Need help with 1998 Mazak qt-10

We just got a 1998 Mazak qt-10 and we're really struggling with the programming Is there a easy way to just input g-code, set tools and g54? we've only ever used HAAS machines before, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Or even better a guide for dummies.

Not all Mazaks can run G code. Eia was option only on the older equipment. Once you learn Mazatrol, you will say screw G coding, especially on a 2 axis lathe.

You need to find someone local and willing, spend couple hours with him/her showing you few basic things and you be good to go.
Google T-Plus and watch some videos.

Which controller?

Seriously, get somebody in there, even just a Joe Schmoe from another shop..

A couple hours and you should be up to speed. Its SOOOOO EASY!!!!!

You will NEVER EVER G-code a lathe again as long as you live..

I had shop helpers that were high school drop outs that could barely
use a calculator, with no programming experience writing their own
programs within a few hours.

What are you having issues with??

If the machine came with programming manual, read it and you'll be good to go. Its very easy control to use, its conversational and asks for your input. Just follow the screen as you go.

Marko

Ha ha okay thank you

Unheroick said:

Ha ha okay thank you

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HA HA.. Its not HA HA funny.. All it does is ASK you questions, and you answer them..

Tool number.... Feed, speed, for rough and finish...

And then you tell it a profile. If you have more than a room temperature IQ, its not hard...
Most of the time, I'd have the "helper" swap the jaws and I would bang the program. 90% of the time
I'd have the programming done before they got the first jaw off.


My response is HA HA, you can't figure out Mazatrol... On a 2 axis lathe.

Literally, seriously, and in reality (as in it actually happened, more than once.) Room temp IQ,
no mechanical background.. Programming and RUNNING their own simple Mazatrol
programs after a few hours of instruction.

Been close to a decade, and I will NEVER EVER EVER again G-code a 2 axis lathe. There is no
point... Mazatrol and done.



For reference... Many moons ago.. when I was a "Snob" and we went to look at a Mazak..
"I want to HAVE CONTROL of all the tool paths"..
"Its not going to be efficient if its conversaional"
"Only a WEAK machinist needs 'conversational' "...

I was an idiot.. I was WRONG!!!!! Give me some 2 axis mazatrol anyday..

Mazatrol is so Sexy... Its like the thigh highs of the machine tool world.. And
its so EASY!!!!

A few years ago I read all the posts by these Mazak salesman here (Almost everyone who has one likes it) and bought a QT15 myself. I generally agree with everything they say- once you get it figured out you will like it a lot. What I did find, as you are too, that it is a little slow and confusing to get started. If you want a program or two I can email you some photos. My machine only holds 16 programs so I have taken to photographing the tooling setup pages and the program.

There is also a guy who has been demonstrating some mazatrol programming on youtube that looked pretty good. I think when I was learning he was just getting started but I think he has added some stuff.

Mazak has became the largest machine-tool builder (by annual sales dollars) in no small part thanks to Mazatrol.

The T1 first appeared in 1981, followed not long after by the M2, and for the time they were beyond revolutionary!

Remember, this was at a time when CNC machines were slow, and G-code controlled. And only the wealthiest companies could afford CAM software, which at the time was beyond expensive.

Along comes Mazatrol right on the machine, and job shops and manufacturing companies worldwide built their businesses using the conversational software.

Mazak also figured out back then that machine tools needed to do all the non-cutting functions faster, and thus their tool-change and turret-index times, axis rapids, and spindle accelerations re-defined what companies expected from a machine tool.

I read somewhere that Mazak first wanted Fanuc to help develop Mazatrol (as all pre-Mazatrol Mazaks were Fanuc controlled), but the high-and-mighty Fanuc had no interest. So, Mazak turned to Mitsubishi to not only help write the software, but to provide all the electronics that would help enable the higher speeds.

And as they say, the rest is history.

ToolCat Greg

and for the time they were beyond revolutionary!

Click to expand...

My '84 out here with a T1 boggles my mind everytime I use it.. How advanced
it was for that time period.. And it really hasn't changed much, they've added
some features, and bells and whistles, and made some things easier, but its basically
the same as it is now..

To keep the same basic platform for coming up on 40 years, they really nailed it...

And the iron isn't too shabby either.


I'm not a huge fan of the conversational on the mills.. Its handy for simple stuff, but the
2 axis lathes, I wouldn't have it any other way.

We have 17 CNC lathes. 14 Mazaks. The next new one will almost undoubtedly be another Mazak. Everything from a QT15 on up to a Bartac. All programmed in Mazatrol Love em.