I posted awhile back about wanting to buy a PM833-TV and converting it to CNC, but needing to convince my wife that it wouldn’t be too loud for her.
Well, we took a little trip to a very helpful PM833-TV owner, and he gave us a demo, which satisfied her.
But, on the way home she said “If you are going to do production, you should get a machine with a tool changer.” I told her that those were substantially bigger and more expensive, but she was OK with it.
So, now I’m like a dog who managed to catch the car...
I’m looking at Haas TM0,1,2 and 1P,2P or the Haas Mini Mill. I want a machine I can run on 1Phase 220V, and those are about all I can find.
Comparing the TMs and the Mini Mill, it seems the main differences are the TMs have much larger travel, and slower traversing, while the Mini Mills have less travel but much faster motion, and have integrated cooling. Space is a consideration, and I’m not sure I’ll ever need the large X-travel of the TMs, and the faster motion would be nice, so I’m leaning towards the Mini Mill - but I’d love to hear knowledgeable opinions.
There are several candidates on Bidspotter, but I have zero experience buying anything like this.
1) Is it safe to buy sight unseen, based only the the description?
2) How much wear do these machines get? If I buy a 15-year-old machine, what is the likelihood that the spindle/ballscrews/linear rails are OK?
3) How do I arrange to have it rigged and shipped and unloaded?
4) Should I go and see it before buying? I’m not sure what I could tell without actually running a part.
5) I hear that people don’t like the Mini Mill coolant sump. Is this a real problem?
Most of these machines are in the “Rust Belt.” That’s 2,000 miles away from me, so I’d have to be pretty sure of winning a bid to want to make that trip for inspection.
I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but that’s enough for now.
Any opinions are appreciated.
Well, we took a little trip to a very helpful PM833-TV owner, and he gave us a demo, which satisfied her.
But, on the way home she said “If you are going to do production, you should get a machine with a tool changer.” I told her that those were substantially bigger and more expensive, but she was OK with it.
So, now I’m like a dog who managed to catch the car...
I’m looking at Haas TM0,1,2 and 1P,2P or the Haas Mini Mill. I want a machine I can run on 1Phase 220V, and those are about all I can find.
Comparing the TMs and the Mini Mill, it seems the main differences are the TMs have much larger travel, and slower traversing, while the Mini Mills have less travel but much faster motion, and have integrated cooling. Space is a consideration, and I’m not sure I’ll ever need the large X-travel of the TMs, and the faster motion would be nice, so I’m leaning towards the Mini Mill - but I’d love to hear knowledgeable opinions.
There are several candidates on Bidspotter, but I have zero experience buying anything like this.
1) Is it safe to buy sight unseen, based only the the description?
2) How much wear do these machines get? If I buy a 15-year-old machine, what is the likelihood that the spindle/ballscrews/linear rails are OK?
3) How do I arrange to have it rigged and shipped and unloaded?
4) Should I go and see it before buying? I’m not sure what I could tell without actually running a part.
5) I hear that people don’t like the Mini Mill coolant sump. Is this a real problem?
Most of these machines are in the “Rust Belt.” That’s 2,000 miles away from me, so I’d have to be pretty sure of winning a bid to want to make that trip for inspection.
I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but that’s enough for now.
Any opinions are appreciated.