Thanks for the info. Maybe I should give you a little more info. First of all have you used one of these machines. I just got a chance to go check it out and as far as the control goes, no worries there. It actually seems quite conventional with all the features I would really need. Seems to have lots of memory, being PC based. Runs conventional G/M code. Nice editor, distance to go feature, lots of work shifts, something like 40 or 50. Blah Blah Blah. Anyway I currently work for an aerospace machine shop and want to start dabbling in my own stuff. I literally need a small machine to fit inside a good sized 2 car garage with a 10 foot ceiling and more importantly an 8 ft door opening. As nice as a fadal or something similiar goes most are probably a little too big. The Haas mini mills seem cool but I see them going used for $30,000+ quite frequently. I don't need a brutally rigid machine, just something to make some cuts in aluminum and mild steel, and the occasional tougher stuff I just planned on light cuts. I got a chance to make some pretty aggressive cuts in aluminum with a 1/2" e/m and was actually quite impressed. Doing a pocket and a 1.0 blind hole ramping down at about 5000-6000 RPM at about .010/rev it had no problems. Better yet, the hole that was cut with a .005 stepover finish pass and still feeding quite fast, about 20 ipm, it was round within .0004 and right on size. The pocket looked beautiful with no chatter, no ugly lines around the arcs that were swung and was parallel and square within .0001. I also used an Interrapid indicator to get a feel for backlash and I was blown away at how tight the machine was. There literally was not .0001 of backlash by simply handling one direction then reversing direction in X, Y, and Z. No I did not do any facemill cuts or cut on any steel, Ti, etc, but I'm looking at getting this machine for about $12,500 or less with a nice subplate and an almost new Kurt vice. I see these machines quite frequently on eBay for $16,000 to over $20,000, no joke. So do you really think this is a bad direction to go to just get started in my garage? Again thanks for the reaponse, I just needed to let you know what I'm looking to do. Just want to get started, I can always go bigger some day when the $$$ starts rolling in, LOL! HaHa! Thanks, Mike.  |