Index gsc 42

I found an Index GSC-42 cnc lathe locally and Im very tempted to put it next to my fadal.
the rub is that I can't find any details on Index or the GSC.
does anyone know anything about these machines?
are they temperamental or picky machines?



any advice or opinions would be very helpful.

I am not personally familiar with Index machines, but since no one else is answering here's what I know.

Index are one of the big names in high productivity/automated machining, specialising in multiturret and multispindle machining.

That one is an old timer, probably mid '80's. Control is an old Sinumerik, maybe with some customisations. Electronics will be all Siemens, going purely on the age of the machine I'd expect it has Simoreg DC servos.

As is usual with high end 1980's machines it's likely to be in good mechanical order, even if it has a crazy number of hours on it. However, the control and drives could run forever without so much as a hiccup, OR they break down three times a week and cost thousands in hard to source parts.

Before you make any decisions, find out how much VDI tooling it comes with, and then check the price of new VDI tooling. It's not cheap.

I wouldn't be concerned about the VDI part, other than live tools will be special to that machine....
Any static holders are commodity items...

Nothing cheap about Index. I would say that it is high end stuff, but they are REALLY proud of their stuff! (expensive)

Siemens has told me 2wice now that my 2002 and 2004 810D controls are "really old".

I have (and have had another) machine with Siemens motors and drives on them from the early 80's, and never had any troubles with them. I would call them more bullet proof as anything built today.

I have had much more troubles with the 2000 stuff and none with the '80's stuff to date.

No clue on a Siemens control from that era tho.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Ox said:

...Siemens motors and drives on them from the early 80's, and never had any troubles with them. I would call them more bullet proof as anything built today.

Click to expand...

That has been my experience also, but I have heard others say otherwise so who knows. Old machine lottery I suppose.

Thank you greg,and ox, that really does help.

i imagine if they specialized in the high volume multi-turret, learning to code and getting a post processor to work could be tricky?
anything I should look at carefully if I go take a look?
its 5k, so i'm not expecting a whole lot.

Don't know about post processors.
Never used one.
Never ran this old of a Siemens either.
I doo have 2 and 3 path controls, and one of which is a '90 Mits, just no experience with the old Siemens.

Only real diff in my newer and older multi-path controllers is that the old one looks for Wait Codes - yes, but it doesn't determine if it is the RIGHT wait code or not. Where the newer one makes sure they are the same.

For ease of programming and editing, I number my wait codes on the old one in comment blocks (1) (2) etc.
At least I can follow along easily when editing or whatnot.

Not sure how Siemens handled it.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox