Turning centre retrofit help/project on a Mazak/Yamazaki

[spluppit]

Right then! Cant sleep again and been meaning to do this post but dreading it at the same time. I will have so many questions and half I will forget to mention in this first post, so you are prolly gonna hate me after a while, so sorry in advance. Before I start I will admit to being an electronic idiot. So this is also about if I will be capable for doing this myself or not.

This is the first machine I want to try to tackle and be rid of commercial controls once and for all! The plan is to retrofit the control with something else. Obviously this is a commercial machine so it really has to have the ability to function as per its design IE all functions available.


First of all some specs to give you a feel for what the score is

2 controlled axis Z and Y
10 Mtrs a min rapids.
12 station turret
15 Hp spindle motor with speed controller and encoded.
Fully automatic hydraulic tail stock this includes the body and the quill.
Automatic Hydraulic chuck.
Dc brushed servos (big buggers)
Automatic lubrication.
Bar feed (at a later date)

This is where the fun starts, as I really don't know where to start! I am lost, totally! I have spent months reading about this supplier that supplier this board and that control board. I'm still none the wiser!

Hardware

This is the bit i find totally confusing with all the boards out there. Im looking for a realistic way financially to do this. I have noticed there are things like control panels out there pre made like this.

http://www.slidesandballscrews.com/g....html?cPath=64

What would you experts out there advise, go for something as above or or go the pc route. I want to avoid being in the situation where in 5 years spares are not available for things like that controller. Its a pain in the neck very often with industrial machines where controls become out of date, boards are no longer made, so the manufacturer uses that as an excuse to attempt to charge 5 million quid for one board. This situation is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I would think the pc route is the best way to go if you guys think iI can get all I need out of the machine via a pc.

The next point is compatibility of hardware, are all these boards out there like servo cards compatible with other makes of boards? Its an issue as I don’t have a clue about compatibility. For instance if a board goes down and I need to replace, then find they are no longer available, and have to replace with another manufacturer, how much of a compatibility problem is there?

Who to use as a supplier is next. I have scoured many sites over many months a lot do not cater for the servo market as they are literally home cnc jobbies for steppers. I would welcome advice on who is a valid candidate. The criteria is cost, reliability of product, quality of product and back up. Also a company that has been around for a while and is likely to be around in the future.

Next is safety systems. A machine like this has many safety systems in place so things cant be activated manually when the machine is in automatic mode. Like for instance the chuck cant be opened when in auto mode, or the tail stock cant be activated. Are these safety systems handled by things like mach 3 and is the hardware capable of handling such safety features?


Software

I am open to all of your ideas on this subject. The only one I have tried to study is mach 3 as there is a a host of information out there. I am still left with many questions if it can realistically handle a machine such as this.

Manual control of the machine is also important for a machine of this type, for setting purposes and dry running/ testing of programs, as such the machine (ideally) needs to have a control panel (as in the pic) to cover certain features such as:

spindle speed override
Feed rate override
spindle speed
Hold feed
Axis jogging
Tool selection
Coolant
Dry run (means the spindle/feed overrides are active overriding the programmed speeds/feeds. It also reduces G00 rapids to a much lower rate like 2 mtrs per min)

There are many other types of features, I would expect a lot will not be needed as they are really for that control type.

I guess I would like to hear from a pro out there that can tell me if this really is viable with the home build style of parts available.


Obviously I am prepared to spend money on this machine, but it has to be viable against the value of the machine overall. I would also gladly entertain paying someone that has the knowledge and wants to play with a industrial machine. You could be someone who is a electronics wizz building your home build cnc machine, but is lacking in facilities/ ability/knowledge in Engineering proper, and would would like to exchange work done for you/ machining facilities, or proper payment or a combination of the two. Either way I'm very open to suggestions.

I'm sorry for the long bleat and numerous questions. Pics below of the beast in question, I know you all like pics.


Kind regards,


Scott