On 2/20/2019 8:42 AM, Ken Strauss wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: John Dammeyer [mailto:jo...@autoartisans.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 12:07 AM
To: 'Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)'
Subject: Re: [Emc-users] DIY CNC builder dilemma, open request for
comments
My mill is equivalent to a Grizzly G3606. From the now defunct House of
Tools. They handle the broken parts and assemble and make sure everything
is there before I ever saw it. No real complaints but it's not a HAAS.
Of
course the price was nowhere near that either.
I know for sure that I'm going to have to either rebuild (redesign) the X
axis nut or just install ball screws (preferred). The PC, the CNC control
software are such a small part of the whole thing.
The BeagleBone design is published and can be used in other layouts.
Nothing stops someone from producing a more S100 if you will (but smaller
cards) system using it as a backbone processor. Although it's video
processing is pretty pitiful. The Pi is not public.
But again, 1000 hours (about 6 months work). $100 to $150 per hour. Say
with all the design work including metalwork etc. that you can create that
magic Linux CNC based box for $150,000. The customer base will probably
only want to pay $500 at the most for it since you can duplicate what it
does with used PCs and some hardware. The motors, couplers, power
supplies
etc. remain constant regardless of the install. So if you want to make
back your investment and earn a living then $150,000 R&D / $500 per unit
is
300 units.
And even with $500 per unit the end user still has to modify his machine
which is where all the work and money is. If the need was there it would
already be filled. IMHO.
John
Selling 300 units at $500 each would only recover the $150K R&D if the
supplied hardware were free with no advertising/support required for the
sales. I suspect that needing to sell 3000 units is closer to reality.
The PC is not going away anytime soon. I do a lot of industrial
control work and more and more PCs are being installed in factories to
allow access to the MES system, quality control/part tracking system
(IBS QMS,etc) and provide employee log in/log out. Act as cell
controllers for machine cells. They are everywhere. Most of them are
small fanless units with one or more Ethernet ports.
The factories are using off the shelf desktop screens since they are
dirt cheap. Standard keyboards etc. They break, they replace them.
I've even seen standard desktop PCs used in steel mills out in the
shop. Its popular to mount the PC behind the screen.
The only reason why PC installation may slow in factories is increased
use of robots which eliminates the employees who would interact with the
PCs.
Remember when the parallel port was going away 10+ years ago,
well....you can still buy NEW PC motherboards with parallel ports.
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