Time to go Swiss, general questions.

All,

I bought my first lathe a little over a year ago. I have a Hardinge T2 big bore with live tools. I believe it's 1999 vintage, but could be wrong. It took me about two months to get get it up and running, electrical, post processor, blah blah blah. Long story short, the machine is pretty much at capacity and its time to add another machine to the floor.

Looking at the work I've been doing, it seems like adding a Swiss lathe would be the logical next move. I say this because about 50% of the work I do is complex,,, small and TINY parts. While I can do it on the Hardinge, the machine is overkill for these parts and doing two setups for these parts is way too time consuming.

I would say the biggest problem I had was learning how to load the CNC files from CAM onto the machine.

I have researched Swiss machines pretty extensively and have come to the conclusion that a late 90's Citizen M20 would be preferred machine. It's the right size and has all the capabilities I expect I will need. Its also within financial reach. From what I've read, this machine seems to be pretty much bulletproof, much like the Hardinge I have now.

I fear I may have the same difficulty in learning how to communicate with the machine. I looked around and not seen any information on this. It seems Swiss machines are a bit more rare than the Hardinge. Can someone give me a quick description on how this is done?

I have also researched the Star machines. I'm sure I could figure this out on the Star because it uses a Fanuc controller which is nearly identical to the one on the Hardinge I'm currently using. It just seems like the Citizen is a better fit to me.

Any thoughts and foresight on what to expect of the Cincom controller would be much appreciated!

I'm pretty sure I could get the same guy who wrote the Post for the Hardinge to do the same for my next purchase. Having said that, are there posts already around for either the Citizen or the Star?

I'm looking forward to your response.

Thanks In Advance and Stay Healthy!!!

David

...do swiss still make watches ? is the real questions

the swiss that i operate have communication thru either the rs232 connection of thru an sd card with an adapter, newer have a usb port
I don't run an m20 citizen but the programming will be different as it is either a 2 or 3 line program (you are basically running 2/3 programs running at once)
the purchase of wincnc from marubeni would probably help as it will help with matching the programs and specialized codes to go with it (it's about $400.00 for a seat)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rcs60

the swiss that i operate have communication thru either the rs232 connection of thru an sd card with an adapter, newer have a usb port
I don't run an m20 citizen but the programming will be different as it is either a 2 or 3 line program (you are basically running 2/3 programs running at once)
the purchase of wincnc from marubeni would probably help as it will help with matching the programs and specialized codes to go with it (it's about $400.00 for a seat)

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Thanks,,, I'm familiar with these types of devices. I use Shoplinks for the Brother mills and a Titan for the Hardinge. I believe the Shoplinks only work with the Brother controller. The Titan seems a little more generic and may work with the Citizen.

Thanks Again,
David

Quote:

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Originally Posted by machinehop5

...do swiss still make watches ? is the real questions

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I'm sure they do but am but am betting the machines they use to make the watches are made in Japan. :) Go figure!!!