What's new
What's new

Mazatrol T Plus

meowkat

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Location
IL USA
Looking at buying an old lathe, need to know if Mazatrol T Plus supports DNC as standard and how much program memory it has standard. Additionally, how well does DNC'ing a program from a modern CAM system go on an old control? Anything else to add? Looking at an old control seems pretty intense without a good guide.

Machine is a 1996 Mazak QT-20. This thing looks great, 5k RPM, 2 inch thru bore, nice and rigid with good HP to boot.
 
Hi,
First you need to know if the machine has the EIA/ISO option to be able to use a CAM system.
If it has that option I think you can dropfeed as standard if that is what you mean by "DNC".
Yes the control is old but a modern CAM system should be able to generate the correct codes.

But if you learn mazatrol you dont need any CAM system at all.
 
The T and M-Plus controlled Mazaks should have EIA programming as standard...as that was one of the advertised features of the new Plus control at the time.

I have a ‘95 T-Plus lathe, and a ‘97 M-Plus vmc, and they both have EIA programming and upload/download capability.
 
I'm not entirely sure learning mazatrol would be the best way to go considering some parts I get only have a 3d model and some really funky curves.
Any idea about the Mazatrol Fusion 640T controller drip-feeding?
 
Use Mazatrol for it's strength, the simple stuff then call a G code sub for the complex shapes.
Now you have the best of both worlds.

I am not sure what you would be making on a 2 Axis lathe that needs a CAM system!

Bill
 
Use Mazatrol for it's strength, the simple stuff then call a G code sub for the complex shapes.
Now you have the best of both worlds.

I am not sure what you would be making on a 2 Axis lathe that needs a CAM system!

Bill

There's only one part on this part I'm looking at that isn't a funky curve and it's a straight section. To make things easy I would need a live tooled lathe or a mill turn. I definitely want to be able to do it though.
 
Use Mazatrol for it's strength, the simple stuff then call a G code sub for the complex shapes.
Now you have the best of both worlds.

I am not sure what you would be making on a 2 Axis lathe that needs a CAM system!

Bill

Ummm... everything? I hear all the time how easy it is to finger cam lathe stuff... but I still can't do it as fast as cam.... now add a fillet here, a chamfer there, and BOOM cam looks amazing... not to mention I can directly download a step/dwg/parasolid, etc etc.... and program directly to the drawing file, and not read a bazillion numbers...
 
Ummm... everything? I hear all the time how easy it is to finger cam lathe stuff... but I still can't do it as fast as cam.... now add a fillet here, a chamfer there, and BOOM cam looks amazing... not to mention I can directly download a step/dwg/parasolid, etc etc.... and program directly to the drawing file, and not read a bazillion numbers...

So how do you know the outcome is correct if you dont read these numbers?
 
The T and M-Plus controlled Mazaks should have EIA programming as standard...as that was one of the advertised features of the new Plus control at the time.

I have a ‘95 T-Plus lathe, and a ‘97 M-Plus vmc, and they both have EIA programming and upload/download capability.

Does that mean the T2/T3 controls don't normally have EIA/ISO as standard?
 
Exactly, the T2/T3/M3 Mazak control’s do NOT have EIA as standard.

Some will have it as an option though, you have to check the options page, or actually try to create an EIA program at the control. If it lets you, then it has the EIA option.

The T/M-Plus, Fusion, Nexus, and newer controls should drip feed programs without issue.
 
The T and M-Plus controlled Mazaks should have EIA programming as standard...as that was one of the advertised features of the new Plus control at the time.
EIA was definitely not standard on the T Plus. I ran a 1996 DT20 with the T Plus control for a few months last year and it didn't have EIA.
 
Every T/M Plus machine I’ve ever been around had EIA capability (including two here in the shop.)

The machine you ran was probably delivered with the option parameters incorrectly set — which was fairly common on Mazaks back then.
 








 
Back
Top