What would this Tree cnc be worth?

[talvare]

One thing I noticed is that this mill seems to have manual operational capability on the X and Z axes but not the Y. For me, that would be an important feature.
Ted

 

[projectnut]

Currently scrap metal price is the highest it has been in months.
ALL machinery dealers and shops selling used machines state "As Is ,Where Is"
Or for parts because of people that want to fight about what they bought after the fact.
This avoids the " but you said", explore and do YOUR due diligence.
Many of the used electronics are available and there are some little known of electronics repair shops that can and will fix most anything.
I have seen more CNC machines scrapped over a loss of parameters and software than any other reason.

One thing I noticed is that this mill seems to have manual operational capability on the X and Z axes but not the Y. For me, that would be an important feature.
Ted

Not ALL machinery dealers sell "As is Where is". The two I frequent most guarantee their machines will be operational. If you purchase a machine and find it won't perform its normal function they will discount the price or supply the parts needed to make it operational.

Case and point: I purchased a Kellogg 2 stage compressor from one of the dealers. Upon getting it home I found the unloader assembly was trashed. To me it was no big deal. I removed the original and replaced it with a Load Genie unloader/check valve for around $50.00. The next time I visited the dealer he asked how the compressor was running. I said "fine, but I had to replace the original unloader. He apologized for the problem and offered me a new Albrecht keyless drill chuck as compensation for the problem. The chuck lists for about 5 times the cost of replacing the unloader valve, so I made out well on the trade off.

As for mechanical problems with the machine, it is missing the spindle shaft, the X drive handle is listed as "broken" and is at a slight angle to the table in the picture. There is No manual drive for the Y axis. Both the X and Y motors work, but seem to be missing the "drives" which to me means the boards are missing. Even though the motors do work the seller mentions they shudder the table when activated. At this point it's hard to know if there's a problem with the ball screws, the ways, the motors or gear train, or just some incompatibility between the motors and the sellers "controller".

It sounds to me like this has been used for a parts machine to keep other similar machines running

 

[markba633csi]

Wow, thanks for all the inputs. There's no way I could possibly drag home a machine like that now and find a place for it, but it's nice to get all the opinions anyhow. Besides I don't know if my power situation could even support it
-M
ps I thought the spindle issue was just a missing drawbar or something like that but it could be the entire spindle that's missing

 

[slodat]

Projectnut - your info is not correct. You can buy nearly any part you need for Tree CNC mills from ZPS. The Delta 20 control parts are still available new if you want them.

I would value the mill in the $500-3000 range, depending on what you want. I have a Tree Journeman 425 that I bought with a dead control. I did a complete control retrofit with new servos and control. I have about $10k in it. It is an excellent machine and far superior to anything that can be bought new for that price or even double.

Tree made very good machines. The spindle motor is Yaskawa unless that has been messed with. Off the shelf parts for nearly everything. Easy to work on and as I said, ZPS has a lot of parts for them. This would make a very nice home shop CNC machine with DMM servos and Centroid control.

The mill in the linked ad is not missing any handwheels. The X axis handwheel was added by someone. There's not provision for a manual handwheel on these machines that I have seen in any of the brochures and such. The spindle is clearly in the mill. It has an ER collet tool holder in it or some other type of taper. I can't tell. One thing to note - that machine is CNC on the X and Y axis only. No servo on the Z. There are much better photos in the ebay listing. The servo drives are in the cabinet.

 

[projectnut]

The collet holder may be in the machine, but that doesn't necessarily mean the drive is intact. The seller clearly states in the text: "It is also missing the shaft that turns the collet spindle". I'm not disputing the fact that Tree made quality machines. I'm just saying this one is likely an expensive can of worms.

I like Tree machines and used several versions for over 20 years. We had over a dozen at work including a Journeyman 325 and 425 model. I spent over 2 years looking for a 2UVR for my shop. I did find a few, but they were all worn to the point they would need need major amounts of money to bring them up to reasonable working condition.

My caution is that this particular machine has a great many unknowns, and has been identified by the seller as needing a number of expensive parts. Some people may be willing to pour $10,000.00 or more into a single machine and be fine with it. However that's not what I'm seeing from most members of this board. By in large members of this board are not using their machines to produce income. Spending a few thousand is fine on a machine that can return the investment is fine, but spending that amount of money for a part time hobby is stretching the budget for most members.

 

[markba633csi]

I saw a nice Taiwan made machine for sale in Santa Cruz last year and it was of a similar size and operational. Had all the binders and documentation and came with a functional PC. I was really tempted, it was around 1800$. So this one, even though better built, has too many unknowns, as Projectnut said
Course if they said "Free, come and get it"...
-M

 

[mxr662]

I called, gave him a very, very low ball offer, and think we could have come to an agreement. I would have bought it and done a Linux CNC retrofit but "missing the shaft that turns the collet spindle scared me off.

Andy