Denford Mill Comparison

[BDH]

This is a bit of a basic question for which I will apologise for in advance!
What Denford mills are available as second user machines and what are the advantages and disadvantages of any particular model?
Brian

[m_c]

It all comes down to size.

In terms of their dedicated milling machines.
Starmill is the smallest.
Novamill is the next size up, although I don't think there is much difference in terms of spindle size/bed motors than the Starmill.

Triac is the largest of the commonly available models, and came in various configurations over the years, from basic stepper driven models, to industrial servo versions.
The VMC is very similar in terms of size to the Triac, and is essentially just a Triac replacement.

There was also a bigger industrial style machine which I've forgotten the name off.

They've also done some smaller combination machines, and routers.


Best option is to go and look through the various brochures on the denford forums.

[depronman]

This is a bit of a basic question for which I will apologise for in advance!
What Denford mills are available as second user machines and what are the advantages and disadvantages of any particular model?
Brian

If you are interested I have a very clean Denford Starmill complete with machine cabinet and the original control electronics box
It has been converted to Mach3 and will include the mach3 config files
It can include a PC and monitor at extra cost

It is an R8 spindle, and there are a very cheap chinese R8 tool holders on ebay, I have used R25 collects and found them to be perfect
The machine is set up with tool probing which makes for easy work setup.

It will equally run on Linuxcnc, which to be honest is what I have desided to standadise on.
I've used it to machine dural, brass and steel with no problems at all. Its a small but well build and strong machine
I don't think the machine as done much, spent 20 years in a school and don't think they had a clue how to use it so it was an orniment in the schools 'resistant materials workshop'

PM me if you want more details, I'm in Lancashire nr Blackpool
The machine is roughly a 740mm cube and will transport in a van or estate car or even a large hatch back. Its heavy though so needs a 3 or 4 strong men to lift it


Cheers,
Paul

[andy_con]

There was also a bigger industrial style machine which I've forgotten the name off.
.

Zero centre

[ngwagwa]

The machine is roughly a 740mm cube and will transport in a van or estate car or even a large hatch back. Its heavy though so needs a 3 or 4 strong men to lift it


Cheers,
Paul

The Starmill will actually fit in the back of a 2008 Fiesta Style - been there done that.

[BDH]

Many thanks for the offer Paul. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about ANY machine at the moment, to be able to work out what I want.
Brian

[Doddy]

Brian, perhaps useful to explain what your use-case for a machine is - what you're cutting, and size, and whether you're in a production environment or hobbyist.

[BDH]

Thanks for your reply Doddy. Any machine I buy would be for hobby use in brass, steel and occasionally, aluminium. The largest envelope (if that is the right word) that I can see at the moment is 9"in X 9"in X 3"in and that is an aluminium job that would be difficult on my present manual machines.
I am learning to use Fusion 360 for modelling and have just started to have a look at the CAM features.
I have no background in cnc work having been a Quality Engineer/Quality Manager in the aerospace industry for most of my working life.
Brian

[Doddy]

It sounds like you know what you're doing and looking for, from your reply. The envelope is a real limiter - a 9" throat on a small mill (and for the Denfords, that includes the StarMill, NovaMill and Triac) are nowt but a dream (you'd fail to get 9" on either table or saddle on a StarMill - I have one of those, as well (160mm/90mm respectively). You could get clever with fixture plates etc but I think you're really looking at something rather larger.

[ngwagwa]

Thanks for your reply Doddy. Any machine I buy would be for hobby use in brass, steel and occasionally, aluminium. The largest envelope (if that is the right word) that I can see at the moment is 9"in X 9"in X 3"in and that is an aluminium job that would be difficult on my present manual machines.
I am learning to use Fusion 360 for modelling and have just started to have a look at the CAM features.
I have no background in cnc work having been a Quality Engineer/Quality Manager in the aerospace industry for most of my working life.
Brian

You will have to look for something other than a Denford if you need to cut 9" x 9". The starmill has a capacity of 160 X 90mm and the Triac 290 x 150 so both are too small.