Strippit... Strippit Good!!

[Grind Hard]

"no one gets away until they Strippit..."

Ahem.

Ok.

In about three months we will be getting rid of our old 1000R Turret Punch Press. This machine and I have quite a history together. I have been talking with the Owner of the Company and he says more or less I can have it for the cost of rigging it out and putting it in my workshop.

BELIEVE ME I am making room for it. :D No idea what the hell I'd use it for other than annoying the crap out of the neighbors... Actually I have a darn good idea of what I want to do with it. ;)

However... Reason it is being retired... it runs PowerPC based Mac software. The CAM package only runs on $&(*& G3 Mac... and it it's getting damn near impossible to find parts let alone floppy disks for data transfer.

Lets talk CNC conversion. It's FANUC drive... what is out there in terms of driver boards/control boxes that I can make a modern PC talk to?

What about software? Will something like MACH3 run a turret press? Figure there is X and Y to move the sheet, INDEX TURRET, and INDEX TOOL (three stations).

I'd like to turn this into a learning project... if possible!

[MaxHeadRoom]

Bit of a conflict there..... if it is the old Mac s/w version, what is it doing with Fanuc drive? do you mean Fanuc servo drives?
Mach could be capable, but the I/O demands on a punch may cause a problem,
unless you use an outboard PLC.
http://www.strippittech.com/Strippit_Super30-30_Machines.html
Max.

[Grind Hard]

The servos are motors are all FANUC.

Our console consists of a Mac keyboard, a Mac monitor which displays the state of the machine and allows me to edit the program, and about a dozen wires and cables lead out of the back of the case that we stick the floppies into... that is marked "POWER-PC". Those cables lead into the lower section of the console, where there are all sorts of boards and "things."

The software... It's all Mac graphics, I can shrink it down and be on the old old Mac desktop. Not sure what the program is other than "Turret Control."

...to be honest I've never seen a machine run on Mac! Windows yes... Linux... yes. Never Mac.

[MaxHeadRoom]

Strippit was one of the few machines that insisted on using Mac.
Are these AC or DC servo's? Red cap (AC) or Yellow (DC)?
Max

[macona]

Oh, keep the existing control. Mach sucks compared to any commercial control but it is the best thing on the low end.

Any mac running OS 10.5 or older will run the software. It was not until the latest revision that the OS stopped emulating power pc code.

It is probably just sending g-code through DNC on the serial port. Some pictures would help.

Floppies are still available. We are looking at using floppy emulators for all out machines at work. They go in the place of a floppy drive and allow you to write to a USB flash drive instead. They will work with anything that uses a standard 34pin floppy cable. It is a completely hardware based device so no drivers needed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-White-3-5-1-44MB-USB-SSD-FLOPPY-DRIVE-LCD-EMULATOR-E100-E50-Korg-Screw-/380394432157?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item589146669d#ht_2950wt_1344

[Sparky_NY]

Oh, keep the existing control. Mach sucks compared to any commercial control but it is the best thing on the low end.
]

That is not the common opinion out there, actually its the exact opposite. Actually, replacing older commercial controls is one of the things that made mach so extremely popular. People get sick of unreliable old controls with no features, poor speed, lack of memory, you name it.

Every machinist that has come by and seen mach running on my mill inquired if they could get mach on their machine, they instantly wanted to ditch their commercial control when they seen mach.

Mach is not for everyone though, in fact I told some to stick with the commercial control they have. Installing and understanding a mach setup would have been over their heads, they need something very simple and a servicemans phone number nearby, they would never be happy with mach or able to understand it even.

[Grind Hard]

I will have to sneak the covers off to take a look tonight.

Will those floppy-emulators work with Power-PC MAC?

We can run some very large very elaborate parts... in all the years I've been running this machine we've never run into memory limitations.

My only fear, and the one echoed by management... is spare parts and control support.

There are tons of Strippit parts out there... I've made tool-holder-clamps for it, and FANUC servos can be had. The drive screws are in great shape, the ways are fine.

I took good care of it. :D Mechanically speaking it could run another 30 years.

Oh and as a mark of pride: ALL of the turret stations are intact. Original owner paid good money to have them reground and sleeved.

I'm the only one who understands MAC even in the slightest, that's why I've become the Keeper of this monster.

Software wise:

We run CAMBAM on a G3 Mac, I've tried to get them to upgrade me to a newer package with the appropriate converters but... ya know.

Anyway it will be coming home to live with me in March. MAC or not I can put it to use.

Oh and the servos are red-caps. :)

[Grind Hard]

Bit of a conflict there..... if it is the old Mac s/w version, what is it doing with Fanuc drive? do you mean Fanuc servo drives?
Mach could be capable, but the I/O demands on a punch may cause a problem,
unless you use an outboard PLC.
http://www.strippittech.com/Strippit_Super30-30_Machines.html
Max.


THANK YOU for that website.

http://www.strippittech.com/1000R-3.jpg

This is what I am talking about right here.

http://www.strippittech.com/Strippit_Turret_Machine_Photo_Gallery.html

Search for 1000R.

[macona]

Red Caps are brushless servos. They use a encoders with non-standard commutation so you would have to replace motors. Not fun or cheap.

I would leave the floppy on the mac and replace the floppy on the control. The mac already has usb so you just need to write the files to the thumb drive. You may need a pc available to initially set up the usb drive.

As for control support, FANUC is not going anywhere and you will always find someone to work on them. Much more than I can say with a bastardized system switched to mach. If any poor tech had to work on one of my cnc machines they would pull their hair out since there is no real documentation.

[MaxHeadRoom]

Red Caps are brushless servos. They use a encoders with non-standard commutation so you would have to replace motors. Not fun or cheap.
.

If lower voltage types, Granite drives use the Fanuc encoder for initial stator field detection and from then on the encoder is used for commutation.
Another answer for higher voltage motors is a design by Jon Elson(?) that takes the Fanuc commutation and converts to Brushless DC, they will be run in BLDC mode, as opposed to the Fanuc AC sinusoidal mode.
The other links provide interesting reading, Strippit converted to GE-Fanuc using the DC servo's with PWM drives, it appears they converted to Fanuc AC motors in 1989 using the Fanuc 0P system.
If the existing control is actually a 0P, although an older control but still current, it is way superior to Mach, I am trying to visualize how they would mate Mac system to Fanuc AC drives unless this was a special arrangement they had with Fanuc?
Max.

[Grind Hard]

Well, we have a 1500H that has Fanuc motors (red caps) and a Fanuc panel for control... that is driven by Windows NT.

[MaxHeadRoom]

The latest Fanuc i series run on a PC based type of control.
Max.

[macona]

There is no way I would replace that control with mach unless everything was toast.

[Grind Hard]

And with that I intend to keep it "as is" for as long as possible.

Thanks for the insight, folks.

[Grind Hard]

I am looking for turret-punch specific CAM software... I've been using CAMBAM for so long I have no idea what's out there.

I threw this question up on the Linux boards as well in the hopes that someone has a fully operational package somewhere for free. :D Yeah yeah don't look at me like that. :P

Any tips or leads while I run the usual Google searches?

[macona]

I am certain you will not find cam that supports punches for free or even cheap. I think you will be paying through the nose.

Good news is you can form a business and write off te cost of the software.

[Grind Hard]

I am certain you will not find cam that supports punches for free or even cheap. I think you will be paying through the nose.

Good news is you can form a business and write off te cost of the software.

Thank goodness I already HAVE a business. :D