VANCOUVER, B.C. Canada

[automizer]

Hello everyone
I have notice in a few of my posts more and more people from the lower mainland (Vancouver area) are on the forum so heres the place to talk maybe we can get together and see each others set-ups.

[Genguy]

Hi Automizer,
Nice of you to start this thread.
I'm in the process of purchasing my first machine for a jobbing shop I'm starting, so I don't have much to show as of yet.
I'm in the Langley area and our shop is in PoCo.
The machine you mentioned in some other threads seems to be aimed at woodwork more than metal work, is that a correct assessment?
Did you make it to the Thomas Skinner show last week?

[automizer]

thatnk you, I have talked to others alittle but I thought a thread all to us would be nice. The machine I have been looking at it can do metal but it being a gantry router they kind of fall short on the metal side anyways no matter what you do. But yes I did make it there, thats where I first started looking at the machine, on paper mind you but thats were im going to buy it from. Did you make it to it? I never made it untill about an hour befor they shut down.

[Genguy]

I went to the show at about 11 am. My partner and I spent more time socializing with friends than looking at machines though.
I was amazed at how many people I knew there. An old friend owns Westcam that had the first booth as you walked in that was showing off Gibbscam. We took a look at the Haas TM1 and TM2, but I'm not thrilled with the control. We have pretty much settled on buying a Sharp SV-2412. I was very impressed with the atc on one of the Haas vmc's, incredibly fast!

Once I get things going I would like to take you up on your offer to see each others shops. I'm hoping to be making chips in early Feb.

[automizer]

yeah I did basicly the same thing, the first time I saw the atc I sorta jumpted it was so fast. as for the shops go given that the concreat hasn't even been poured for mine yet I will have to hold off for a little bit on showing you mine but definetly when its done (April ) your shop tho is in PoCo right? Im in Coquitlam what are the cross roads your on?

[Genguy]

I have pm'd some info.

[Geof]

Originally Posted by Genguy ...We took a look at the Haas TM1 and TM2, but I'm not thrilled with the control. We have pretty much settled on buying a Sharp SV-2412...

I use Haas, SuperMiniMill not the TM, and find the control very easy to use. What did you find about it that was not suitable?

[dertsap]

hey guys , ive never worked on hass but everone tells me it is very user friendly , one shop that i worked owned another company next door that sold machines , if i were you i would do some research on that sharp machine , the company had one in the back as a trade in , nice looking machine but i was brought to understand those machines are made in taiwan something personally i would be scared of don t take my word for it but giving you the heads up anyhow , oh and stay away from @^&^%! FADAL

[automizer]

I like Haas machines but I may have a slight bias towards them given thats ala I have bee trained on at BCIT

[dertsap]

depending on a guys buget best bang for the buck from what i understand ,i dont hear of a lot about blown spindles as i do one other machines in the same range ive just seen 2 new spindles in a quantum ,the machine is less than 6 months old once the warranty runs out probably a min of 20 g for a 50 taper an ive seen it on others fadal was the worst of the worst 120 g for a constant head ache

[Genguy]

Originally Posted by Geof I use Haas, SuperMiniMill not the TM, and find the control very easy to use. What did you find about it that was not suitable?

Geof:
It comes down to brand preference I guess. Nothing in particular stands out that is wrong with the Haas control. I would like the ability to make modifications to the control if I want. I'm not sure if that's even going to be possible, but the fanuc control seems more accessible to this.

Dertsap:
Thanks for the heads up.
My partner has more experience than I do with most of the cheaper machines like Milltronics and Fadal. It's been hard for us to choose something that will physically fit in the space we have and still do the job we want for a price we can afford. If we had more room I think we would get a used Mazak or something like. Fully enclosed mini mills are hard to find used. We narrowed our choices down to Haas and Sharp. The Sharp has boxed ways and a Fanuc control so we thought it would be a little better machine.

[dertsap]

what kind of modifications are you thinking of