[welderboyjk]

I've kicked around the idea of getting a flatbed cnc lathe for a while. I found an ad for one that looks decent but has a Fanuc controller on it.
I know almost nothing when it comes to fanucs.
I guess age would be early to possibly mid 90's. Simple 2 axis. No turret. Not under power which in itself is scary.

If the battery is pooched how much of a battle is it to restore parameters?
Does this particular age/model of fanuc lend itself to be retro'd easily using existing drives and motors assuming they're good? I honestly have no idea of it has black/red or yellow axis motors on it.
Any insight is appreciated.

[Jim Dawson]

I can give you my experience retrofitting a Fanuc OT. My reason for retrofitting was adding features and ease of use, I found the OT to be a PITA to run the way I wanted to and I don't have a lot a patients with antique controllers.

If the battery is dead, the parameters are gone. They can be reloaded manually if they are written down somewhere, if not, best of luck.

After about '88 Fanuc went to the ''Pulse Coder'' type of motors & drives. And they are red cap, but I think some of the earlier red cap motors were not Pulse Coder, but don't hold me to this. If the motors are Pulse Coder motors it will be indicated on the label. The Black cap (AC servo) and Yellow cap (DC servo) motors may be relatively easy to reuse. I do understand that it is possible to replace the encoders on the PulseCoder motors and run them with a new servo drive. Centroid seems to have a method of doing this. As far as I know it is not possible to run the Pulse Coder drives with anything except the Fanuc controller because the ''brains'' of the drive is actually in the controller.

I figured out the above about halfway into the retrofit, not the best time to do the research, especially when you need the machine.

So what I did, is rip out everything that said Fanuc on it with the exception of the spindle motor and replaced it with my own controller and DMM Tech servos. The spindle motor in mine is not a servo, but rather a standard(ish) 3 phase motor. It runs fine on a sensorless vector VFD.

Here is the short version of the retrofit. https://www.cnczone.com/forums/hardi...-software.html

[regina]

From what I'm learning none of the retrofit stuff is "easy" unless you buy something like a centroid that is pre configured to your application. You are going to have to find out more information to know how suitable this version of control would be to reuse servo and motors. Documentation is the key here. It is not a big deal to reload the parameters if you have them written down or backed up somewhere. Some Machine tool builders are pretty good about archiving and giving out this information. Some are defunct and the info is lost forever unless you find someone with the same machine. In a machine as simple as this it would not be impossible to "work them out" and get a runable, if not optimal machine.
Price, rigging, logistics, documentation and support all are important considerations that are often overlooked. We need more information to give more specific advice. My advice is in my experience with the fanuc controls, get the machine running with the original control before considering a retrofit. You need to evaluate the mechanical condition of things like spindles and ball screws as well as any motors or drives you think you might reuse before you sink too much money into what could be a a boat anchor.
Once you get it running you may find you don't need a retrofit. the 0T is probably more control than you need in that application and the parts are affordable on the used parts market. Not the most user friendly interface or file transfer but more than capable.

[regina]

In a semi related topic I have some nice PCI and ISA Galil motion control cards, cables and breakout boards along with the industrial motherboards to run them with mach I bought when I thought about doing what you are thinking about. I gave up and retained the Fanuc and would be happy to trade them for your Fanuc takeoff hardware if you go that route. You have a better chance than most with just 2 axis, and no spindle orient. You will need an index pulse from the spindle if you want to be able to thread.

[welderboyjk]

Thanks for the replies.
Jim, I found your thread through Google fu and had read through it already. Lot of work there.
It would be so much easier (and cheaper) if the fanuc stuff played nice with other electronics.
Although it looks like a clean machine it might be a little more of a project that. I want right now. Maybe I'll keep an eye on it and see how much the price drops.
Again, thanks for the input.