topic Centroid M400 and Fusion 360 in Fusion Manufacture Forum

Centroid M400 and Fusion 360

aguirreq — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 17:41:08 GMT

Hello everyone, I am trying to use my old Centroid m-400 CNC with Fusion 360. However my CNC and controller are way too old, and I am not sure if this is even possible.

These are the specs of my CNC and Centroid Controller:

Acer Model 3VKH CNC Vertical Mill, s/n 1127, Centroid 3-Axis CNC Control, 10 In. X 50 In. Table, 30 Taper. The controller is Centroid M-400, running CNC7 v7.09. The system has a 386 processor motherboard and Runs CNC7 v7.17

I noticed Fusion 360 has a Centroid postprocessor so I decided to give it a shot, however, I am starting to think this postprocessor is only compatible with newer versions like Centroid Acorn since G Codes programmed from Intercon (centroid integrated CAM software) are way different than those post-processed from Fusion 360.

Anyway, I created a CAM file and tried to run it on my CNC (bear in mind the file transfer had to be done using a Floppy Disk, yes my CNC is that old). The CNC starts moving, but it just moves to a completely different location from my WCS setup on Fusion 360.

I was wondering if this might be just an issue of some needed modifications on my GCode like using a different WCS G54, G55 etc, or maybe something to do with Machines home position G28. Or this might be due to simply my old controller not being compatible at all with Fusion 360 Centroid post-processing.

I am asking this mainly to know if its worth it to modify the post-processed GCode and try to make it run on my CNC or if my CNC isn't even compatible with Fusion 360 and other modern CAM software.

Thank you in advance for your help, let me know if any additional information might be needed!

Re: Centroid M400 and Fusion 360

LibertyMachine — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 17:58:08 GMT

I was spitting out programs for my 1982 Matsuura w/Mitsubishi control, so I don't think that the age of the machine is going to be a huge concern. The biggest thing we have to ask is this:

Do you have programs that you have successfully run on your machine? Can you share these to the forums?

If the file has anything other than a .nc, .txt or .tap file extension, you will need to rename accordingly

Re: Centroid M400 and Fusion 360

Fueler — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 02:44:28 GMT

My 3 yr old Centroid manual covers both the m400 and m39 so I have some doubts that there is any difference.

Gcode be Gcode and all that.

How about whipping up a simple design and see how it machines out?.

Then post the 360 file here and show us what it does as opposed to what it was expected to do.

Having said that my machine is on version 11. Might check with centroid to see what differences there might be in that regard.