Bryan
No, I haven't run a Boss 8
Just New bridgeports with Boss 9, old bridgeports with EZ Path and Haas VF (VMC)
Johnfly
I have a Hurco with Ultimax II at home and it is so much easier to run then any of the others in my estimation.
The main reason is "logical layout of control"
I think the others take a lot of time for a machinist to "remember" where the next screen is to use, or the proper steps to follow to write a program or run it.
Watch guys do it on a control and they seem to be all over the keyboard or screen in order to input the information.
With Hurco , when you fire up the machine it tells you to reference it ("Home" to some folks)and if you start from scratch, you need to answer 3 questions: Tool,part location (0 point), and Program. As you hit each one, the necesary screen comes up. simple right.
Then as you write the program, you can see the cutter path on the other screen WITHOUT leaving your program screen..no one does that.
Lastly it supplies the math. say you want to cut a rectangle which has 4 corners with different radiuses in each corner.
If you put in the centers and radiuses first, then say you want a straight line, it will place the lines on the tangent points immediately between the radiuses...no math.
Or give it 3 oblique lines and tell it you want certain radius(s) at intersections and it does it..no arc centers required etc.
The one difference from Hurco is that they do not have a MDI (manual data input)as all other controls have...but it is so simple to write a program, i guess you don't need MDI ....just use jog for manual cuts.