small CNC mill suggestions

Wow. That sure will keep me busy for a while. I'll have to digest that for a bit. I'm sure I'll have more questions :)

Thanks for all that, I appreciate your time Steve.

Stan
 
What kind of work do you want to do? How much travel do you need? What kind of material will you be working with?

I took all these questions into consideration last July, and I bought a Tormach PCNC1100, and I have not regretted it for a minute, and I run my machine 50 to 70 hours a week.

I cut mostly aluminum, but I have done some 55 rockwell steel, and some titanium.

My business is mostly gasoline powered remote control cars and boats (1/5 scale cars trucks and 1/4 scale boats).

I used to own a real CNC machine shop where I had a 22HP FADAL and a 20HP Haas, and I haven't found anything yet that I could do on either of those machines that I can't do on my Tormach. It just takes a little longer. And do you have any idea what's really cool about the Tormach over those machines? My Tormach didn't cost $75,000.00.

My original plan was to work till I was 70 years old, but a major health issue threw a big wrench in to that plan. I attempted retirement, but it only took 3 1/2 months before my wife told me to go out and get a frigging job. At my age with the new scar on my chest, no one would hire me so the next best thing to do was to put a machine in my garage. I haven't regretted it for a single day.

My opinion, stop looking at all the others and buy the Tormach. You'll be happy you did.

Here's a picture of my machine and some parts I have made on it.

Steve

BACK_END_OF_MY_BOAT.jpg TORMACH 3.JPG
 
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sgisler said:
Wow. That sure will keep me busy for a while. I'll have to digest that for a bit. I'm sure I'll have more questions :)

Thanks for all that, I appreciate your time Steve.

Stan
Click to expand...

Stan,

One common mistake is to overspec the steppers. You don't want them to get too big. The response of the motor goes hand in hand with the mass of the rotor. If you try and over spec the torque, the rotor will have more mass and actually slow you down anywhere the machine has to change direction.

The other thing is that you need to realize that steppers are at 100% current all the time if you are expecting them to "hold".

There are schemes to back the current down if there is no pressure on that axis.

So, steppers run hot.

Regards,

Matt
 
the motors are not over spec for this application the head weighs 300lb and a max table dead weight capacity of 300lbs :nono:

here is a company selling this machine note their motors are 2-1300 and a 3000 and there is a current drop switch on the controllers for holding amps. the same parts as i suggested are used here.
http://midwestmachineworks.com/Rong Fu 45 Clone Conversion.html

wpb070c0ff_06.jpg
 
Hello,

I was speaking more in general terms, not specifically to the mill in the post above.

Looks like a really nice machine though!

Regards,

Matt
 
Sorry, a little late to the party. Try heading over to http://www.g0704.com
It is a guys website dedicated to the Grizzly G0704 mill. He has done a ton of the research on converting this mill and he is just a great guy. He has a few threads on cnczone on his machine/machines and all of his conversions and projects. I will hopefully start on my G0704 shortly when I get a few things off my plate.

He also started a site http://www.g0602.com to cnc a lathe grizzly sells. He has links to plenty of people that have cnc'ed this little mill to do amazing things as well.

Just ask around for Hoss and he will answer any question. In retrospect I did ask a few questions that I should have known the answer too but never got a cross word from him. Just patient answers to all of my questions. Look in the bench top mill section.

Chris
 
one more note........

If you start reading the g0704 threads make sure you have all afternoon. There is literally thousands of post.

Chris
 
Not everyone wants or can afford a turn key system. Also some of us want to build a cnc system for the feeling of accomplishment one gets from putting it together:cheerful:.
It is not a one size fits all IMHO:penny:
 
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