Hi all!
Just purchased my first CNC machine, and can I say I am quite happy! I started into machining about a year and a half ago through paintball markers, I would build internals, upgrade the old guns, and even build some reproductions of older guns made of brass tubing. My first purchase was a 12" Crafts... lathe, followed by a 9" south bend. I liked these machines, but I am never "satisfied" so was always on the hunt for more. I eventually ended up with a gorton I-22 and hardinge DV lathe. I was very happy, but didn't like my lack of threading. I ended up with a Victor 1640 engine lathe to complete my shop... That is until this tormach popped up locally.
I always liked the tormachs (I understand this is not a production machine) but never had the money for one whenever they would come up for sale (most went for 9k+ on ebay, at least ones locally). This one popped up about two weeks ago, and within 3 days, even being 200 miles away I had a deposit in the mail. After a few hiccups, I was finally ready to pick it up this morning. Took the bus home and all from Virginia Tech to NoVa, rented a trailer, and we were on our way.
Loading took us about an hour and a half, this includes all the tooling, removing the machine from the stand, etc. The weather was absolutely horrendous, with pouring rain in the morning, turning to sleet as we started loading, and snow on the way home. It was the first time I had driven a big trailer, so that was an experience in itself! I came away with a very very nice package, at a very very good price. I have enough to get started tomorrow, but unfortunately it will be sitting in my garage until Mid may when I come home, for 4 days until I am off to Mississippi to intern for GE. As sad as I will be to be away from this machine, I am happy knowing it will be there for me when I get back at the start of August where I will have 2 1/2 weeks to learn CNC. I have 2.5d cam, also CAM 360 Beta from autodesk, and have a good deal of experience in Inventor/solidworks, so now it is to figuring out how to generate tool paths from HSMexpress (I think that's what I've got). I have a post processor for tormach/mach 3, and have done a few tool paths. Where I need to really learn is doing it the "right" way, and figuring out how far I can push the machine without hurting it. The computers the machine came with have sheetcam, mach 3, a speed/feed calculator, and a few other helpful programs. I also got the tormach jogging switch, have two monitors, swing arm for tooling with something like 20 TTS holders, and the following:
-Stevens engineering plate and modular vise that were on the machine, although used they are still in exceptional shape. I also got a brand new subplate in the crate from stevens engineering, about 3.5x2'. Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab any pictures of this.
-4th axis integration kit, so my understanding is I only now need the rotary table. Does anyone have any suggestions for a 6/8" CNC rotary table? I have not turned up much in my price range via searching (only found the microkinetics and tormach sub 1k).
-About 250 used/new carbide end mills. Although I paid extra for these, it was well worth it. All are between 1/8-1/2", all carbide, with most being hertel, a few kennemetal, and others.
-A 3" dorian face mill, this I also paid extra for, but I really wanted it and couldn't pass it up for the price.
I am very very happy with my purchase, and hope that my addiction will only grow from here! I will try to keep this thread updated, but updates will be once every 3-6 months, with college, work, and other things getting in the way.
New machine day, can I just say, I am very very happy!
Before loading:
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Post move, temporary location until I can get back home from college... In May... :(
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Just purchased my first CNC machine, and can I say I am quite happy! I started into machining about a year and a half ago through paintball markers, I would build internals, upgrade the old guns, and even build some reproductions of older guns made of brass tubing. My first purchase was a 12" Crafts... lathe, followed by a 9" south bend. I liked these machines, but I am never "satisfied" so was always on the hunt for more. I eventually ended up with a gorton I-22 and hardinge DV lathe. I was very happy, but didn't like my lack of threading. I ended up with a Victor 1640 engine lathe to complete my shop... That is until this tormach popped up locally.
I always liked the tormachs (I understand this is not a production machine) but never had the money for one whenever they would come up for sale (most went for 9k+ on ebay, at least ones locally). This one popped up about two weeks ago, and within 3 days, even being 200 miles away I had a deposit in the mail. After a few hiccups, I was finally ready to pick it up this morning. Took the bus home and all from Virginia Tech to NoVa, rented a trailer, and we were on our way.
Loading took us about an hour and a half, this includes all the tooling, removing the machine from the stand, etc. The weather was absolutely horrendous, with pouring rain in the morning, turning to sleet as we started loading, and snow on the way home. It was the first time I had driven a big trailer, so that was an experience in itself! I came away with a very very nice package, at a very very good price. I have enough to get started tomorrow, but unfortunately it will be sitting in my garage until Mid may when I come home, for 4 days until I am off to Mississippi to intern for GE. As sad as I will be to be away from this machine, I am happy knowing it will be there for me when I get back at the start of August where I will have 2 1/2 weeks to learn CNC. I have 2.5d cam, also CAM 360 Beta from autodesk, and have a good deal of experience in Inventor/solidworks, so now it is to figuring out how to generate tool paths from HSMexpress (I think that's what I've got). I have a post processor for tormach/mach 3, and have done a few tool paths. Where I need to really learn is doing it the "right" way, and figuring out how far I can push the machine without hurting it. The computers the machine came with have sheetcam, mach 3, a speed/feed calculator, and a few other helpful programs. I also got the tormach jogging switch, have two monitors, swing arm for tooling with something like 20 TTS holders, and the following:
-Stevens engineering plate and modular vise that were on the machine, although used they are still in exceptional shape. I also got a brand new subplate in the crate from stevens engineering, about 3.5x2'. Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab any pictures of this.
-4th axis integration kit, so my understanding is I only now need the rotary table. Does anyone have any suggestions for a 6/8" CNC rotary table? I have not turned up much in my price range via searching (only found the microkinetics and tormach sub 1k).
-About 250 used/new carbide end mills. Although I paid extra for these, it was well worth it. All are between 1/8-1/2", all carbide, with most being hertel, a few kennemetal, and others.
-A 3" dorian face mill, this I also paid extra for, but I really wanted it and couldn't pass it up for the price.
I am very very happy with my purchase, and hope that my addiction will only grow from here! I will try to keep this thread updated, but updates will be once every 3-6 months, with college, work, and other things getting in the way.
New machine day, can I just say, I am very very happy!
Before loading:
Post move, temporary location until I can get back home from college... In May... :(
