# Haas Minimill 2, Hurco VM5i or a ?



## coolidge

Gunrunner you need to order a set of these for the Z axis hand crank. Bill did you just spit coffee on your monitor? :rofl:

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## Boswell

The good news is, I don't think you could make a really "Bad" choice here. Both look like winners and both look well beyond the typ hobby CNC.  Looking forward to what you decide and pictures of it in operation.


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## Transformer

Get the boat.  I just told my 6 year old grandson I sold my boat and he ran to the sofa lay down and put a pillow over his head.  I felt terrible but at my age it was getting too dangerous to cruise alone. At your age you have lots of cruising years ahead and if you have grandchildren.....  A couple of years ago my son asked my then 6 year old granddaughter what was the most fun she had all summer "Driving grandpa's boat!".


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## JimDawson

Forget the money sinks, been there, done that.  The mills are pretty much a coin toss.  The resale and local service on the Haas might be the deciding factor.


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## wnec65

The boat and the motorhome are people oriented hobbies.  The mill in your shop allows you to become a recluse.  Your choice.


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## coolidge

Update: After reading some Haas vs Hurco threads I'm less inclined to go with the Hurco. Its made in Taiwan and recent reports from shop owners who purchased them were not favorable, they have both machines for comparison.

There's trouble on the Haas side...I have the ceiling height in my garage for the Mini Mill 2 but from what Haas is telling me they can't get it under my garage door threshold of 83 inches. :-( Yet some people have managed it so I'm researching further. The Mini Mill will clear with a height of 78.5 inches but the work cube is pretty small.


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## coolidge

Update: Well it looks like I can squeeze a Haas Mini Mill 2 under my garage door after all though I may have to remove some trim.


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## coolidge

Gunrunner you need to order a set of these for the Z axis hand crank. Bill did you just spit coffee on your monitor? :rofl:

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## tmarks11

Coolidge, following you around on this forum is going to cost me a lot of money.

I thought my tool habit was bad, but I see I have some catching up to do.

I still need a welding table...


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## coolidge

Ahahaha I wish I only had welding table drool. Get yourself some Haas Mini Mill 2 drool then you will know pain. 20 station automate tool changer, chip auger, rigid tapping, hi flow coolant, high speed machining...oh she's cool. But with the 10% off sale they are running now, the mill with sales tax, shipping, rigging is still $55k and that's before tooling. I could buy one tomorrow, sadly with my day job I could not keep a mill like that busy enough to justify throwing down that much money it really would be stupid. So I'm thinking wait until I retire and have lots of time on my hands, then throw down on something even bigger, a VF2SS maybe. Now you know why I'm trying to distract myself over in the G0509G thread lol.


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## tmarks11

coolidge said:


> Ahahaha I wish I only had welding table drool. Get yourself some Haas Mini Mill 2 drool then you will know pain.


ahh, right, that must be Bill Miller with the gleaming new Stronghold welding table.

I went back and forth on cnc machines, and then decided that I wanted something now to learn on, and maybe (someday) upgrade to an industrial machine if I had developed a product line where that made financial sense.  The Tormach made it easy to get into the hobby with a machine of a known performance level at a (relatively) affordable price.  I decided not to wait a "few more years", and finally jumped off the fence last year.


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## compsurge

Have you looked at the Brother Speedio?

I'm not huge in the know of production-level machines.

One alternative could be to get a Tormach 770/1100 and sell it in a few years when you upgrade.


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