What is your opinion of MaxNC mills?

[mlinder]

My company cuts carbon fiber, fiberglass, and plastic components from sheets. My current customers also wish I could make small parts from aluminum. Several years ago we retrofitted one of our routers to run a few small aluminum jobs. Needless to say, we learned a lot about endmills, chatter, coolant, etc.

Anyway, I want to offer some of my customers their small aluminum parts, but I do not want to put out big bucks for a Haas, Fadal, etc "real" vertical mill, if it were not to pan out.

I found MaxNC on the internet and have thought their machines would fit the intitial bill.

Does anyone have experience with these machines? How accurate are they? How about customer service?

I am a little concerned about the fact that there is no spindle speed adjustment on the machines themselves. It's all software controlled via a PC.

Any input regarding MaxNC would be appreciated. I will be visiting Westec at the end of the month, so I would like to be armed with knowledge if possible.

Maybe some of you have other machine suggestions that work for you?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Mark Linder

[cncman2]

I know I tried to contact them and their were not much help. Their website is very vage.

[Jcadwell]

Did you ever get any more information or a chance to take a look at the machines? The Closed Loop system looks appealing. Thanks.

[mlinder]

It looks like I will bite the bullet and get a Haas Mini Mill - YIKES!!!

Gosh, it's only $40K (gulp)

I really need (want) ATC, and a good size machinable area. Plus the controller is real nice. Plus a local rep!

Have a good day - see ya at the bank beggin' for $$$

Mark Linder

[MikeA]

I own a maxnc 10 which is their basic small stepper machine. We use it primarily for machining .118" acrylic plastic with a 1/16" end mill. It is amazingly accurate usually within .001". Now bear in mind that is in plastic. I have machined a small amount of aluminium with fairly good results. This machine uses their controller and software which is a dos based program, and I just found out is not 2000 or xp compatible. The one thing to know is on the small machine we have, the lead screw is coupled directly to the stepper motor, and does not utilize a thrust bearing, or the motor is the thrust bearing. For us has not been a problem, but I imagine in a tougher material it may be. I cannot speak for the larger machines if they are setup in this fashion. On an overall, for our application, it has been perfect, and has run probably once a day for the better part of 4 years. Mike

[wms]

Mark,
I have one Mini Mill.
Very happy with it. Nice litte machine.
I got ride of my cnc knee mill and replaced it with the mini..
Very glad I did. Now all my toolholder and programs are the same.
Nice to have the enclosure also.
Mine was one of the first ( AUG. 00). So we've had it about three years. Rock solid, no problems at all.

P.s. Tell Mike Flower HFO SD I said howdy.
Think you'll like it alot.

[mlinder]

WMS,

You know Mike Flower???

He's a great guy. I was introduced to him through my Mastercam reseller back in February. Went to Westec and checked out all the machines. Once I cleaned up all the drool, I pretty much settled on the Mini Mill. I haven't ordered it quite yet. Although it is "Mini", I need to create roon around three Kennard CNC routers and one 4" x 8" Motion Master router. I need a bigger shoe horn...

What accessories did you get with yours? Anything you really wish you had. Some things you could have lived without?

Are you in southern CA? If so, where?

Oops - time to give the kid a bath...

Talk to ya later!

Mark Linder

[wms]

Mark,
Ya I know Mike very well. I'm good friends with guys at MTS, the parent company of HFO SD. Ask Mike about his race car.

I live in WY, it's along story.

I got the 3.5 floppy, rigid tap, and coolant. But I think the 3.5 comes standard now. Not sure.

Remember that any of the control options can be turned on anytime, so if you don't ge them up front you can turn them on later if you find a need.

Boy I hear ya on the shoe horn. But hey could be worse.

[HillBilly]

I used the Maxnc Pro software and a PC to replace the original BOSS 5 controller on a Bridgeport
knee mill. It works great for what it is, the only
thing it lacked was feedrate override on the fly.

I upgraded to Maxnc Deluxe and added the digitizing probe. In my opinion the price is right.

I have recently bought their mini mill with the
closed loop system and this little machine is impressive. I'm trying now to enterface the closed
loop software to my Bridgeport. I must add at this time I paid more for the mini mill, metal only, than I did for the Bridgeport.

[Klox]

HillBilly welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy this place as much as i do....
Is the Maxnc the Haas Mini Mill or am i a bit confused?
I'm rather interested in the Haas MiniMill.

WMS can you elaborate a bit on this machine? Would it be ideal for injection moulds?

Klox

[wms]

Klox,

The Haas Mini Mill is a small (16" x 12" x 10") cnc mill.
Standard Haas control.
6000 rpm / 7.5 hp spindle
Brushless axis motors
It will run on both single and three phase power
10 tool atc.
cat 40 std or bt 40 optional taper

here's a link:http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=13


They also have a Super Mini Mill. It has faster rapids(1,200 ipm) and a 10,000 rpm spindle. And 16 meg memory, with high speed look ahead.

link to super:http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=27


Also they have a Tool Room Mill.

Tool Room Link: http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=11

Hope this helps.

[Jcadwell]

The MaxNC is aimed more at the hobbyist, and is priced accordingly. Check them out at www.maxnc.com. The haas is apparently a high precision tool for production work.