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BANDIT CNC CONTROLLER

  • Thread starter INTERPOLATE
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INTERPOLATE

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Does anyone have any information on these type of controllers? Or link to any reference material?
Thanks!
DB
 
Don't have any Bandit reference material handy but can tell you the Bandit was probably the first ~compact~ CNC control and could utilize closed loop servo drives rather than the stepper motor drives common to previous retrofits. Not sure of year of introduction but would guess about 1977.

There are different "levels" of the little thief (brilliant name, huh ?
smile.gif
), such as level 1, 2, and 3, so obviously it would be best to have the highest level version for 'newest and mostest' capabities. Being in a small package it was thus quite popular for Bridgeport retrofits. It has no CRT screen and is a very old control with a market value close to zero these days.

Did you buy a machine with a Bandit on it or just looking at one ?
 
Thanks for the info.
A storage place was selling a early model hardinge lathe with one on it.
I am fairly new to cnc. Thought it might be a inexpensive way to try out a lathe for some small part work I do. I do have a couple years of CNC mill usage. Familiar with G/M-CODE.
How do you get the code into these units?
Do they use G-CODE?
Thanks,
DB
 
Thats all they use...very early simple code.
If I recall, it uses incremental moves ??
Mr Thomas is really close about the 1977 comment. I remember taking a course in Bandit in 1983 and it was phasing out then.
I will look to see if I have a text, but doubt it.
You might try your library system.Sometimes they still have old books on CNC. A few years ago I visited a library in Chicago and always try to see what is in the mechanical section (628.000 I think), anyway, they had a Bandit book, and I laughed out loud. a real no no.
 
The Bandit CNC was designed by Summit/Dana Industrial and then purchased by Allen Bradley. If you do a search for Bandit CNC repair you will get several sites offering parts and repair. The factory site we always used for parts and info was in Bozeman, Montana. I had a number of 406-587-4511 but don't know if it is still current. I haven't worked on a Bandit in a few years but I do have a thick binder of schematics and info. I don't have any operating manuals. If you seriously need this info, email me at [email protected] and we'll work something out. Good luck with the beastie. They were obstinate even when they worked correctly.
 
I ran a Bandit on a Bridgeport clone in the late 80's. At that time it was out of date, I do not remember if it read a line with LED or one digit at a time. It was an orphan. I remember the battery that held the memory was shot, I took off the cover to replace it(I think it involved two ni cad D cells) I beleive the only thing I found was a pile of corrosion on the circuit board. After that we ran it and did not power it down till the run was over.

It had a neat bandit logo on the control box that some one wrote a note next to that said: THIS BANDIT BELONGS WHERE ALL BANDITS BELONG, SIX FEET UNDER. I wanted to like the thing, but it was old junk in the 80's
 
What part of California are you located? The number for Len Albright in Bozeman is 406-587-7776. Len makes a spring and fall trip to needy shops and just got my Bandit running a couple months ago. He has everything you might need in parts, repair, and manuals.
 
At best, I think the Bandit controllers were doomed due to circuit board/connector issues that would drive the average guy nuts nowadays. You practically need to stock a second set of boards if you intend to keep one running. Strange dichotomy: the control is worthless, unless you need to fix one :D

But, for simple programs, you could certainly type in a lathe program and make some parts with it.

The Bandit gcode was a variant of standard gcode, but I think they lost out, sort of similar to Beta vcrs losing out to VHS, although that is not saying that their gcode system was superior. You've gotta learn to love G92 if you are going to run a Bandit.

Len Albright can sell you a newer version Shadow controller to replace the Bandit, but even the newer version, while more reliable electronically, is not a vast improvement. I still use one on a knee mill retro. For single tool jobs, it is not irritating to use, and can return some good coin. I've even cut some molds via DNC, but the control is no number cruncher and will choke up on a typical 3d program.

AFAIK, the original Bandit could use tool radius comp, but be darned if I can figure out how to make the newer Shadow use tool radius comp. It seems to just drift off in cyberspace somewhere, cutting hither and yon in random fashion. The old Bandit could digitize its tool offsets (while in jog mode) whereas the Shadow cannot.

In one sense, the Bandit/Shadow is fairly interactive, sort of a potential hybrid between manual and cnc, if you so choose to run it that way. You can easily command single movements, or interrupt a program, insert/edit a move, back up and execute that step without any delay and continue running a program. Dangerous? yes. But it will sharpen you up about programming errors, and thinking about what you are doing :D

At least on the newer Shadow, you could display a half a dozen lines of program at once on the screen. The Bandit was more difficult, with the one line LED command window, and another dozen LED's by the keyboard keys, etc. It is almost a waste of your time to go into learning how it all works, unless you just want to hobby around. Your work focus will, however, become the controller itself and programming it, moreso than making parts with it. IMO.

Bobcad and Bandit, a good combination :D I got Bobcad originally so I could download programs to the Bandit as it would dump the program at any moment if the power so much as flickered. Back in the early 90's, there was not nearly as much good used cnc equipment around as there is now. Upgrading a Bandit to a Shadow made some sense, but now, at $10 grand for the upgrade, I do think you would do better to shop around for a newer control on a newer machine, unless you wish to revert to stepper based PC controls.
 
the latest I think was the bandit 4.... actually made by allen bradly as a 7300? I'd have to ask the local guru. There is a local guy that has probably 50 of this control. he is the local independent board level repair guy and likes this control for some reason.
 








 
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