Hello

This is my first post, and unfortunatly it is probably a common one so please bear with me. I am in the process of starting up a small shop and am looking for a vmc. My experiance is limited to a Haas VF-6, and a Cincinnati sabre 1250. I am looking for a machine with approx 30, 20, 20 inches of travel. I have been looking for a Haas VF-1 or 2 but have had a hard time so far. All machining will be done in aluminum. If anyone has opinions, good or bad on any machines i would greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks to all who can help.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a VMC. Are your parts going to have very close tolerances? How much do you want to pay for it? Do you need it for long production runs? Or are you going to make very diferent parts on each set up? How much shop space do you have available? etc, etc etc.......
All machines are good, some are better for some jobs.

I will be using this machine for small production runs. around 1-2 hundres parts at a time. My main concerns are accuracy and finish. the cincinnati i used did not impress me. It did not seem to be very ridgid and would not produce parts with the same finish or in the same time as the Haas. I have all the floor space i need, however there is an akward two level floor connected by a ramp. I will need to place the machine on the lower level, so that is of some concern. getting it placed may be interesting. The door to this shop is also only 8 feet tall by 9 feet wide. I have been told it will be possible to get most machines inside with this size door. As for price i am trying to keep it under $40,000.

I just bought a hurco vm-1 and love it totally conversational or g-code , holds great size and you can adjust surface finish in an optional parameter all this for 38,000 new

There are some respectable buys in the for sale section of this site.