What's new
What's new

Okuma Lathe control ease of use

snapatap

Aluminum
Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Location
south australia
At work we are considering buying a new Okuma lathe and are wondering how easy are Okuma's controllers to program? We are a job shop and most of the parts we do are one offs or repairs, so we really want to be able to program everything easily at the machine. How would Okuma's control compare to Mazak's smooth C?
 
They wouldn't compare at all.

If you were more specific about what Machine it would help. Mill? Lathe? New? Old? OSP model?

For basic 2 axis Turning, I personally think any Machine can be programmed pretty fast at the control. If you want to run a Multus, that's going to be errr challenging. I would not program a Mill at the control, there are just too many cheap and easy software suites. BUT for Okuma Mill you will need a higher end suite, you probably won't be able to debug all the OSP quirks with Fusion360 or similarly cheap software. Most people step up to Esprit/Mastercam/Gibbs/etc.

R
 
Last edited:
The Okuma controls of the past were very powerful. Remember that they are proprietary so many of their quirks are very unique to them. The Mazatrol is primarily a graphic control with conversational programming, but it does have a G code side. The Okuma is primarily a G code control with a conversational side. Fine machines, but they do require a little learning.
 
Programming easy at the machine for 2 axis is super hard to beat mazatrol for safety and ease of use. Mill turn is good in Mazatrol but can become questionable which is better. Obviously the pinnacle in my opinion is mazatrol with cam software.
 
Thanks for the reply's. We haven't spoken to Okuma yet, so i don't know what model, but it will be just 2 axis, brand new, and equivalent to a Mazak quickturn nexus 350. We are still evaluating options, support is about the same for both brands, so it will come down to price and ease of use.
 
I have one of the little Genos L200EM (8" chuck and live tools but no Y or sub spindle) with the previous OSP200L control and IGF (their version of conversational) and really like it. IGF is fast to program in and it creates G code that is easy to read and edit if I want to tweak something. We have the mastercam turn module but have not bothered to use it because the IGF works so well.
 
No IGF on the 300, so assuming he's talking new it's not there. Admac parts is available, but it's offline. Some people like it better than IGF, and some vise-versa.

R
 
Oh hell no!
That Manual Guide I is complete and utter shit.
The IGF conversational side of Okuma is SUPER easy and fast.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Yeah have to agree with you about Manual Guide I, it's pretty clunky but it does what i need it to do on the lathe we have it on.
 
They wouldn't compare at all.

If you were more specific about what Machine it would help. Mill? Lathe? New? Old? OSP model?

For basic 2 axis Turning, I personally think any Machine can be programmed pretty fast at the control. If you want to run a Multus, that's going to be errr challenging. I would not program a Mill at the control, there are just too many cheap and easy software suites. BUT for Okuma Mill you will need a higher end suite, you probably won't be able to debug all the OSP quirks with Fusion360 or similarly cheap software. Most people step up to Esprit/Mastercam/Gibbs/etc.

R

On the mill side autodesk has a great post for Okuma, a 560 and a seat of HSM is a kick ass set of tools. I would expect the turning side to be similar, all my lathes are some flavor of Fanuc so I can't say for sure.
 
On the mill side autodesk has a great post for Okuma, a 560 and a seat of HSM is a kick ass set of tools. I would expect the turning side to be similar, all my lathes are some flavor of Fanuc so I can't say for sure.

How does it deal with the side mount Toolchanger? Or the Universal/Absolute Positioning? Does it just substitute G54 for G15? How does it deal with the H value inconsistencies between Fanuc and OSP? Do you run a 4th?

BTW, OSP Turning is a lot different than Fanuc Turning, very few of the canned cycles are the same, on OSP they actually make sense. IE, There aren't 90leven Internet threads on how to control G76.

Are you talking about Inventor or Fusion? Fusion is the child of Inventor, but they aren't the same thing.

R
 
How does it deal with the side mount Toolchanger? Or the Universal/Absolute Positioning? Does it just substitute G54 for G15? How does it deal with the H value inconsistencies between Fanuc and OSP? Do you run a 4th?

BTW, OSP Turning is a lot different than Fanuc Turning, very few of the canned cycles are the same, on OSP they actually make sense. IE, There aren't 90leven Internet threads on how to control G76.

Are you talking about Inventor or Fusion? Fusion is the child of Inventor, but they aren't the same thing.

R

I'm talking about HSMworks...the daddy of the whole line. Yeah, the post handles all the differences....I mean that's the reason to have a specific post...

I hit post and the code doesn't get touched before it goes to the machine. Why would a side mount tool changer be any different than any other tool changer? All the code is doing is calling a macro that is specific to that machine anyway. Yes I run a 4th. No issues there either. Tell the software the name of the axis and it's position relative to the other axis and that's it.

this is an odd conversation...are there really CAMs that can't handle Okuma mills?
 
Have you any experience with any other suites? A side mount changer needs an inventory they don't go back in the pots they came out of.

R

Huh? It should be as simple as posting the next tool coming up soon after the current tool is in operation.
I'm not sure of any software that isn't doing this easily?
 








 
Back
Top