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New Machine Day

RJT

Titanium
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Location
greensboro,northcarolina
New Fanuc wire machine. Tech will be here next week to get it running. Replaces our Mitsubishi FA10 machine. This thing threads slick as anything I've ever seen. The control will be mounted on top of the filter cabinet.IMG_20181102_125215524.jpgIMG_20181102_125233153.jpgIMG_20181102_125259443.jpg
 
Interesting machine, interested to see how it goes. Those older mitz machines could be a bastid to thread, especially when the power feeders get worn.
 
EDM machines are really amazing to me, no matter how much they refine and improve them they still look like a collection of parts waiting to be assembled into a machine. Cant deny what they can do however, look forward to hearing from you in a month or two to let us know what you think then.

Charles
 
EDM machines are really amazing to me, no matter how much they refine and improve them they still look like a collection of parts waiting to be assembled into a machine. Cant deny what they can do however, look forward to hearing from you in a month or two to let us know what you think then.

Charles

When you tell people they cut without touching the part they usually get that weird look lol
 
We have 4 of those C400s, you'll like it a lot better than the Mits. The control is sooooo much more user friendly, and the threader is a lot better. In my opinion.
 
We never really had a problem with the control being unfriendly. May be an issue of that is all we ever used for wire EDM. We have plenty of Fanuc controllers on lathes and mills that have been rock solid for years. We had problems with power feed coming loose and EDMing the housings (had to replace the brass housings several times on both machines). They have changed the design on new machines, but it's not rotro fitable. Also had problems with chillers (replaced several) and seal plates (replaced several). Threading was only dependable under perfect conditions right after all cleaning and maintenance performed. A week later back to threading by hand most of the time. But to be fair, this was a 13 year old machine that still cut very accurately. We''l see how the Fanuc is running in a few years.
 
We never really had a problem with the control being unfriendly. May be an issue of that is all we ever used for wire EDM. We have plenty of Fanuc controllers on lathes and mills that have been rock solid for years. We had problems with power feed coming loose and EDMing the housings (had to replace the brass housings several times on both machines). They have changed the design on new machines, but it's not rotro fitable. Also had problems with chillers (replaced several) and seal plates (replaced several). Threading was only dependable under perfect conditions right after all cleaning and maintenance performed. A week later back to threading by hand most of the time. But to be fair, this was a 13 year old machine that still cut very accurately. We''l see how the Fanuc is running in a few years.

We have a Robocut 0B from 1995 which is still going strong except for the circulator pump which just started a slow drip. We also have a new cia-400 like yours but it's the older "a" version, looks like you have the newer "b" which I think has their new core-stitching thing. They showed us how it works in training a few months back, pretty cool.

These are the only only wire machines I've ever been on and never knew threading was such an issue until I've started talking to other EDM people. I think you'll like this one a lot.
 
Does your 0b have the manual crank Z axis? Ours does, it sucks. But still a solid machine. We've also got 2 0cs, and 3 1ids.


Yes, someone attached a Mitutoyo digital scale to ours though so there's no lining up vernier lines which is nice, but it's still not like hitting a button.
 
After a few weeks of use, we are really pleased with our new Fanuc wire. It has threaded 100% of the time without fail, with no hiccups and we are getting accuracy and finish using 3 passes that we used to use 5 passes with our older Mits. It's a little different seeing the UV moving even on straight cuts (to compensate for the erosion of the wire as it passes through the part) , but the end result is spot on. We are going to do some testing to see if the Premium wire we buy from Electrodes threads as well as the wire shipped with the machine (Hitachi). Haven't been able to do an apples to apples speed test yet, but I have a 200 piece run coming up that we will be able to. But honestly, that's not nearly as important as reliable threading, we lose a lot more time threading than we will be able to make up with speed. Our parts are usually small with multiple starts and multiple passes. And i will be comparing a 15 year old machine to it so it better cut faster!
 
Hitachi is top of the line stuff, and probably not worth the extra cost, in my opinion. We have been using Sodick's HQ wire for a long time now and it works great. I've had the Electrodes salesman in a couple times talking up their new wire, I'd be curious to see what you think.
 
I started running two Sodick AG600L Wire EDMs 3 months ago, I just tell people I cut parts with lightning.

Look forward to hearing about your new machine.
 
Been using this machine for several months and very pleased with it's performance. Had our fist problem, a Fanuc encoder (under the red cap) on the V axis failed, replaced next day and back up and running. Rather unusual failure, I've not had one fail in 30 years, service tech said it was very unusual on a new machine (but I would expect him to say that anyway).. Hope it is an oddball thing.
 








 
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