Biesse rover 346 cnc router

Has anyone been successful at retrofitting a Biesse Rover 346 cnc router with linuxcnc?

More concerned with the three spindles and 31 drills and how to deal with the offsets in gcode.

Camsoft says they have already retrofitted and have machine files for it already. I dont want to spend uppers of 6,000.00 for this control.

Thanks,

Bob

I can't say that I know of anyone using that specific machine.

Linuxcnc has a unique and very versatile tool offset arrangement. As well as having the usual length and diameter settings, it also has settings available for offsets in all 9 available axis (x,y,z,a,b,c,u,v,w) much like having separate machine coordinate system offsets for each tool. This feature would be very useful for setups using multiple spindle positions.

That said, this is a large machine with a lot of features. A conversion of any type will be a lot of work, and the quality of the conversion will be proportional to the effort you put into it. (that goes for Camsoft as well)

Do any of the the 3 spindles have tool changers?

Todd wrote:

I can't say that I know of anyone using that specific machine.

Linuxcnc has a unique and very versatile tool offset arrangement. As well as having the usual length and diameter settings, it also has settings available for offsets in all 9 available axis (x,y,z,a,b,c,u,v,w) much like having separate machine coordinate system offsets for each tool. This feature would be very useful for setups using multiple spindle positions.

That said, this is a large machine with a lot of features. A conversion of any type will be a lot of work, and the quality of the conversion will be proportional to the effort you put into it. (that goes for Camsoft as well)

Do any of the the 3 spindles have tool changers?

Thanks for the reply Todd. I wasnt aware of the offsets you are mentioning. I will look into it.

However, i am aware of what it takes to retrofit as i have done two,or three. Including a large Hitachi VMC, using linux and mesa, and it working beautifully. So i am not worried on the work and am very aware of what it takes.

The machine i am discussing has three axis, and the Z axis has all the tools, so i would guess it is a matter of selecting tools and offsets. Not sure how this is going to work or even if i will be able to use Vectric Aspire for it as i am sure i wont be able to write a post for it.

All of the seperate tools vertical and horizontal along with the three spindles are on the z axis echanism.

There is a tool changer that is shared with the three spindles. A fixed thee position tool changer, so ther are possibilities of five tools in the rotation.

Thanks,

Bob

I think adding in the tool changer very much complicates the conversion. Especially if the changer is shared between the 3 spindles. I'm not sure how that would work out.

On some similar machines of ours with multi drill banks and spindles. (These are Fanuc controlled machines though). All of the offsetting for the different drill and spindle poisons are done with machine coordinate systems (G54...)

Good luck with what ever route you choose. I do believe that a Linuxcnc conversion can have the potential to be every bit as good if not better than the Camsoft product. (But I have no real experience with Camsoft)

Todd wrote:

I think adding in the tool changer very much complicates the conversion. Especially if the changer is shared between the 3 spindles. I'm not sure how that would work out.

Thats what makes linuxcnc so fun..... that it is capable of doing it. Getting it done is another story.......

This guy got it done. The youtube video doesn't show it but I asked him and he said he got it all working with mesa cards. Peter's going to hate me....lol



Don't know why he went that route with the mesa cards. But it looks doable. This guys has the circular saw on his Z carriage.Mine doesn't have that, it has horizontal boring though.

The toolchanger has Z and Y movements, so this will need some figuring out. Also it has to remember which tool is in which spindle and tool holder in the changer.This wont be easy.

This shows the tool change operation. Not the exact same machine but the same tool changer and TC operation.

So basically it is a rack tool changer. That might make it somewhat simpler to change with multiple spindles, but the devils in the details.

Todd wrote:

So basically it is a rack tool changer. That might make it somewhat simpler to change with multiple spindles, but the devils in the details.

Thats what i am hoping. But logically, a machine coord for each of the tool change position /per spindle, the biggest challenge to me would be keeping track of which tool is where. Imagine tool 3 being in spindle 2 and spindle 1 gets a request to get tool 3.