PM-45 or PM-932 for eventual cnc?

[Buffalo Bob]

My advice is don't even start down this road, buy a REAL used CNC mill that was designed to be a CNC mill. You can get a used Haas CNC mill for under $10k. The same $10k (and you can absolutely sink $10k into one of these) will buy you a LOUD Z axis sticking backlash infested joke 1 tool at a time lost my Z reference wanna-be CNC mill/drill fiasco. How's that for not sugar coating my experience.

Thanks. I had been thinking about the Tormack but just checked out HAAS. No comparison. Hendricks Motor Sports uses HAAS machines for all their well respected engines. Boy would I love to watch that shop make stuff. So when my ship comes in HAAS is my choice. Check out the fuel filler cap and fitting for the race cars. Wow...............
Bob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7PICO3vyo&feature=share&list=UU51sOl_8A6qZnh_i0tf9p-Q&index=6

 

[Senna]

This is what I used to have, and apparently I disliked moving it so much that I blocked out that it was 1800 lbs. The benefit of the benchtop machines imo is that they can be quickly be broken down into sub-components that can be handle by 2 people. I'm well aware of the limitations of a cnc conversion.

I absolutely understand where you're coming from and if you're going into this with your eyes open, and it seems you are, then you'll likely find the PM perfectly acceptable.
I've gotten good at moving heavy equipment around though since my lightest vertical mill weighs 2500# and my heaviest is upwards of 3500#.
Heck, I can even move my 5500# SG around easily now.

My circumstances allow me to put accuracy, affordability, and longevity well over mobility in a calculus of important aspects in machine tool design. Your circumstances demand a different calculus.

 

[coolidge]

Thanks. I had been thinking about the Tormack but just checked out HAAS. No comparison. Hendricks Motor Sports uses HAAS machines for all their well respected engines. Boy would I love to watch that shop make stuff. So when my ship comes in HAAS is my choice. Check out the fuel filler cap and fitting for the race cars. Wow...............
Bob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7PICO3vyo&feature=share&list=UU51sOl_8A6qZnh_i0tf9p-Q&index=6

Yeah and that's just a small tool room Haas. Larger ones like my brothers Haas VF2SS really move.

These mill drill CNC conversions...folks I had a chance to purchase an old but perfectly running Haas VF1 for $6k. That Haas easily fits in a garage. Like an idiot I decided to purchase a mill/drill CNC conversion machine because I wanted the machine in my basement shop. :banghead: Yes I worked around 'some' of its short comings and yes I machined many things with it. It only cost me a gob of money and time and frustration and repairs. :banghead:

I know how attractive the idea of a smaller seemingly more affordable (I would argue that in the long run) CNC mill/drill is. I have been there and done that. Here's my advice...get a money back guarantee in writing that the machine can do everything they say it can do and hit the tolerances and backlash they say it can hit and not lose position. One good test is with the gibs properly adjusted have the manufacturer set Z 0.000 then move the head up and down the full length of the Z axis travel 30 or 40 or 50 times then re-check Z, is it dead on? It should be, my guess is many will not be. Have them machine a circle, do you see/feel a lip in the material when the X or Y axis changes direction? You shouldn't.

Just go into this with your eyes wide open, I'll shut up now.

 

[coolidge]

That would be great if I had the space and was ok with the weight of the machine. I work in an industry where people move around a lot, no way am I moving something like a Hass or even a BP several hundreds of miles. I owned the predecessor to the Millritre for a while, and even that was a pain in the butt to deal with at 1500lbs.

Dan that's what riggers and truckers are for. Riggers will come load it and unload it for a few hundred bucks, trucker will truck it wherever. My brother just moved a 15,000 pound Mori NL2500Y from Ohio to Washington state, rigging was $400 and shipping was $3,000. The thing took up half the trailer. My guess is maybe $1,500 max depending on how far you are moving. You can move a car coast to coast for about $2,000. Just saying. :drink2:

 

[Dan_S]

The other part of the equation is that I like designing and duilding stuff. To me building the mill will probably be more fun than using it.

 

[coolidge]

The other part of the equation is that I like designing and duilding stuff. To me building the mill will probably be more fun than using it.

We are two peas in a pod Dan, I once built a 30" diameter dual pump vacuum thermoforming press with reserve tanks and quartz heaters and I currently scratch build tube guitar amps. Hopefully the quality of these mill drills has improved dramatically since I purchased mine 6 years ago, best of luck to you in your build hopefully I have at least given you some things to watch out for.

 

[GA Gyro]

The other part of the equation is that I like designing and duilding stuff. To me building the mill will probably be more fun than using it.

We are two peas in a pod Dan, I once built a 30" diameter dual pump vacuum thermoforming press with reserve tanks and quartz heaters and I currently scratch build tube guitar amps. Hopefully the quality of these mill drills has improved dramatically since I purchased mine 6 years ago, best of luck to you in your build hopefully I have at least given you some things to watch out for.

I fear I fall into that category also...

I am having a great time designing little parts and making them for EAB aircraft...
Somehow I find time to fly them... however I find myself thinking about the next version of this or that part sometimes when I need to be looking out for birds...
(Or is that )