My High-Z S/1000-T finally arrived all the way from Germany. This machine was ordered from Prototools about a month ago and is on their site as Heiz T-1000. Machines are built to order hence the long delivery time. I opted for the T series for the extra speed. My old machine ran at 800mm/min - way below my patience threshhold .

The machine arrived in a sturdy chipboard built box with no apparent damage. Lifting the lid revealed the machine and a cardboard box with the controller, various leads, the software and 4 aluminium T slot planks for the clamping bed and a few other bits. The T Slot planks had been bound with what looked like Germany's version of the Sun tabloid - but every page seemed to be page 3 - not that I studied it in errr ... great detail ... oh no. Missing was the Kress spindle. A quick email to Phillip at prototools led to the discovery that it was missed from the shipping so they will ship it over the next couple of days. So far prototools have been very good to deal with. eMails are responded to promptly with good advice.

I'd revamped the garage and built what my wife referred to as a dining room table rather than a shelf. My old machine was boxed in - which was nice for dust and damped down the noise a bit but also made access an exercise in contortion. The Heiz will be in the open so one of the first tasks will be to make some kind of 'hoover' attachment.

The machine seems quite simple given the price but is very solid and sturdy. It's well put together with nothing loose and no play as far as I could determine.

Set-up was fairly straightforward. The WinPC-NC controller software installed onto a Lenovo laptop without problems and prompted me to select the machine type from a pre-defined list. I found the jog function which asked me if I wanted to go to the reference. I said yes and the machine made the most awfull noise as the Z axis crashed against the stops. The supplied setup file didn't have the correct settings - time to RTFM.

The manual is comprehensible; their English is much better than my German - lucky for me! I gradually worked through the setup and got all the axis homing properly. Then onto the motor testing and setting appropriate speeds and suddenly the machine is whizzing along with 6000mm/min rapids. I'll leave the full 7000mm/min for another day.

Setting up the T-Nut plates requires drilling them to clamp them to the frame. I did a temporary job without drilling. There is a smidgin of flex in the middle of the bed so any metal work had better be done at the ends or the plates supported. The plates can be fixed to the bottom of the frame if working on deeper pieces or if wanting to fix a vice to the bed.

Software wise I'm used to EMC2. WinPC-NC seems Ok, although I'm struggling a bit with some of the settings being saved as 'machine' settings and some saved against a working g-code file. The workround for me is to write g-code from vcarve pro to the same file so settings are kept. First test cuts were a couple of simple signs for my wife's school - just letters carved into round 15mm thick ply using a 60deg bit and a straight flute for clearance. Since the Kress hasn't turned up I'm using my 'old' Bosch POF600 - ok for this kind of work but I think the bearings have a wee bit of slop now. I finally figure out the concept of "workpiece" references and machine references and manage to cut two signs. The results leave a tiny wee bit to be desired (i'll put that down to the Bosch bearings) but are much better than the old machine.

So far (1 day in), I'm pleased with the machine. It's fast, seems solid, robust and accurate. Support from prototools has been very good. I was a bit apprehensive ordering quite such an expensive 'toy' - but my initial impressions haven't resulted in me kicking myself or having one of those stomach sickening moments when you realise you've just blown a stack of cash on rubbish. However, it's early days yet so I'll try and post some more info when I've got a bit more experience with the beast.