to be 5 (will be a 2nd VMC) all around 1985up machines , these machines had good solid Iron (something some of the newer ones lack), with only a few needed services repairs done to them, some we replaced the ball screw bearings with new (after 25+ years exspected i think) serviced all the oil restriction ways that wanted looking at, things like this while fitting the control does not take that long nor does it cost alot in parts or time... once done they are now flying through jobs with no issues what so ever.. the first thing we noticed, old programs made to run on linuxcnc, with no rapid increase on speed , ie machine as was only new control, all cycle times started to take half as long to run.. all becasue the machine was no longer stopping to look for the next block of code or other small things.. which will soon add up to alot of wasted time.
we are very pleased with our retrofits, yes can take some time to get things done.. but all in all its not a lost casue we now feel we have machines ready to run for 12 more years or even longer.. all spending very littleover the cost of new, or even good used 2nd hand which is hard to find right now here in UK.. i think what realy kills it is retrofitting companys charging way over the top as when you start to look at 20k+, when you think how much a new fanuc or other is... this is where you then you start to look what is around on the market that can take its place in faster rapids, spindle etc.. yes Linuxcnc has its small problems but you can soon over come them, but then most controls have issues some where we find but main thing what we love about linuxcnc on the machines is if we want to change the PLC ladder, or make the control do something new or odd, we can do it, on our fanucs, you start to talk about big ££ signs just like Stuart pointed out, start to want a 4th or 5th axes on your mill to do work, indexing or contouring start counting your pennies.. again.. as one of our machine seller said to us, "we are a machine builders nightmare" rob ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
