310
I use to run a Robofil 400 machine and may have a chance to buy a Robofil 310.
I'm not familiar with the 310 or how similar it would be in operation to a 400. Is the 310 a submerged cut machine or not?
As far as workpiece size the 310 x-y is smaller, but work height is much more at around 15" as opposed to 8"
Any comments on good/bad aspects of the 310? Is a 1995 machine getting too old to consider useful with respect to service parts?
Thanks
I have a Robofil 510F, which is a bigger version of the 310, and with the Fanuc control. I bought mine as a real deal, which turned out not to be as much a deal as I was hoping for. Are you familiar with wire edm? Is this your first wire edm rodeo? There is a lot of expense connected to wire edm, even if there is nothing broken, and if you buy tooling it's very expensive - even used. Make sure that you take a dial indicator to the table, my table had been over-loaded and the table supports were bent.
The consumables are expensive, remember these are swiss machines so anything you buy from Charmilles is expensive. Also these are European machines and the power is usually not your standard 220/440V. Some machine were fitted with transformers and some had to be supplied by the purchaser. Charmilles support is usually quite good, but that age of machine is on the edge of not being supported any more. My Roboform, of the same era is no longer being supported.
The 310 has an auto-threader, but it's just OK - not great. I have a friend who has the 310 and he never uses the auto-threader. This machine is a spray only machine - not submerged.
You should ask about the machines maintenance - when were the wire guides, pinch rollers, power and ground cables, DI resin, and wire cutter blade changed. These two machines (310/510) used a powder clutch to control wire tension. Has this machine been sitting long or has the clutch been replaced. If the clutch sits in storage for a long time the powder tends to clump. I had to replace my clutch and Charmilles wants $3,500 for theirs (the OEM took $1,700).
Does a water chiller come with the machine ($5K)?
Does tooling come with the machine?
Hope this helps,
Paul