New (old) machine day Brother TC-22A (I have questions) :D

rom_gerrun · Jan 6, 2017

Hi all

I come from Switzerland I'm 21 year old and I bought my first cnc machine.
I'm more exited than a kid at Christmas

I just received my machine today

So it's a brother TC-22A from 1999 / A00 controller

Here is some pictures:

I just dropped it to clean it

Tomorrow I start cleaning and learning the controller. (Where i work we have only Heidenhain controllers)

I have also order

- a calmotion USBCNC kit
- a facemill mitsubishi wsx 445
- some fraisa endmills
- a 3D taster Haimer

And when I would have money

-toolholders

I have some questions:

1:
How much lines of codes can i put on a program?
because I want to use 3D adaptive tool paths.

2:
I use Solidcam and I want to know if someone has a post processor for brother or better for an A00 controller?

3:
I have heart that DNC is an option on this machine. Is that Right? I have an RS232 port on the machine. Can I drip-feeding with my calmotion USBCNC?

Thank you for the help

Romano

BROTHERFRANK · Jan 6, 2017

Drip feeding may not be available on your machine. I believe it became available about 2003 unless someone in the machine's past upgraded the NC board and software version. Look at User Parameters, Switch 1 in the Data Bank display. If it has drip feeding, one of the first parameter choices will be a choice to run Internal Memory or Tape Mode. Parts are available to upgrade the machine if you want. (Possibly NC board and Local PCB with upgraded software installed as required) The standard program size without Tape Run is about 90 Kilobytes max. 3D moves will need to be all in G1 moves. That was a hot machine in it's day. Best wishes.

rom_gerrun · Jan 7, 2017

Hi thank you for your answer BROTHERFRANK

Do you know how much is the upgrade and were i can found the parts?

I received this computer with the machine. Do you know for what he is?

So today was the cleaning day.

And she is dirty has hell

Here a video

The ballscreews looks good. I can turn then easy with one hand

Pictures

covers down

chips i found under the covers

have a nice day

Romano

BROTHERFRANK · Jan 7, 2017

Are you in Switzerland? I am in USA. Do you know who sells/services brother in Switzerland? I know there is support in Germany and England. Not to be mean but I don't understand how people can purchase used (or new) equipment and not first know as much as possible about it. Local support and important machine capabilities would be high on my list of things to know. Yamazen supports brother in the US. US headquarters and parts are in Schaumburg, Illinois.

BROTHERFRANK · Feb 5, 2017

poxino said:
Hi ,

I am new to this forum , I am interested to buy the same brand of machines.
What would be the difference between A00 and b00 control?

Can you drip feed with B00?

Regards

B00 came out about 2006. First on 32b pallet change machine, then on S2B and 22b non pallet machines. B00 was a big jump. USB and ethernet standard, 10Mb memory standard, program editing improved with cut,copy,paste easily accessed. More powerful macro capabilities. Relative position counter and graphics added. Improved high accuracy performance. G17,G18,G19 support. Improved surfacing. Can drip feed from the USB stick, not on pallet machines using pallet function though. Pallet function uses internal memory only. The list goes on. A00 machines would be fine for 2 axis work, 3 if you have drip feeding. 2003 and up A00 machines should be able to drip feed unless someone did something goofy to it like install an earlier NC board they found. Early A00 machines can be upgraded with newer NC board and software to get later capabilities. Cost about $4k or $5k in the US if I had to guess.

BROTHERFRANK · Feb 7, 2017

Correction to post #5! S2C had the B00, not the S2B. S2B had the A00.

Bigtoy302 · Feb 8, 2017

I don't think the Calmotion box will work on the TC22a.

It's not going to do HSM paths. No look ahead.

Small memory. 470k

It also wont do 3d arcs. Has to be G1 line segments.

Other than that great little machine. A TC22a was my first Brother.

rom_gerrun · Feb 12, 2017

Hi guys,

Update:

I finish the cleaning of the machine, move it in place, buy some stuff, make some sleepless night, solve problems, solve alarms,...

Now I'm waiting for toolholder and material.

I'm really thankful to the Instagram community. A lot American guys help me.
You can follow me for more pictures, videos,...: @rom_gerrun

Here is the first part: check my youtube chanel, I have download 4 new video.

Machine in place

Haimer 3d taster

Calmotion box

Fraisa tools

BROTHERFRANK:
Yeah you are right I wasn't really prepared. But finally all work good so I'm happy.
I call the sell swiss service brother (schneider Newemag) and yeah I can upgrade the machine for the drip-feed.

Bigtoy302:

I load my programs with the Calmotion box. But I can't drip-feed

okay

Yeah I know, I have read all your post of the Brother tc-22a look at your videos and I'm following you on Instagram

BROTHERFRANK · Feb 12, 2017

Glad it's working out for you. Looks like it is running good and is rewarding you for the hard work you put in. Great you have local support as well. A tip for you: you should try to use 'climb' milling as much as possible. Clockwise around the outside and counter-clockwise around the inside of the part. Better finishes and tool life with climb milling. I am sure that your brother 22A will help you make lots of great parts and quickly. They were top of the line in their day!

grinders · Feb 18, 2017

This is an email I got from Yamazen when I asked about upgrading the machine for drip feeding. May be of some help for you:
655820001 JUMPER PLUG @ $ 432.00 stock
TAKES MEMORY FROM EITHER THE G-CODE OR CONVERSATIONAL AND SWITCHES IT OVER AND ADDS IT TO EITHER ONE.

THIS WILL FIT A00 CONTROLS 22,31,32, R2A,S2A,S2B, ETC.

*************************************************************************
NC-PCB
VERSION MUST BE B52J090-2 OR HIGHER NO NEED TO CHANGE. USE PART # 616365201 NCPCB IF NEED TO CHANGE. @ $ 2,450.00 stock

ALSO MEMORY PCB MUST BE VERSION A00-W-34 OR HIGHER
USE 654848E01 @ $ 950.00 IF NEEDED TO CHANGE. 1-stock

JUMPER "EXP" TO "EXP"
**********************************************
Machines start off 350 meters approx. for each language (conv. & g-code each have approx. 350 meters). When the jumper is used, you kill one language and have approx. 700meters to use in your preferred language.
The nc-pcb in the machine will need to be this model version or greater. NC-PCB after B52J090-2
If not you will need to replace the nc-pcb to have the memory swap work

11-15-2016
Sincerely,
Bob Hedel
Parts Dept Manager
Yamazen Inc.
735 East Remington Road
Schaumburg

BROTHERFRANK · Feb 19, 2017

The EXP jumper for A00 controls is not a worthwhile option to purchase IMO. It only expands (EXP) the internal memory from about 90kB to around 300kB by dedicating all the memory to either the gcode side or the conversational side. It only expands program storage not the maximum allowable running program size, still limited to about 90kB. The only way to run larger programs on A00 machines is with drip feeding. The boards mentioned are also required for drip feeding capability.

rom_gerrun · Feb 20, 2017

BROTHERFRANK

Thank you

Yes I know the thing about clockwise and counter-clockwise (on the video it was only a rough pocket cycle made on solidcam). I'm a machinist for 5 years now. And at my job we make Big parts with tight tolerances.
Check out the link here: Vos projets, Notre passion... - Delmet SA
Sorry it's on french and german only
Yes I don't care about the program storage. I just want to run large programs

thank you grinders

So if I want to drip feed I have to upgrade the NC-PCB if my version is below B52J090-2 and also upgrade the PCB memory if my version is below A00-W-34. Am I right?

An other thing.
my made some softjaws and they are looking awesome :eek:

And a litle video

rom_gerrun · Mar 10, 2017

Hello,

I made my first ''real parts''

But I also made some sh*t

Here I called the false tool on my program.
The brother is so fast I did not had the time to react.
And the spindle spine at 5k rpm

RIP brand new Haimer :cryin:

And at my daily job we have only BT50 machines and we tap big holes like M42 or more.
So I tried to tap an M25X1.5 on the brother and it was a total fail :eek:

And finally some parts

BROTHERFRANK · Mar 10, 2017

Looks good. I did that with an edge finder at 10k rpm. Spindle gets to 10k in about a tenth of a second! I think the tapping in aluminum was rated up to 7/8". It will also depend on fine or coarse pitch, size of minor diameter, coolant lubricity, tap sharpness (cut tap) and speed. How fast did you try tapping? Maybe faster speed would help if other items are favorable.

rom_gerrun · Mar 11, 2017

I run the tap at 1000rpm. It works but the the tap doesn't look good so I tried it at 200 rpm and the tap stock on the piece

BROTHERFRANK · Mar 11, 2017

Make sure the tap cannot slip in the holder and the tap is good. Next time maybe try 600 or 800 rpm. Did your tapping code look like this: G77 Z-20. R2.0 I1.5 S1000 ;
The Z and R are just for example. The I is for metric pitch. S is tapping speed. You can add Q to peck tap and L if you want a different return speed. Also if you ever do TPI threads, substitute J for I. Example 1/4"-20 would be J20.

rom_gerrun · Mar 11, 2017

okay thanks. But I just order 2 threads mill to be sure that never happen again

Pete Deal · Mar 12, 2017

I am sticking with an edge finder for now for that reason. I can absolutely see myself doing that.

Gaurav Jape · Mar 20, 2018

Hii,

me and my father have purchased used Brother TC31AN machine which has A00 controller.
But we have a problem, that some parameters from SW2 have been deleted by mistake. We would like to know how can we use backup option from the controller or can you please provide us the user manual for this controller?

It would be great help if you can provide us the required information.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE,.

Gaurav Jape/ Suresh Jape
[email protected]
+919850091857

Gaurav Jape · Mar 20, 2018

BROTHERFRANK said:
Drip feeding may not be available on your machine. I believe it became available about 2003 unless someone in the machine's past upgraded the NC board and software version. Look at User Parameters, Switch 1 in the Data Bank display. If it has drip feeding, one of the first parameter choices will be a choice to run Internal Memory or Tape Mode. Parts are available to upgrade the machine if you want. (Possibly NC board and Local PCB with upgraded software installed as required) The standard program size without Tape Run is about 90 Kilobytes max. 3D moves will need to be all in G1 moves. That was a hot machine in it's day. Best wishes.

Hello,

me and my father have purchased used Brother TC31AN machine which has A00 controller. we have a problem, that some parameters from SW2 have got deleted by mistake. Could you please help us by telling us how to recover the deleted parameters? Or could you please provide us User Manual for A00 controller?

It would be great help if you could provide us necessary information.

Thank you in advance.

Gaurav Jape/Suresh Jape
[email protected]
+91 9850091857

New (old) machine day Brother TC-22A (I have questions) :D

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