I Got Burnt!!

That looks like a typical Asian mill-drill, or the Rong Fu persuasion. At most they are buying the primary assembly and adding local touches like the screen-printed front panel.
I would suspect they are are buying the machines whole to their specifications. I can't imagine any U.S. workplace letting a product go out like that.

Yep: "Our CNC Products are designed and assembled in the USA, with many of our components being machined right here in the United States, and more work being onshored with each iterative redesign."

Translation: "We build our CNC machines using mostly Asian components. If it's a manual machine we just bought it from Asia with out label already on it, from the lowest bidder."
 
This has been an excellent thread!!! Very appropriate for me. I am, sometime within the next 4-6 weeks, going to drop some coin on my first mill. I have been reading, studying, watching videos etc. trying to decide what to get. Due to cost, from what I have read I wanted a square column mill. The cost of a full-size knee mill is prohibitive for me and I live in San Antonio, TX which apparently is not a great place to buy used mills. From what I read bigger is better, especially bigger build cube. I have read several posts from folks that bought other IH or Rong Fu clones that have said they wished they had bought the bigger CO machine. The only thing that gave me some pause was all of the accolades I see for Precision Matthews and their great customer service. But, at the end I have decided to go with the big CO machine as they are the most economical for the build size.

Reading this thread started to scare me off, but the more I read the better I felt about still going with CO. But, all of the different opinions and data is really helpful. And, now I know if I have some problems with the mill when I get it, not to freak out. So, thanks everyone for the info and discussion! Quite timely for me.

Bill M.
 
Any machine can be a "pig in a poke". We just spent 40k on a new Wire EDM and still have issues at that price level! Pinch rollers for the wire that don't pinch, can not load the file into the memory as the CPU crashes just about every time and more. The tech guy coming in this week is going to cr-- his pants at the length of our punch list.
Pierre
 
Bill / others
Just a friendly reminder on buying
1 It is a business transaction.
2 use a credit card.
3 when you get your machine, check it out before accepting it and don't hesitate to refuse it, remember It's not yours or your problem till you sign for it.
4 Contact the seller asap with any problems, and discuss what to do and a timeline to do it.
5 keep the crate/box and don't hesitate to send it back for a refund, it's a machine not a heirloom.
6 Check with your credit card co for a time line on a credit return and discuss the problem and what to do about it.
7 coolidge said it best, you are buying a machine not a friend, don't get cozy but don't be rude, because you have the upper hand ( credit card)
These simple steps will help avoid unnecessary headaches an loss of money.
Tomh
 
bmckenzie said:
This has been an excellent thread!!! Very appropriate for me. I am, sometime within the next 4-6 weeks, going to drop some coin on my first mill. I have been reading, studying, watching videos etc. trying to decide what to get. Due to cost, from what I have read I wanted a square column mill. The cost of a full-size knee mill is prohibitive for me and I live in San Antonio, TX which apparently is not a great place to buy used mills. From what I read bigger is better, especially bigger build cube. I have read several posts from folks that bought other IH or Rong Fu clones that have said they wished they had bought the bigger CO machine. The only thing that gave me some pause was all of the accolades I see for Precision Matthews and their great customer service. But, at the end I have decided to go with the big CO machine as they are the most economical for the build size.

Reading this thread started to scare me off, but the more I read the better I felt about still going with CO. But, all of the different opinions and data is really helpful. And, now I know if I have some problems with the mill when I get it, not to freak out. So, thanks everyone for the info and discussion! Quite timely for me.

Bill M.
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FWIW, if you have the space, you'd be money ahead to buy a full-size machine to begin with. For the same money or just a bit over, you can get a decent machine. I bought a very solid 9x42" Taiwan machine from a company in OKC that was liquidating. I got the mill, two hold-down kits, 8 expandable reamers, a bunch of R8 collets and tooling, plus about 25-30 lbs. of end mills, reamers, chucks, etc. for $1200. It also came with a Bridgeport 6" vise. The machine was a Profit Master and I'd put it up next to any BP out there in terms of accuracy and rigidity. The only reason I got rid of it was because I found a bigger machine with X and Y power feeds and an AccuRite DRO that had the nod feature that the PM didn't. I never needed it, but I wanted it.
 
Toolman I considered a knee mill, that would have been an upgrade vs a CO but three things, limited space, portability, and spindle speed. My CO is on wheels I can wheel it out in the middle of the garage when working then wheel it off to the side out of my way when I don't need it. The CO will spin 3,600 rpm with the 3HP VFD option and with the belt drive kit Bill purchased they will spin a bit over 5,000 rpm.
 
Toolman, it sounds like you found a real deal there and anyone would be a fool not to grab it. In fact, it looks like you have more than the $1200 just in the additional tooling.

Unfortunately, those deals are extremely rare. Particularly in the case of a newbe, understanding what is important and what is not when buying used machinery can be a real problem. It would be really easy to get in over one's head and become discouraged enough to abandon the hobby altogether. It is deplorable that one can't buy a new machine from a US vendor and not have to rebuild the machine before use. Hopefully, though most of the problems will be minor and the major ones will be handled by the vendor's customer service. On the other hand, buying a used machine is more than likely "as is" with no recourse when problems are discovered. For those people just getting their feet wet, that first machine is often a stepping stone to the type of machines you are talking about.

Bob
 
Sorry, you have two machines but only bought one of them. You owe CO a machine, their shipping cost.

Every vendor of this class (rf45) I can think of has bad press on this forum. It's reality. I have the G0755 and lucky for me it has been trouble free (knock on wood). It is accurate, tough and quiet at 86 decibels at top speed. After 22 months I wouldn't trade it for the others.

Dave
 
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toolman said:
FWIW, if you have the space, you'd be money ahead to buy a full-size machine to begin with. For the same money or just a bit over, you can get a decent machine. I bought a very solid 9x42" Taiwan machine from a company in OKC that was liquidating. I got the mill, two hold-down kits, 8 expandable reamers, a bunch of R8 collets and tooling, plus about 25-30 lbs. of end mills, reamers, chucks, etc. for $1200. It also came with a Bridgeport 6" vise. The machine was a Profit Master and I'd put it up next to any BP out there in terms of accuracy and rigidity. The only reason I got rid of it was because I found a bigger machine with X and Y power feeds and an AccuRite DRO that had the nod feature that the PM didn't. I never needed it, but I wanted it.
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Yeah, as I mentioned, I live around San Antonio, so good used deals are pretty non-existent. I have been watching craig's list for a few months now and I never see anything worth looking at. Also, and I didn't mention this before, but I plan on CNCing this machine (probably not right away) and enclosing it, which I have a much better handle on doing with a bench-top machine than I would a knee mill (not saying it can't be done). And the mobility of a bench-top would be nice as my shop is my 3 car garage, which may turn into a two car garage if we get the wife a new car :)
 
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