Hi

[opentoideas]

Hi There,

taking the plunge into CNC

selling my manual lathe and mill and looking to get something more sensibly sized......

i have tried to narrow down my needs but tick all the wrong boxes as want the ability to prototype parts from all materials including steel so it seems to be a worst case of strength and rigidity therefor weight

had an old roundhead Colchester Triumph and Bridgeport and while useful they are both huge in a garage and CNC was always the plan and the time has come

for a mill i am thinking of a Denford Triac as the work area is big enough and they look to be a great starting point mechanically with great potential and well documented conversions.

Lathe possibly a small Boxford 125 type machine but i have a small manual lathe so not any specific need for that yet

would welcome any advice on the Triac as cost is a huge factor for me and the range of prices on these seem to range up to the point where a new china clone manual mill and conversion is tempting but i am sceptical on the quality of the end result.

hope you are all doing good in the current strange situation we find ourselves in

[opentoideas]

so a little more about me and my setup

like many i started out with the 3-phase dilemma and as i needed welding and cutting bit the bullet and generate my own.

started with a 10kVA old Lister diesel which gave me a reasonable welding range but then picked up a plasma and needed air. i had a requirement for media blasting so ended up acquiring a hydrovane and a water cooled generator to cut down noise but was always struggling with power so finally found a bigger generator and with 80kVA think i now have more power than i will ever need.

added a small 3D printer last year which i rebuilt and strengthened until i was happy with it and have been using that for a few needed parts and it has helped push me into looking to go CNC with the lathe and mill.

i am expecting a long and painful learning curve in my future but looking forward to it

[opentoideas]

well i may have found my machines.......that is if the travel restrictions ever end! finger crossed

may have to sell some other kit to fund them but if i can scrape together the cash then i will soonish be the proud owner of both the CNC lathe and mill that i was after. then the real fun can begin. as expected they have not been run in a few years but are functional so the first job will be strip clean and generally service them and upgrade the electronics.

time will tell.

[JAZZCNC]

well i may have found my machines.......that is if the travel restrictions ever end! finger crossed

may have to sell some other kit to fund them but if i can scrape together the cash then i will soonish be the proud owner of both the CNC lathe and mill that i was after. then the real fun can begin. as expected they have not been run in a few years but are functional so the first job will be strip clean and generally service them and upgrade the electronics.

time will tell.

Good news, so what have you settled on.?

[opentoideas]

i have found a Triac with BT30 ATC and flood and the chap also has a Boxford 250

they are both 1990's machines but look to have had just the usual minimal educational use.

both are unconverted and while the Triac may be usable as is the Boxford has no PC so will need a new controller at least. i am digging around online to find any info on that side but will probably need to wait until i actually have them.

they both manually jog and run so they should be a good starting point. the Boxford is bigger than i was intending but its a nice looking machine and i can hopefully improve the deal by having both

biggest issue is the current travel restrictions and earning worries mean that the buyer of my kit cant stop working or get to me to buy them so i cant fund the purchase until he can......

given all thats going on in the world its a trivial problem but more than a little frustrating

[opentoideas]

trying to get a handle on the Boxford and first confusion is the spindle motor. all i have found is reference to an older 2HP DC with belt change or 3HP AC with VFD and no belt change.....

from the pictures the one i am looking at has a Parvex RS520G DC servo and Lenze VFD so thats a confusing but interesting start