Mill purchase, need advice

[Guest]

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Fadal.

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:cough:

[Slick]

It's so funny how most people refer to Fadals! And trust me, I know, I learned on them.

 

"the 4020 fadal has been here 14 years and still runing.(barely)"

 

It seems like everyone has had, or has seen an old Fadal that is still running "barely"! There like an old Ford pick up, straight six of course. It doesn't matter if it sounds like it's out of oil, going to throw a rod or smoking like a son of a' ___, they still figure out a way to run.

I sure miss my old pick up!

[notso]

Take a look at Leadwell. My old shop had a couple of them and they did a really good job. They were significantly cheaper than the Haas also. I can't remember the exact price but when the Haas saleman came in and saw a new leadwell he asked the boss "how much did you pay for that thing?". When my boss told him he said "well I guess they're just giving those things away". It had Fanuc drives and controller, a 10K spindle (I think this was an option), rigid tapping, programable coolant nozzle and was pretty fast. I think the price was around 50K for the one we had w/ a 30in table.

[Guest]

quote:

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It seems like everyone has had, or has seen an old Fadal that is still running "barely"! There like an old Ford pick up, straight six of course. It doesn't matter if it sounds like it's out of oil, going to throw a rod or smoking like a son of a' ___, they still figure out a way to run.

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Yeah both of ours are just about the same age, with the 88 HS control. I don't even want to fathom how much we have spent on these machines on maintenence just this yr alone. Mind you there has not been even a single crash on either of them in recent memory. I could look it up but for a machine that cost, around 72k, I think, we have probably spent 1/6th the cost of that machine this year alone in repairs.

 

1 is scheduled to be retired at the end of next year and the other the year later. I can't wait

 

Though with 4 essentially brand new, 2 yrs is the oldest, Mori NV5000's, I guess you could say I've gotten a little spoiled.

[Fig sign]

In my career I run Mori-Seiki ,Okuma, HAAS ,Sharnoa ,Deckel-Maho .

I would take old Okuma or new HAAS .

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We have a First machine here. Taiwanese machine, but great for small parts, small footprint. 8000 rpm. Here is a link. Fanuc control.

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My friend runs First and I like this machine ,great for money and build good .

[TomHemphill]

check out www.centroidcnc.com look in the "buy a machine" heading they have a variety of machine manufacturers linked that use their control... lots of sizes and price ranges We have a Millport with their 5x control and have very little trouble ....about 7yrs old cutting mostly aluminum

Tom

[Racer X]

+1 to Micromoldmaker about the Hurco VM1

 

I was in the same boat a year ago. Looked at alot of them and was about to buy a Haas Mini. At the last minute someone here suggested looking at the Hurco. After a bit of questioning that is what I bought. I have had one service issue immediately after I got it and the factory was outstanding.

 

I have been absolutely satisfied with it. This may be hard to believe. But when I bought it and wanted to put it through a test expecting to be let down I did a very complex surface program that I had run on a brand new Okuma MX 45 at my last employer. I actually got a better surface finish, just as acurate, and 12 minutes shorter cycle than the 2 hours 20 minutes that it ran on the Okuma. I build molds and run mostly steel and graphite. For the money, I don't think you can do any better.

 

Should you go this way and are in need post help, just let me know.

 

Cheers,

[daryl_y]

I am for Hurco my employer bought a Hurco VM2 about 6 months ago and it is a nice little CNC machine. We also have an older Hurco Hawk 40 (about 8 years old) that had also been suprising reliable. The Hurco conversational programing is very easy to learn and for simple parts is faster than programing it with Mastercam. Be sure yours comes with the "Indusrty Standard" NC option.