[SomeWhatLost]

So, has anyone here heard of Heidenhain?
specifically the TNC-640 machine controller?
I know we have path pilot and all, and PP is nice enough, I guess...
but looking at the sales sheet/spec sheet thingy for the TNC-640, it looks much, much nicer than PP...
any chance the 640 could be made to work with a PCNC1100? any reason why you wouldn't want to use the TNC?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

any reason why you wouldn't want to use the TNC?

Apart from the fact that it probably costs nearly as much as the PCNC-1100 itself?

Regards,
Ray L.

[jwatte]

What would it do better than the PP on the Tormach mill? It's a six year old device, which for industrial machinery isn't much, but for computers is an eternity. It supports up to 18 axes, but the Tormach tops out at 4.
The modern PP comes with a solid state disk, which is a Big Deal for reliability and performance. LinuxCNC also does some look-ahead planning for multi-axis moves, and if you use "round around corners" instead of "sharp corners" in your CAM and use G64 blending, it will keep feed rate up.
The CPU and FPGA controller card of the Path Pilot is also quite fast, because it's modern hardware, so things like "short block processing time" doesn't even need to be considered. For all intents and purposes, the PP hardware is infinitely faster than the physical motors can move.
If you are doing a lot of "conversational" input, rather than using CAM toolpaths or writing your own G-code, then perhaps their GUI has more options that would help?

[SomeWhatLost]

What would it do better than the PP on the Tormach mill? It's a six year old device, which for industrial machinery isn't much, but for computers is an eternity. It supports up to 18 axes, but the Tormach tops out at 4.
The modern PP comes with a solid state disk, which is a Big Deal for reliability and performance. LinuxCNC also does some look-ahead planning for multi-axis moves, and if you use "round around corners" instead of "sharp corners" in your CAM and use G64 blending, it will keep feed rate up.
The CPU and FPGA controller card of the Path Pilot is also quite fast, because it's modern hardware, so things like "short block processing time" doesn't even need to be considered. For all intents and purposes, the PP hardware is infinitely faster than the physical motors can move.
If you are doing a lot of "conversational" input, rather than using CAM toolpaths or writing your own G-code, then perhaps their GUI has more options that would help?

Load Adaptive Control seems like it could be fun?
Active Chatter Control, Adaptive Feed Control, Trochoidal milling for conversational all seem like they could be useful?

[SomeWhatLost]

Apart from the fact that it probably costs nearly as much as the PCNC-1100 itself?

Regards,
Ray L.

does it really?

[SCzEngrgGroup]

does it really?

I have no idea, but the big commercial controls have typically been $5K or more to start, with many features, like rigid tapping, added axes, conversational, etc., adding considerably more, plus steep annual maintenance/update costs. For that one, I'd bet the hardware alone is several $K, the software at least that much more for the base configuration. I can absolutely guarantee it is FAR more expensive than Tormach's $700 or whatever they currently charge for their control PC and software.

Regards,
Ray L.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

does it really?

Yes,
Industrial controls are a whole different animal. Proprietary hardware and software and they have a lock down on every aspect of enabling features etc. A few MB of memory can cost $1200. This class of machines/controls get beat mercilessly during production shift work. I work in an industry using several hundred pound robots spraying molten aluminum where someone could get killed. These things can't have a "glitch".. ever..

The cheapest real control I've seen is Siemens basic 3 axis controller for ~2700.

[Zetopan]

Heidenhain pretty much sets the standard for very high precision scales. I have a number of them that have sub-micron accuracy over distances of tens of inches. Their machine controller is likely very expensive and I don't know why anyone would even want to put one on a Tormach, unless it fell out of the sky for free and absolutely nothing else was available. It might be better to simply gold plate your mill.

[GLCarlson]

.... It might be better to simply gold plate your mill.

Pretty sure that'd hold up better than the early paint jobs! But the glare would be blinding.

On that score, I've been really impressed with the POR 2K two part urethanes for machines. Somewhat cheaper than the industrial epoxies, available in smaller (ie, right size) quantities, and very durable.

[SomeWhatLost]

I don't know why anyone would even want to put one on a Tormach, unless it fell out of the sky for free

well, falling out of the sky for free was kind of the plan... or falling out of the the back of a trailer and then getting run over by a forklift or something along those lines... ie it gets scrapped/cant be sold...
full disclosure, I technically just started working for Heidenhain USA, technically as just a peon in the acu-rite production area, I have no access to pricing or even the TNC's as far as I can tell... I just found their sales sheet thingy on the public web and it sounded cool...
and while there are boxes upon boxes of scales and the like here, I don't think I have seen a single TNC, other than the one on the 5 axis mill in the training room... guess those all come out of HQ in Germany?

and absolutely nothing else was available.

are the really that bad? my only info is based on the publicly available sales sheet thingy, which I am sure is just slightly biased... but it does sound like a cool controller...

It might be better to simply gold plate your mill.

I did consider some gold POR-15 once, does that count?

[Zetopan]

"are the[y] really that bad?"

I did not mean to imply that they were in any way *bad*, just that they were very expensive and any repairs would cost you a *lot*. If you use MACH-3 or PathPilot those controllers are generally easily user fixable if any problems arise. Fixing Heidenhain also means going to Heidenhain for problem solving or repairs. I have no plans to use any other scales than theirs, but then I also buy them at auctions, oftentimes new in their original factory packing since the retail prices are so outrageous. Just one new Heidenhain scale could actually approach the cost that I originally paid for my *new* Tormach PCNC 1100 several years ago. Heidenhain scales are fabulous, but you really pay dearly for that level of precision.