Protrak vs. MillPower

Karl_T · Feb 22, 2021

I am making a shop in my retirement home in south FL...

Only room for one mill and one lathe. The lathe will be a 10EE.

The mill will most likely be a new Sharp knee mill with taper 40 tooling and box ways.

I need to run it both CNC and manual. I have seen and used (briefly) a prototrak from Southwest Industries
ProtoTRAK SMX CNC

I was pretty impressed with its ability.

My son (pro machinst) has seen and used the MillPower. He thinks its better but has not seen the prototrak from less than 20 years ago.
MILLPWR G2 - CNC Control for Mills | ACU-RITE

Anyone here experienced with both units and care to comment?

M.B. Naegle · Feb 22, 2021

No experience with Millpwr, but we have a couple Prototrak machines in the shop and they do an excellent job of being a step-up from just a manual machine. In time I see them phasing out of our shop however because they are not "real" G-code controls. They're really easy to program at the machine, but you don't have the same level of manipulation that you have with something like a Fanuc control. If all you are doing is 2D bolts and pockets and profiles with simple arcs (the stuff a Bridgeport knee mill typically sees), a conversational mill like a Prototrak is perfect. If you plan on doing full 3 axis contouring and hogging and such, they'll leave you wanting.

MeanMachine1980 · Feb 22, 2021

M.B. Naegle said:
No experience with Millpwr, but we have a couple Prototrak machines in the shop and they do an excellent job of being a step-up from just a manual machine. In time I see them phasing out of our shop however because they are not "real" G-code controls. They're really easy to program at the machine, but you don't have the same level of manipulation that you have with something like a Fanuc control. If all you are doing is 2D bolts and pockets and profiles with simple arcs (the stuff a Bridgeport knee mill typically sees), a conversational mill like a Prototrak is perfect. If you plan on doing full 3 axis contouring and hogging and such, they'll leave you wanting.

I would respectively disagree with that. I have a prototrack dpm5 bed mill with a smx controller. It has a ton of conversational capability such as solid verify with dxf and Parasolid file import options. That works wonderful if you dont have a cam software.
I use mine almost exclusively with cam and have no problems at all running extremely large g-code files. The controller uses a standard post processer very similar to a Fanuc post. very complex 3d surfacing. The only gripes I could muster up would be the 5k spindle. It has the electronic handwheels that you can single step through a program which makes it very helpful to prove out a cam program or make sure you didnt make a mistake during tool set up.
Maybe the prototracks you have in the shop are of the less rigid knee mill style?
I dont know what else to say, the large 3 axis prototrack bed mill can do an awful lot...

bastarddsm · Feb 22, 2021

A friend of mine with a small job shop has both accurite and prototrak. I think hes got 1 accurite millpower g2 on an atrump knee mill, and a bunch of older prototrak controls on bridgeports and one of the newer ones on a bed mill. When I've asked, the response was basically he likes the prototrak better because that's what he is used to from his previous jobs. He likes the accurite, but isn't thrilled its on a knee mill.

My dad has a older accurite on a sharp mill, and that's what I learned on, and I like it quite a bit. It's quite a powerful tool if you have an imagination.

M.B. Naegle · Feb 22, 2021

MeanMachine1980 said:
I would respectively disagree with that. I have a prototrack dpm5 bed mill with a smx controller. It has a ton of conversational capability such as solid verify with dxf and Parasolid file import options. That works wonderful if you dont have a cam software.
I use mine almost exclusively with cam and have no problems at all running extremely large g-code files. The controller uses a standard post processer very similar to a Fanuc post. very complex 3d surfacing. The only gripes I could muster up would be the 5k spindle. It has the electronic handwheels that you can single step through a program which makes it very helpful to prove out a cam program or make sure you didnt make a mistake during tool set up.
Maybe the prototracks you have in the shop are of the less rigid knee mill style?
I dont know what else to say, the large 3 axis prototrack bed mill can do an awful lot...

The OP is looking at knee mill controls however and not Prototraks bed-mill or VMC lines. I brought up 3D work because it seems like a common misconception that adding a CNC control to your knee mill doesn't put it in the same category as a vertical machining center. We also have one of their lathes which is great for most of the stuff we do, but every now and then we run into some issue that the conversational aspect of the control seems to prevent us from fixing (like left hand threads and grooving cycles). I haven't worked with every Prototrak out there but for what they do, I think they are great. It's just been my experience that they are more of an intermediate machine/control between Manual and bed mills with open G-code controls, but I'm still learning!

MeanMachine1980 · Feb 22, 2021

A lot of good points here. The accurite millpwrs that I have used were pretty old and didn't have the 3rd axis capability. Like Naegle said they would be very helpful when trying to do simple arcs, bolt hole patterns and angles. The simple 2d would really eliminate the need for a lot of expensive heavy turntables and different set ups. I cant attest to using a 3rd axis in a knee mill as the quill is very limited in range and rigidity. If you are limited with a knee mill instead if a intermediate or smaller bed mill then I would suggest at least getting the 2 axis millpwr or prototrack controllers. I think the prototrack is easier to learn and has more capabilities than the millpwr and it is probably cheaper as well.

Karl_T · Feb 23, 2021

Thanks for all the input. I will be going prototrak.

I really wish I could get a small bedmill in this typical large one car garage, but its not to be. Still don't think I could live without making a few chips every week.

HWElecRepair · Feb 23, 2021

I know I am late to the show, but the old black and white MillPWR's were only two axis but since the MP2 you could get 2 or 3 axis systems. I think the limitations of the controller are more based on the limitations of a knee mill vs a bed mill. The G2 can do simoultaneous 3 axis contouring if the program is wrote on external software and saved as a .g or .nc file.

Jon

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