best CNC control

[gcode]

I haven't run a machine in 23 years now, but as a programmer it's Okuma hands down
I write impeller files that run 30 to 40 meg.
When I program for our Cincinatti or JOBS gantry mills running Fanuc 31i controls I have to break these files in 3 meg bites.
I am fully aware of the fact we may not be doing something right, but have yet to find someone how can show us how to do it correctly.
I have run very large files on the JOBS, but searching for an H number in a 20 meg file can take 10 minutes
to complete
The Okuma's on the other hand, just shrugs and say, "Is that all you got?"

edit..  I am also aware the 1 terabyte data servers I paid big $$$ for got totally hosed when they hooked our Cinci and JOBS
gantry mills to Predator DNC, so maybe I'm not being fair to Fanuc

[TSmcam]

Siemens....you're talking very old...pre shoprurn/shopmill?
Shopturn drill cycle (conversational) is 1x page to complete
Fanuc conversational equivalent was 2....
Yes I realise ISO is only 1 line LoL

Ref battery encoders (no zero return) the 31 control alpha pack on my Robodrills had that (2005) and my 0iC beta pack Chevaliers had that (2006 onwards).
Although my 1st one (2005) didn't but that control was a mix n match

Yes, pre Shop Turn/Mill. Thats why I mentioned the early controls. Drill cycles, that looked like 81, 2, 3, 2, 500 etc. Just commas and no address. WTF material.

Conversational is something I have avoided, and at my age just wont touch. I am an ISO whore. Always have been, always will be.

The 31i's I have had experience with (from about 2010 or thereabouts weren't close loop. They still griped if they hadn't been zero returned.

[CNCAppsJames]

Hey G... can I come in and look at your 31i that needs broken up programs? I may be able to find something that can help. 

Honestly I've never even heard of a filesize limitation other than available memory. CNC_MEM total storage limit is 8MB, DATA_SV theoretically no limit but I've used a 64GB DATA_SV before.

"Fanboi"... #PotMeetKettle @YouDoug You're every but the Okuma Fanboi that I am FANUC. 

[mkd]

The Okuma's on the other just shrug and say, "Is that all you got?"

similar on your one heidenhain. From edit mode on a tool call, just hit the down arrow to jump to next tool. Same for any other parameter in edit mode. Down arrow will search/jump fro what your on.

IIRC an N search on a fanuc data server is slicker than snail snot on linoleum.

[TSmcam]

Yes earlier Siemens i wouldn't have touched with a 10ft pole.

Ref the absolute (battery) encoders - as James says 'till he's blue in the face - "That's not Fanucs fault it's MTB specific".

Yes, those early Siemens were horrible. Post processor nightmare.

Re: Zero returns, true but it seems that, at least back then every MTB builder with a Fanuc did the same thing.

[gcode]

Hey G... can I come in and look at your 31i that needs broken up programs?

I'll be doing a big impeller on the Cinci soon
I'll give you a call when the time comes

Thanks !!!!!

[CNCAppsJames]

...
IIRC an N search on a fanuc data server...

There's technically 3 search types; 1) while in EDIT mode, 2)N search mode type, 3) P type/Q Type search mode... IIRC.
1 is fastest, 2 can be slow depending on length, and 3 I never have use for. 

[TSmcam]

I'll be doing a big impeller on the Cinci soon
I'll give you a call when the time comes

Thanks !!!!!

G, with the Fanuc Oracle on the job, you'll have it sorted. James has helped me out more times than I can remember

 

[CNCAppsJames]

Everyday's a school day!

It is for me anyway.

Every time some Okuma or Heidy shill informs me "FANUC can't"... I always seem to learn a bunch of new shit along the way. So please, keep shilling. It make me better.

[mkd]

Fanuc still can't do tlo and R offsets inside the program while leaving the tool table unmolested. Big benifit for simplicity and usability by mere mortal machinists.
Pulling the r value and adding a variable and mashing some macro variable would basically do it on a fanuc, but still being mostly blind to the status while running and having to to mangle every program to get it done? I call that a "fanuc can't" for anyone less than a god.
Heidy has a built in readout on the status page to monitor table and program comps.  Easy peasy.
Nananananaanana
Trolololo     
 But seriously, I'd love to be proven wrong, so I can stop telling people no other control can do this.

[mkd]

^^^^example please where it is beneficial mid running program to
alter the height offset
alter the diameter offset
of the running tool.
Thank you fanny boy 

If you have one feature on the program, say a specific bore where the programmer didn't leave the correct amount of stock or spring passes that comes out undersized, but the rest of the features are fine, you can comp that specific area of the program without altering the tool table.
for a half inch cutter:

TOOL CALL DR-.25083
cut bore with wear comp
TOOL CALL DR-.250
put it back to nominal

this can also be used throughout the specific program for this specific tool if it makes sense for unplanned  holder length / spring pass issues where everything is a little heavy with stock. You are correcting this program / setup but not mangling the tool table for the next shift or next project. And you don't need to remember to go back into the table to fix it if you did a mid program restart or stoppage where you can easily get confused with a mildly fancy macro.
 Heidy can write to the tool table change the comp values just like fanuc/okuma/etc. It's just that there is an easier way that have been laid out by the big brains.
 would love to be proven wrong or shown how to do this on another control. Does Siemens have something?

[mkd]

perfect wear comp, right out of the gate, on a premium machine with Heidenhain:

 Blum laser measurement puts actual positive tool rad in tool table 'R' column. say .24961
 configure your post to output the negative nominal radius in your TOOL CALL line 'DR-.2500.
 Programming with wear comp, the control does the math between positive and negative and the remainder is perfect comp out of the gate.

[mkd]

nice method, newbeee. Effective for getting parts out the door, without turning it into a science project.
Don't know it off the top of my head, but Fanuc surely has some surface normal vector format, like heidy that could comp for the average corner radius as entered into the tool table.
With an elaborate option (92) Heidy can comp the actual tabulated bull mill corner radius based on laser measured values at intervals along the rad. It's so accurate mirror image 3D contour parts can be wrung together like a gauge block just by pressing together.

[JParis]

If you can get a parameter # for a setting, you can manipulate it...

[Jeff]

no other control can do this.

I'm 99% sure Okuma can do this with variables, I've just never had a need to so I'm not 100% sure  .

Doesn't Fanuc have a G10 function that can write tool data? Or is that limited to tool lengths?


While we're on the subject of Fanuc, do the higher-end Fanuc controls have the same input lag as the 0 models? Man it's driving me crazy when it has to wait after pressing buttons to press another.