[Loco112]

I read that the; FANUC Series 30i/31i/32i-MODEL A, is the latest and greatest regular sized (not thin, mini, or other, and adaptable to most any configuration of axis and drives), controller offered by FANUC?

You men & woman with experience on both the the newer Siemens SINUMERIK controllers and the FANUC's, how would you rate them against each other?

I ask because I believe the Siemens controller was the lowest priced high end controller that I received a quote on, and that is one highly reguarded controller! If I remember correctly it was significantly less expensive than any of the other major brand controllers taht I received quotes on, except FANUCs which, I will get the prices for next week.

So whats your take on a FANUC VS Siemens SINUMERIK controller comparison?

[barbter]

Depends what you want to do...

We have a robodrill with a 31i and the control is better that our other machines with OiMC. This is from an operators point of view: better text editing, file handling, proper copy/paste etc.
We don't use manual guide and program everyting off line.

We also have a siemens 810T lathe with sinumeric.
This control rocks for program creation and verification, and in my opinion, why would you want to program a lathe off line, as it is so fast and easy on the control?

Before buying the siemens we had a proper look at manual guide (on a lathe) and it was crap in comparison. Thats why we went siemens.
Also, if you get a hard drive it will need replacing after around 3 years.
Maybe better to go for a control with as much memory as possible but withour the hard drive.
HTH

[Loco112]

I have been looking for an older 4' HBM with a controller that is outdated and so it would not add much to the cost of the machine.

I'm thinking I also want about a 1998 Fadal 8030 VMC that came with a Fanuc controller about 10% of the time, I suspect.

Whatever controller I decide I hope I can run the same controller on both these machines if possible.

I am doing mostly onesy twosies and about 80% of my parts will be in gray iron. Some parts are 600-700Lbs, most about 100-200, these will be cast from my patterns (that I also have to cut on these machines) from foam pattern board material. My parts are cast at a nice nearby gray iron foundry. I have most of the parts drawn up as solid model files. I still need to draw the patterns for them.

I am thinking about Mastercam to help with the marching of the more difficult parts machining.

Both the HBM and the VMC are going to be basically setup to do anything, like at a prototype shop. I am looking at Stevens Engineering Modular Fixturing System for the VMC, I'll just use angle plates and various clamp setups for the HMC.

I originally thought about Centroid until I read how the guys here love Mach and its abilities, then I got onto FANUC and read how they guys here love them. Fanuc seems like a great company that gets their stuff right so it might be a smooth process to use them. I have read some of the post processor and ladder file nightmares with some of the lessor or older controllers. Siemens also looks great, and its not priced bad at all compared to some of the other brands. Decisions decisions!