Thoughts on Tormach pcnc-440?

[bakrch]

What sale? I've built 3 different machines on there site...haven't came across any sales there...

Weird, I guess that ended very recently, but when it was active it wouldn't show until you were in the checkout phase. ($1k off on the premium package I had in my cart)

 

[MillersvilleProf]

Tormach is a good company to work with. I used to teach at the University of North Dakota and purchased a Tormach PCNC 1100 mill several years ago while at that program. We did have some board issues with it at the time and they walked us through the repairs. At the time I liked the fact that the Tormach was open architecture and figured if their company ever went belly up we could still work with the machine, since that time the company has only gotten bigger and my guess is that they will be around for awhile. You shouldn't have any trouble cutting even alloy steel with the 440 as long as you remember the size of the machine and are conservative with feeds and speeds. I routinely milled A2 steel on the one we had at the university and never had a problem. I know of a few custom knife makers who have used the 440 effectively for making folding knives so it is well within the capabilities of the machine. They are handy machines to have. Even in my current lab at Millersville that has three VMC machines, I often use our small little Wabeco mill which is very close to the 440 in size for a lot of smaller projects.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

It’s funny, a 770 came up in Craigslist for 14k and now a 440 for 8k. I really think I should jump on the 440. 5 years old about 300 hours, mostly plastic.

 

[RJSakowski]

The 440 wasn't available when I bought my PCNC770. However, had it been, I still would have gone with the 770. The primary reasons being the larger work envelope and greater spindle power. Two years ago, I did an apples to apples comparison of the two. Here it is.

All that said, there is some impressive work being done on the 440. If space were a factor or if I was on a tight budget, I would have gone with the 440. BTW, the package that I pirchased was over $14,000. Those extras add up in a hurry.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Yeah @RJSakowski don't know if you priced them lately, but just a decent setup is about 13k (440) and about 17k for 770
I really should do this, No shipping charges, extras, and well under what I would have paid. I don't know if there has been any changes to design in last 5 years that make it worth it, but they tend to be 6 to 8 week build out.

***just emailed the guy to go check it out. @RJSakowski is there anything I should look for on the Tormach? Play in motor/head bearings? Backlash in table axis'? I'm gonna take a piece of stainless and an end mill to see what break loose.

 

[RJSakowski]

Yeah @RJSakowski don't know if you priced them lately, but just a decent setup is about 13k (440) and about 17k for 770
I really should do this, No shipping charges, extras, and well under what I would have paid. I don't know if there has been any changes to design in last 5 years that make it worth it, but they tend to be 6 to 8 week build out.

***just emailed the guy to go check it out. @RJSakowski is there anything I should look for on the Tormach? Play in motor/head bearings? Backlash in table axis'? I'm gonna take a piece of stainless and an end mill to see what break loose.

I believe that the 440 hasn't changed significantly since its release. The 770 and 1100 have been extensively changed since I bought mine. Mine is a 2011 Series 3 and the new models are 770M, 770MX, 110M, and 1100MX.

Spin the motor at 10K and listen for any noise as it winds down. That would be indicative of a bad spindle bearing. If they were running plastic, more than likely they ran at higher rpm.

You can measure backlash on the table fairly easily. Use the side of the vise or a block as a reference and mount a dial indicator in the spindle. Approach the block a few thousandths past the initial contact point. . Zero the indicator and also the DRO. Take the table another .010" and then back out until your dial indicator reads zero. The reading on the DRO is your backlash. There are several factors that affect backlash, including loose gibs, too tight gibs, worn ball nut, insufficient thrust bearing preload, and worn ball screw. According to Tormach, you should be between .001 and .0015" backlash or lost motion. You can check the spindle in a similar manner. Other things to check would be table flatness and tram. Not being familiar with the 440, I can't give you specific advice and a full check can get really involved. A simple check of tram against the table in the x and y directions would be in order.

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Thanks RJ, Spindle bearings, X,Y,Z backlash and you think checking tram of the head? Wouldn't that just be adjustment? I mean there couldn't be anything bent to cause tram to be off...correct? It will be a full tear down and reset of the head to move the thing...

 

[RJSakowski]

Tram on the 770 is factory set. I don't know about the 440 but I assume the same. The 770 tram is fixed in the x direction by two tapered dowel pins and as such usually not adjustable. The y axis tram is fixed at the factory. An out of tram condition could be present because of a serious crash or, in the y direction because of sag due to a loose z axis gib. There are remedies but not appropriate for the situation. Rather, I would note them to the seller and maybe negotiate the price.

Download the operators manual and pay particular attention to section 9.3. https://tormach.com/support/mill/pcnc-440-documents

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

For those of you playing along with the home version ....I am probably picking up the 440 this Tuesday. Fingers crossed all pans out! Will most likely need to sell the PM727m just for the space needs..

 

[GunsOfNavarone]

Here we go...