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VTC-41 Who owns them or runs them

R

rosie

Hot Rolled
Joined
May 30, 2006
Location
Wisconsin
I have a 1991 VTC 41. I don't have any issues yet. I actually really like the machine. I'm just trying to do a little preventative maintenance. I'm a small shop without a backup machine.

I'm looking to make up a small list of people to help each other prevent down time or get things back up and running faster.

Even little tricks learned on them could be helpful.

Thanks,
Rosie
 
Hi rosie.

we just bought three (two working) vtc 41s. We haven't even shipped them yet, but I'll let you know when they're up and running. We'd certainly like to be part of a community of owners.
 
Hi I also own one of these machines also 1991 model. I have written some M codes M54 sets machine current position as G54 M55 sets G55 and so on. I aslo have written a program to probe a z height and either 3 or 4 points to find the center of a circle. Let me know if you could use these routines.
 
WippinBoy,

did you have any other comments on traveling column machines? we've never had one before.
 
no real problems or concerns
the one i have does pretty good
don't get alot of "it won't repeat" complaints like i do with some machines
nice little mill all in all
those big covers can be a pain keep them as clean as you can
 
yeah, I'm curious to see how they do. The open rear is a little strange. like you could fall in. looking forward to getting them set up. I'm going up to MI to block the spindles, tie down the controllers, etc. Mazak uses clamps of some kind to keep the column from moving in transit. i don't understand it yet. thanks.
 
Does anyone have information on the plates used to bolt the axes and toolchanger for shipping on VTC-41's (or 16's, or 20's, which are the same iron apparently)? A print, a picture, or just some advice would be helpful. I have the manual for the VTC-16/20 but there are only a few words and bad pictures spared to describe the shipping plates.
thanks
 
i'd bring the head down on some wood blocking
then ratchet strap it down with a couple eye bolts into tee nuts on the table.
i'd rachet strap the tool drums back also as they will go limp in time with no air to machine.
 
put the tee-nuts right up near the head, I guess, so that there won't be a tendency for the nuts to slide along X? sounds reasonable. I'll check with Mazak to see if anyone there has heard of this machine and can offer any ideas.
thanks wippin'
 
wound up fabbing some brackets to hold the axes in place... arriving tomorrow after about 1400 miles, so we'll see how well that worked. Does anyone have a pull stud drawing for this machine, or a part number, even?
 
cool, thanks. can you recommend that seller and his product, or are you just using it as a representative example of that pull stud style?
I'm sure we'll have problems and questions soon.
 
I don't have any recommendations. I believe mari tool sells some. I've bought all mine from fleabay. I believe if you can buy them for $5-7 each jump on them. I gave the link for a representation.

Rosie
 
turns out that style pull stud is the same as our current mill, so we don't need as many as we thought, but i've got a few on the way from that seller.
on an unrelated note, any idea where can i find the programming manual for the yasnac mx3 controller (which is what i think the VTC41 has)? i've looked through the yaskawa website but haven't seen anything that looks like g-code programming related.
thanks again
 
Bernard,
How big of a memory did you get and ,if you don't mind, what did it cost. I've wanted to upgrade mine for a while but If my memory serves it was $2500 for the first step thru mazak.

Also, I've never done an upgrade yet. What is required to do it?

Thanks
Rosie
 
and in your hindsight-benefited opinion does it offer enough advantage over a drip feed to justify it? I see they advertise 47% speed savings over drip, which sounds very optimistic. (very fast machine, with a very slow serial connection, running certain types of programs?) interested to hear what your thoughts are. thanks
 
The memory I bought was approx 1 meg. It cost around $1200 including shipping to South Africa.
The installation went as per their instructions and was not too difficult at all, make sure your machine is connected to a pc to backup all your programs, parameters and tool change macro before you start.
My machine only had the base memory i.e. no extension memory card to swop ( around 5000 characters)
The quote I had here was around $7000 and I would of had to give them an exchange memory card which I did not have.

The max baud rate I can use is 9600 so 3D profiling gets jerky on fast feed rates with the drip feed.
I recently ran a program around 0.5meg it took longer to load than to run so the extra memory is definitely a must.
Also with drip feed you are running blind even on single block you have no idea of what is happening next.

Bernard
 
Bernard,
I just got off the phone with memex. It looks like it'll cost me around $1400. I think I'm sold, and plan to order it next week. I just wanted to step back for a moment and think of the investment. With you being the only person that I know of upgrading memory by themselves, exspecially with the same machine, I wanted to ask you a couple questions.

Do you forsee any future problems with upgrading?
How long have you had yours upgraded?
Any problems you noticed?

You also said in a previous post.
"Hi I also own one of these machines also 1991 model. I have written some M codes M54 sets machine current position as G54 M55 sets G55 and so on. I aslo have written a program to probe a z height and either 3 or 4 points to find the center of a circle. Let me know if you could use these routines."

I don't see a use for this, but I don't want to be ignorant and miss out on something. Please post them if you have time and add a small description of how or why you do it.

Thanks
Rosie
 
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