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Controllers: good, bad, and the unsupported

EW57

Plastic
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Location
Southeast IA
Greetings, im interested in learning more about the controllers available in older (approx 1990 to 2010) okuma mills & lathes.

Specifically, are some better than others? Are some best avoided? And ultimately, which ones are no longer supported and/or difficult to get replacement parts for?

Thanks & take care.
 
Greetings, im interested in learning more about the controllers available in older (approx 1990 to 2010) okuma mills & lathes.

Specifically, are some better than others? Are some best avoided? And ultimately, which ones are no longer supported and/or difficult to get replacement parts for?

Thanks & take care.

Okuma supports all of them. You can still buy a replacement tape reader for those really old controls.

I don't feel like any of them are better than others. I will say that as they get newer they have more memory for program storage which is really nice.
 
They do support most of the parts for the older controls. I have several generations of okuma 1980-present, the older OSP5000LG control machines hold up fairly well except for the drives which are expensive. My only real problem with okuma/osp is that they really cant help you trouble shoot or adjust drives etc. unlike say mitsubishi or fanuc. Most of the time okuma will just tell you to replace it. Rebuilt drive after core is going to run you $2k if they have them if not your going new for about $3800. I replace at least 6 of these a year.
 
They do support most of the parts for the older controls. I have several generations of okuma 1980-present, the older OSP5000LG control machines hold up fairly well except for the drives which are expensive. My only real problem with okuma/osp is that they really cant help you trouble shoot or adjust drives etc. unlike say mitsubishi or fanuc. Most of the time okuma will just tell you to replace it. Rebuilt drive after core is going to run you $2k if they have them if not your going new for about $3800. I replace at least 6 of these a year.

I have an industrial electrician come in when I have drive issues. Generally he takes the drive, replaces bad caps or modules and I have it back for under $500. Have done this 3 or 4 times now.

Might be worth asking around locally. Maybe you've got a guy there that's competent?
 
I have repaired them myself a few times however as with everything the machine usually needs to be fixed immediately, because the parts were due last week! I do love Okuma lathes and dont really think you could get a more durable machine we have a few LC40's that run almost 3 shifts since new (in the late 80's) and they still hold tenths.
 








 
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