We have built our shop around cinci equipment, and for the first time we bought a new machine that is not. (cinci)
It has a brand new fanuc oi control on it, and I would like to say that it is extremely fast and accurate however cinci had this control beat 15 years ago.
First, What's with the "O" program prefix ?? I want to load program names, not "O XXXXXX" . My next beef is with the program loading. While there is a pcmcia card for loading programs, when you program off line, and need to change things you will wear a path from the office to the machine. I know, you can get an ethernet connection, but for 4K, forget it. We decided to network to a host pc and use the rs232 port. Even this is primitive. On our old 850sx control, we can at least do "terminal emulation" and access the PC's hard drive right on the coltrol screen. With the fanuc, you need to jump back and forth between the PC and the control to load programs.
Last, a real nice feature on the cinci was the ease of moving the axis while in cycle. you can move the xyz away and clean off chips, look at your part etc., then start where you left off by holding in the cycle start button and return everything to the original position. ( both the 850sx and 2100's could do this ) Can't do that with the fanuc. Got to start all over.
I know this will take some getting used to, but I thought I was buying a 21st century control. They are behind the times with the user interface. Ever hear of a GUI ?? Am I missing something ? Are there add-on's for this control ??
Even the manual had a picture of a punch tape in it. What the heck is that about ??
JMHO