Re: Yet Another New Machine

On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:48:01 -0700, Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>
wrote:

On 10/31/2024 4:39 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Bob La Londe"  wrote in message news:vfuc8v$2ap2c$1@dont-email.me...
 
...
The thing that excites me most about it (Onefinity Elite Foreman) is the
Masso G3 Touch controller it comes with. ...
Bob La Londe
------------------------------
I began designing machine control panels with paper drawings to be made
on a shear, brake and Strippit punch. CAD/CAM and plasma cutting is
quite an advance but I must say the old way was easy to learn and worked
pretty well. I was earning a living with just a pencil.
 
Learning the old manual methods has been useful when I needed to modify
existing equipment that was too awkward or flexible to do on a machine.
 
I also designed relay ladder logic for actual relays, before PLCs
arrived. I began circuit board design with black tape or a laundry
marker and advanced through computerized design and simulation as they
developed. The electronics I learned in the Army used individual
transistors, then I closely followed the growth progress of ICs through
FPGAs that could self-configure to match a CAD schematic. The computer
revolution has been interesting to observe and participate in.
 

>
>
First off I have "built up" a couple CNC control systems.  Designed
might be a strong word, but assembled from assorted "black boxes" would
not.  The thing is the Masso G3 control does "almost" everything in one
finished unit for not much more than I could buy the parts, and it
appears to be code compatible with what I am already using so the post
processor would need little or no modification.  Yes I have modified the
post processors for all of my different machines.  Most are just minor
tweaks.  Actually I rewrote the macros more than modified the post on
the Mach controlled machines, so except for physical capability the code
is cross compatible on all of those.
>
Well if I was cheap I could build a controller a lot cheaper, but I'm
tired of tweaking machines for weeks to get them to run right.
>
>
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

Sounds like a friend's old Standard Modern CNC lathe I futzed around
with for months years ago. It woul jump in and out of calibration
randomly. It might make 50 good parts then go small or large for a
couple, then MAYBE go back to good, or maybe not. After going through
grounds, sheilding, wire and cable routing and who knows what all else
I got the productivity up by about 500% but it could still not be
trusted so it sat in the corner for YEARS. Switching from rotary
encoders to a glass scale and a better controller would likely have
made a decent machine out of it but the manufacturer had gone "tits
up" by then and he was just SO over it.