New Member - Stockton On Tees

[JAZZCNC]

Hi Lockwodi and welcome.

I was at Mach 22 as well and was surprised that Tormach wasn't there, the choice for small Mills was quite limited with only 2 people I could see, and both, in my opinion, were too expensive for what you got. For instance, the Ajax machines at £28k and £30k for what were essentially just small manual mills turned to CNC and ATC then put in a cabinet.!
I didn't get time to see George and the SYIL machines as he was always busy when I passed but again I suspect those will be well over £30K and nearer £50k.

Regards training then it really boils down to what kind of training.? If you want training on how to use the machine then whoever you buy from will or should give you training on the control and how all its functions work and provide handholding support. Because there are so many different controllers available you will always struggle to find one company or college etc that offers training, usually the machine supplier provides the controller training.

If you want general training on Milling then usually colleges offer night courses but obviously not in your area, so my best suggestion and to be honest the one I prefer myself is the university of Youtube and just get on and try, learning as you go along.
Really after you learn the control all you need to learn is how to create the part and G-code and these days this is mostly done in CAD/CAM software like Fusion 360 and Youtube is brilliant for this with loads of tutorials. Things like speeds n feeds can be learned as you go along and the tool manufacturer will supply cutting data to help with this.

Now if you are in the market for a machine I have a friend with a very very very nice Tormach 1100 series 3 with ATC, 4th axis, and loads of tooling, the machine has done very few hours and is lightly used, it's very much like new.
The ATC is a home-built unit, I made the bracket and disc, etc for it and helped with the installation and in my opinion, it's better and much stronger than Tormach's own unit and offers more tools at 12, all controlled from the Tormachs Pathpilot software.

If you are seriously interested get in touch and I'll put you in touch with him. My email address is below or PM me.

[Lockwodi]

Thanks Dean,

I do want a machine but not yet, location being a key issue and my day job taking up too much of my time. I have also had quotes from HAAS for mini mill and their TM1 P and TM0 P, The TM0P with the 240v option looks like a great machine for a starter and well supported controller on You Tube.

Thanks again.

Ian

[JohnHaine]

Hi Ian, welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of CNC. Looking at what you are planning to do I suggest that diving in with a rather expensive CNC mill is perhaps not advisable. You may be much better off starting with a cheaper manual mill to start machining your castings, to learn about things like workholding, feeds and speeds etc. Depending on what you are making a lathe may be useful too or even essential. Also, by starting with manual machining you avoid at least one layer of learning until you know better what you are trying to achieve.

Could I suggest that you look at the Model Engineer forum https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/ ? You'll see a lot of useful information (and some dross) and it's a great place to ask questions. One member who posts as JasonB (Ballamy) uses CNC a lot in making model engines, including the manufacture of "castings" which are designed in 3D CAD - that's another angle that you could find interesting for the future. You will also see a couple of books advertised, one by Jason on milling technique another on turning (if you're interested). There are some useful suppliers there too - one I can recommend for machines is Arc EuroTrade who are based in Leicester, who sell and give good support to a range of Chinese mills and lathes. At one time they sold two CNC machines, the SX1 and SX3, which are reasonably good - worth looking on the s/h market. JasonB uses an SX3 to very good effect.

I have a Denford CNC mill - a Novamill. This is rather tiny but very nicely made. You could look out for a Denford Triac which is a bit bigger, used ones come up on eBay from time to time. If you are lucky it might be without the electronics - they are rather old and the mechanics is worthy of fitting modern electronics (from the likes of JazzCNC for example) - which would make it cheaper and better than the original. My Novamill was about £600 and I built the electronics for less than 200 (but that's my trade).

[JAZZCNC]

Thanks Dean,

I do want a machine but not yet, location being a key issue and my day job taking up too much of my time. I have also had quotes from HAAS for mini mill and their TM1 P and TM0 P, The TM0P with the 240v option looks like a great machine for a starter and well supported controller on You Tube.

Thanks again.

Ian

Hi Ian,

Well, a TM0 P or any of those would make a fantastic first machine but we are talking about a completely different level of a machine with a price tag to match. If you have the money and the work for it then I'd certainly say go for it but if you wanted to test the waters for a 3rd of the price then something like this Tormach is worth a look.

The Tormachs get slated for being expensive toys, often by those who don't own them, and when compared to the Big boy's toys like what you have seen at Mach 22 then they are to some degree, but it would be like comparing apples with oranges. When In reality, they are still very capable machines and will do everything the TM0 P will do just at a lot slower pace but at the same time a lot lower price.

Now without wanting to sound like I'm trying to push this Tormach, what I will say is that in UK Tormachs are few and far between as you will find if you try to buy one, but even rarer with ATC, 4th axis and tooled up but rarer still in absolute mint condition with low running hours. Now this machine isn't actually up for sale yet officially, so if you are serious and want a machine for a lot less than the Haas then get in touch because when it goes up for sale for real it won't be around long I'm sure.

Good luck in whatever you are planning and jump onboard the CNC ship as it's a great ride, bumpy at times but good fun.