looking for gorilla users/owners

[woodman08]

the manufacturer gorilla out of london ontario has saddled up with general tools ,will be interesting what sort of machine will come from these 2 companies.
I do not see any gorilla users sign up,do it lets keep in cotact

[drakesis]

Hi Woodman,

I've been interested in getting a Gorilla CNC, especially since they are in Ontario~! (Me being in Quebec.)

How does the machine handle? What was the cost? Got any close photos of it's construction, is it a solid welded table or bolted together?

[woodman08]

I have utube videos of it running and photos on this section.
So far i'm happy with it ,i had looked at some chinese stuff and got scared and then it came down to shop bot in the US or gorilla in ontario.
Its well built very heavy duty ,the gantry can pull you around ,it will not stall in a tough spot something else will give .
I bought the 4x8 version ,thought if i ever wanted to sel it would be popular,running it under mach3 with the vertor software package and corel 12 .
I am interested in 3d but not there yet because of the learning curve
If you need more info ,you can also call 519 396 8311 stan

[woodman08]

A 4x8 including delivery, set up, training, software, the works is $23,995
for the Gorilla Pro. This includes spindle (3 HP water cooled) but the
customer can supply his own computer.

They can offer a 10% discount for an order received before March 31 but have
to stay pretty close to list after that.In april the gorilla production switches to general built in quebec
but prices are going up as general will be adding to the machine design

[drakesis]

Thanks Woodman, I've contacted GorillaCNC and am requesting info.

[woodman08]

let me know if you have further questions

[Drassk]

I've done some work with the Gorilla guys, and they're pretty straight shooters from what I've seen. Which makes them a bit more honest than 99% of people in the CNC router business, from my POV. I'm not saying they make the best machines out there, but I think they'll be more honest with you about what their machines can and can't do relative to your needs.

[woodman08]

did you buy a cnc machine from them recently

[abeneteau]

Hello,

Im Andre Beneteau from London Ontario. I teach in a high school in the city and since Gorilla is just down the street (like 4 blocks) I decided to keep our money local. We have actually purchased 3 machines to date: 1- being a Plasma with THC combo 5HP (Italian) spindle router 4x4 table. With the flick of a switch I am able to cut steel or wood (I guess I was the first to request such a machine) and they built it. After a few small issues we are up and running. 2. A 2x2 smaller router table but adequate for what they are using it for. 3. A 4x4 table we just bought with a 3HP European spindle with a very slick interface computer and LCD monitor. I have now contracted them to retrofit one of my large metal cutting mills the goal of which is to switch everything ove to Flashcut. Throughout my dealings with Gorilla I found them pleasant and helpful. They always sent someone to take care of any issues I had and have. Our school lab has 4 CNC mills 1 CNC lathe. I am a certified MasterCam X3 instructor Level 1,2,3 and offer certification to our students. If you are looking for a co-op student or would like to come and give a talk to our students regarding the field I would be pleased to set up a meeting. We are also looking for job shadowing experiences and shop tours to take the students. Any size shop would be great as these students have alot to offer.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rather long post. I will post pictures of students projects soon.

Cheers

Andre

[woodman08]

You have good positive stories and you are right about a local purchase.
I bought my machine 2007 dec and i am enjoying what it can do.
I am retired and used to run a furniture shop now i run the shop(3000sq ft) but have very few customers but this cnc thing is great (i have a passion for computers as i sell and service computers also)
Gorilla is ok i'm a bit farther than you and they are not quick to help me out unless of course I'm spending more money.Do be carefull about flash cut as there are 3-4 machines with serious issues running flash cut.My machine is the 4x8 3hr router and i do have a plazma cutter but not on the cnc YET.
I like 3D carving on the machine and right now i'm doing electric guitars.

[abeneteau]

Thanks for the heads up on Flash cut. However I think many of these problems can be rectified by monitoring the prox switches and installing new ones so that the PLC can feedback to flashcut when the machines hits its limits. Also it is not a true CNC machine as it is not a closed loop that is to say there is no feedback counters (at least the are not being monitored or counted) to the Flashcut unit. I am researching this with Gorilla and are going closed loop on the retrofit machine as it is a CNC mill. We did however upgrade the drives to Argile and they sense collision thru a current draw feedback loop. I have to tell you I was not always a teacher...in my previous line of work I was a robotics implemetor and end effector designer. I worked in the machine build industry where the PLC programs were quite extensive and robotic integration quite complicated.

Cheers,

Andre

[brad_irc]

Originally Posted by woodman08 the manufacturer gorilla out of london ontario has saddled up with general tools ,will be interesting what sort of machine will come from these 2 companies. I do not see any gorilla users sign up,do it lets keep in cotact

Hi woodman08,

I work in a store in BC that is a General tools dealer. We have recently acquired a General/Gorilla cnc router table in Feburary. (40-924-M1 Junior Series 24x36")

It's been an interesting battle with the machine since we got it. I feel that I should be biased and say good things about it, but there has been too many things wrong with it since the beginning. Perhaps I should write a review and post it up here, because I haven't got much feedback from General/Gorilla in regards to the issues...