Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Anybody running Intel Atom's on MiniITX boards?

« on: November 15, 2009, 10:53:30 PM »

Actually the new 203V and the new Servo drive are designed to work right off a 3.3 or 5v new LPT port.   No buffering required.

Dave

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Re: Prices for one-on-one phone tech support.

« on: February 18, 2008, 10:12:55 AM »

I'd go with the first option - 1$ per minute in 5 minute increments.  I think that a lot of guys do not want to commit to hundreds of dollars of support cost to keep their garage mill running....

If a business has 20 machines running Mach and they want guaranteed response time then a premium plan would probably make sense.  One that guarantees a call back within an hour or so.  But for those situations I think that most would already have an integrator involved or an OEM that can support the software and equipment.

Siemens has a reasonable support system for their products (keep in mind that most of their cables cost more than $159).  If you call on a current product you will get a response back within 24 hours in most cases (free phone support in most cases for standard equipment and software).  If you buy a premium plan for a yearly subscription fee, they call back within an hour.  I don't know what their current premium plan cost is.

Siemens can afford to do this because their equipment is not inexpensive in most cases.  I'm not sure you can buy anything from them regarding CNC for $159.00.  Perhaps a manual??

On older products that are obsolete, they will tell you on the phone that the support for that device for one problem or situation is $225 (I think?)   And they will call and email you until that problem is resolved.  That is really a pretty good deal in most cases.

Regarding Allen Bradley - you cannot call their support hotline and get assistance unless you have a purchased support subscription. (Period)  I have an OEM that buys Allen Bradley software and equipment and they get hung up on also.  The only people who can provide free support for AB software and gear is their distributors and that is their option.

Parker Compumotor will provide free support - but the last ACR9000 4 axis motion controller I worked on cost about $4000, but the config software was a free download!!

I don't think it is reasonable to expect phone support for a $159 product.   Yes it was great that Art provided phone support at times.  At those times it probably made more sense to just get on the phone and speed the debugging process rather than drag it out over email.  But if you are just looking for info and have time to get the reply, the mass knowledge of the forums is rather large.  If a solution exists you will probably find out about it via the existing sources if you persevere.  If yo don't have time - then a pay for service system makes more sense.

Dave
Cole Controls Inc.

3

Beta Brains / Example of a lathe control setup....

« on: February 10, 2008, 09:16:32 PM »

This is part of the Mach lathe control code (brains, macros etc) I am using to control a slantback lathe (think large Hardinge) with a 12 position turret, hydraulic chuck, hydraulic tailstock, etc.  The Mach software is linked to the lathe via a Automation Direct 405 PLC.  This control system is still under development and will grow significantly so it can automatically control a bar feeder, chip conveyor, and further interlock with the lathe safety systems, etc.  Please use this as an example of how you can implement the software, and not as a "drop in" for an automatic lathe.  By the time this control is done, I expect the number of macros and brains to more than double, so this is far from finished.    Hopefully this will give some of you a starting point so you can avoid some head banging! 

Dave
Cole Controls Inc.