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NEED: Retrofit ideas for Shizuoka Knee mill

Hi Group: I just bought a Shizuoka knee mill + tool changer with a non working Summit bandit controller. I plan to spend some time to try to get the Bandit working again if possible because I need to use the mill. But if I can't, I want to convert it to a PC based system. I'm just overwhelmed by the number of controller software packages available. I think I've got it narrowed down to DESKCNC and I'm also looking at EMC under linux. What does the group recommend? This mill will be in a small captive manufacturing environment and will be running 8 hours a day, several days a week. Any ideas or past experiences welcomed.

RonL

Reply to
R Laury
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We used a Heidenhain TNC360 on ours, but we never interfaced the toolchanger to the controller.

As the quill only has 6 inches of travel, your work height is futher reduced by the difference between your tools lengths, as well as a safety clearance.

Assuming you have 2 inches difference in your tools, and allow, say, 1/2" clearance above the work for safety, that leaves you with 3.5" of work height.

Unless, of course, your work is fixtured close to the table, in which case you need to allow clearance for the toolchanger to lower the tools from the quill....

The machine works great with this control, but due to the above mentioned reasons, it has definite limits that must be taken into consideration.

Reply to
Jon Grimm

Yes, it is true that every machine has some limitations. You would be amazed to have seen some of the parts we ran on these machines where I worked in 70s &

80s. Definitely outside the envelope to which you refer, X, Y, Z, and 4th axis. And they said it couldn't be done. Imagination is often the barrier.

michael

Reply to
michael

just put in a move to move vice out of the way

Reply to
HaroldA102

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