Tonsen - eBay ReadyToRun Mill

[Valisk]

Many, many thanks mr westie We really appreciate the time and effort you've taken to share the info. I look forward to reading your doc.

Shame the ebay vendor hasn't shown the same commitment (although, I suspect it's something to do with the language barrier!).

[Valisk]

I notice the seller on ebay has three different sizes of machine for sale - what sizes have you guys gone for? I've bought the 180x250 version...

[cpurious]

Same here. The price jump wasn't worth the larger size for what I want out of it.

[mr_westie]

Draft manual is up.
http://www.box.net/shared/diz6309gkl
2.8Mb

To add the final steps of actually milling a board.

[mr_westie]

Final doc is up.
PDF, 3.3Mb
http://www.box.net/shared/lszkke346z

Word Doc, 2.3mb, in case anyone wants to improve on it.
http://www.box.net/shared/8a9abbtr61

Do let us know how you get on with yours

My low profile clamps

[Valisk]

File online storage sites are blocked where I work - I'll have a look when I get home

...and I've just heard from the wife that a 'large box' has arrived. That was mighty quick delivery, Jarod only posted it on Friday! (I also had to 'fess up to the missus how much I paid - I've got a few hours to think of a good excuse - wish me luck!)

[mr_westie]

Just tell her you are engraving jewelry

[Valisk]

I've had time to photograph the machine as I was unboxing it.

http://s532.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Tonsen%20CNC/

I've just powered it up and manually moved the X, Y and Z axis and everything moved...

One thing I have noticed is that there is no play in the Z and X axis, but there appears to be a small amount of play in the Y axis - any ideas? Is there a way of tightening or adjusting the nut?

Just reading your PDF now, mr_w

[mr_westie]

Looks like yours was better handled by the couriers then mine

I have just checked mine, there does appear to be some movement.
That play may not be a problem, we will know for sure when you start milling.

[Valisk]

Yep, the package seems to have been carefully handled.

Despite this, you can see on the photos where the spindle motor has rubbed against the side of the machine bed and damaged it slightly. This could have easily been avoided by wrapping the spindle motor in cardboard or bubble wrap. My other concern about the packaging is that the Y axis stepper seems quite vulnerable with only a 20mm piece of polystyrene to protect it from knocks, if you look at the other pic you can see where the connector has cracked.

Having seen the various images that have been uploaded (showing lots of rough edges and tooling marks) I wasn't expecting the machine to look as good as it does. Sure, it does have the odd rough edge and tooling mark but overall, but I'm very pleased with the physical condition.

So far, I've hooked everything up to the PC and jogged all three axies around just to check the control box and steppers are functioning. All the screws are well coated with grease and everything runs smoothly and quietly. I've yet to start up the spindle.

A word about the CD - for starters, it's all in Chinese! I already had a licensed version of Mach3 installed on a dedicated machine so all I was looking for was some config information. I found it in a PDF file, but I had to rename it before it would open. Worryingly though, AVG detected several trojans on the CD, so proceed with caution.

mr_westie - Thanks again for the PDF. It'll be really useful for the next stage too...

As soon as I get the chance, I'll try cutting some test pieces - it might be a few days off though.

[PirCapAdi]

After reading this thread I decided to take the leap and got one of these off EBay.

It arrived about 10 days later in what seemed to be a good condition; however once I unpacked the unit I found that it had a rough trip.

When I connected it, using the control unit, only the X-Axis and the spindle worked, after setting up Mach3 the problem persisted. After a few emails between myself and the seller, I got the OK to open the control unit. Through some debugging (plugging Y into X etc) it looks like the DB25 interface board is the culprit. Almost three weeks after receiving the machine and unfortunately having to leave negative feedback the seller finally shipped a new interface board.

My current impression of the machine is that while things are ok everyone is happy, but when a problem occurs the support is extremely lacking and quickly disappears.

Hopefully I will have the replacement control board by the weekend so I can start using the machine, and update with a more positive impression.

Adriaan

[mr_westie]

PirCapAdi, sorry to hear that.

I am eyeing up their bigger maching with the faster feed rate of 2400mm/min.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110434297243

Now if I can sell this one to cover that one i'll be set