Of course there are some people and businesses for which a retrofit will make no sense. For our organization (community group with almost no capital to speak of but lots of volunteer time/interest), our LinuxCNC retrofits have been great. We are a group of hackers, many of whom subscribe to the "self repair manifesto":
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto "If you can't fix it you don't own it". We completed a retrofit of two bridgeport-class mills (including Mesa hardware) for an equivalent cost of replacing one proprietary board in either of those systems. This is of course counting our time as free, but we work on those machines as a hobby and rather enjoy it. What was a "magic black box" is now well-understood and fixable. That is worth a lot IMO. Scott On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 8:44 AM, Viesturs Lācis <viesturs.la...@gmail.com>wrote: > Stuart, I think that I will mark Your email for later reference, > because it perfectly explains the same situation I was 3 years ago as > a result of which I am now making my living on building cnc machines > or retrofitting existing ones and LinuxCNC is the only and exclusive > controller for me. > Sometimes I feel that people do not really believe me, so another > opinion that supports that is what I needed :) > > Viesturs > > 2012/5/13 Stuart Stevenson <stus...@gmail.com>: > > USD10,000 equals 1 to 3 control repairs. A retrofit can be less than 10k > > and avoid current and further control repairs. > > A retrofit to replace a control that repair parts are unavailable for > makes > > all kinds of sense. > > On one of my machines with a functioning control (year model 1998 and the > > control runs fine) I want to replace the control because upgrade > features I > > want from the manufacturer cost in excess of USD20.000 for the software > > alone. > > On another machine (also 1998 and functioning) upgrades are NOT available > > because the OEM is no longer developing software for that model. A > retrofit > > to a current OEM control with the desired capability is more than > > USD120,000. > > I have several three axis mills. I have several rotary tables. To marry > the > > tables to the current controls will be more expensive than a retrofit. > > My retrofits are on the network for communication. The OEM controls are > not. > > A LinuxCNC retrofit does not require all steppers or all servos or even > all > > the components of either to be the same. > > ...etc ad nauseum > > :) > > What's not to like? The main gripe is the 'start from line'. I agree that > > could be 'enhanced' although my Fanuc controls are not much better at > > starting from a line if the program is long enough to need to run by DNC. > > Also, the Fanuc start from line doesn't start from a line in the middle > of > > a tool without switching to MDI to make sure the prep codes are correct. > > Some of the other controls are much better at starting from a line. > > Having some fun now. > > Stuart > > > > On Sunday, May 13, 2012, Viesturs Lācis wrote: > > > >> 2012/5/13 dave <dengv...@charter.net <javascript:;>>: > >> > > >> > It depends on the final usage. If you are commercial paying 10K to > >> > refit a machine it may not make much sense. > >> > >> Could You, please, explain, why not? > >> If the overall condition of mechanics of machine is very good, the > >> controller is dead (could be some minor issues with mechanics), then > >> 10K is more than sufficient to bring in somebody to do the retrofit > >> (there are several members of this list that are doing this, I would > >> consider myself in that category too). > >> LinuxCNC is advanced enough that the functionality of the retrofitted > >> machine will totally match capabilities of brand new machine. > >> > >> Viesturs > >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >> Live Security Virtual Conference > >> Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > >> threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. > Discussions > >> will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in > malware > >> threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Emc-users mailing list > >> Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net <javascript:;> > >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > >> > > > > > > -- > > dos centavos > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Live Security Virtual Conference > > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Live Security Virtual Conference > Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and > threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions > will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware > threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
