This is our first Fanuc mill. We have a Hurco mill that we previously had. We asked some questions of the sales guy who suggested tape mode would allow us to run programs of enormous size from RS232 with normal functionality- specifically search, replace, edit, restart.

In reality you lose, search, edit, re-acquiring the program and can only regain some function by programming the single path machine like a cumbersome multi-path machine using 198 calls for multiple programs by tool -(programs that also cannot start in the middle because Fanuc won't allow you to search the 232 program). It's a waste of time, now I realize why people don't want to buy fanuc controls on mills. This is probably the side of the house where Fanuc gets the **** kicked out of them. Our other 5 Fanuc controls are multiaxis turning, and we don't seem to have problems getting programs to fit in the control memory.

When the solution to the problem is do **** harder and get more headaches to get the job done that's a motivator to buy something else. I had about two days of workholding jobs - 4 different jobs all settup with programs supplied in 2 hours on the first day. Dancing around with G68 angle skews and tape mode has probably added two days to that work. I can see the operator body language saying, "I'm really frustrated with this crippled operating condition and these hurdles", and that guy has a good attitude. I dislike strongly when outside conditions effect my employees enjoyment of work because that tells me this stuff is pushing those people closer to a place where I can't compete and keep them.