Originally Posted by tpmx57  To be truthful it is just not worth it.
The mill head was a pain,if you set up on your zero point in x and y axis then found you wasn,t high enough for maybe the next tool you just could not raise the z axis up without loosing the location as the head swivels.
If an endmill would grab for some reason or other the head would move.
Your right about play in the z axis,I ended up running alot of backlash in the control just to get in the ballpark.
It was ok for just drilling parts.
You just had to accept it was what it was.
If I could do it over again I would not buy the Smithy. |
I must admit I have been using your posts as a bit of a gloat over some of my colleagues. When we were researching machines for our school, one guy wanted to spend all the money on a single large machine. That was pretty much over ruled as we needed more machines available for hands on time. Smaller seperates were ruled out because it required double the number of CNC and DRO options to buy. We finally settled on 3 in 1 machines as the choice. Most of the guys were in favor of the Smithy , mostly because they do a lot of advertising and have a pretty slick brochure. However, I came across the Shopmaster while doing a google search of 3 in 1 machines. It was obvious right away that the Shopmaster had addressed all the issues you mention with their mill head design. Once we compared the specs and features, it was clear to all that the Shopmaster was the best designed 3 in 1.
The tough part was convincing the bean counters to pay in advance. Shopmasters are usually sold out about 60 days in advance and they require full payment up front. I finally convinced them that a company that requires payment 60 days in advance and has been around for 30 years must have a reasonable product. Final decision was for the Shopmaster, and we have been satisfied with the performance.