[cjjonesarmory]

To Mark A Johnson:

Well, there were a couple of lower capacity units that I looked at from flash-cut, but the price wasn't quite what I thought it should be for a converted mill/drill machine. I've got a Grizzly G3616 full size manual milling machine with an Easson ES10-3M5 DRO (from DRO Pros <-Great company by the way), and the thought of getting a mini-machine just didn't feel right.

I considered converting my G3616, but I can't have my mill out of commission during the conversion and I figured I'd NEED a mill to fabricate parts for the conversion anyway, so that was out of the question. It was going to cost several thousand for the conversion as well, and I just wasn't that familiar with CNC at the time and figured I'd probably end up breaking something and never getting the performance I really wanted and buying a new machine anyway :-)

I initially was looking at the same mill from Smithy, but later found Novakon had a drastically lower price, and came with Mach3 instead of whatever the Smithy Ez-trol thing is.

I had also considered financing a true full sized machine from KBC Tool or Grizzly, but after thinking long and hard, decided that I didn't want to fork out twice the cash for a machine that had the same capacity. The extra accuracy/ridgidity that the machines had with bigger columns and parts was not really necessary for me.

My MAIN reasons for going with the NM-200 from Novakon (besides price) was the capacity of the machine, and the fact that (as far as I can tell) the machine is purpose built for CNC (not a conversion), size of axis motors (106 lb-in which if I am thinking correctly converts to 1696 oz-in), and variable speed AC motor.

I can't say plus or negative about Smithy's service, but Novakon gets an A+ in customer service. The problems I experienced with my machine was most likely caused by the Chinese manufacturer, not Novakon, and Novakon has done an excellent job of addressing my concerns.

On the data sheet from Novakon about the mill, one part of the document says that table travel is 24 inches on the x axis and 15 inches on the y axis. There is a red "revised" label next to this statistic. In the specs above the listing of the x and y axis travel, there is a spec for "Work Cube" which lists 22"x11"x10.5" for x, y, z. The machine came configured with 20"x10"x10". I do not think it's possible to get 24" from the x axis without relocating the y-axis homing switch configuration (not adjusting the switch positions but moving the WHOLE assembly out of the way). The motor assembly for the x axis will run into the y axis homing switch assembly at this length of travel. Currently, I've got it set up with 20" of travel between limit switches on x. I think relocating the y axis homing switch/limit switch configuration could get a little more maybe up to 22", but I just don't really see getting 24 inches of travel safely under any circumstances.

I haven't played with the y axis, but my machine currently has 11" of travel on the y axis, with a little more room to play with if I need it. I just haven't had a reason to try and get more from the y axis yet.

Last, the z travel is a little more limited than I'd like. Not the overall travel, 10 inches is great, but I have to use 2-4-6 blocks to get parts bolted to the table. In other words, with a standard sized set of end mills (say 1/8" through 3/4") with approx 1.5 inches protruding from the end of the collet, you are still about 1 to 2 inches from the end of the end mill to the bed. I am going to play with the z travel after I fix the milling head. I think I can adjust the limit switches to allow the arbor itself to come within 1 or 2 inches of the bed, meaning most of the standard end mills should be able to reach the bed. Not that I want to machine the bed :-), but in machining, you can never fully forsee the best way to clamp a part to a machine, and once the machining starts, you don't want to move it. I want to have the extra travel if I need it.