Looking to buy my first CNC lathe and need some advice.

[acerocket]

Like the thread title says, I am going to be purchasing my first CNC lathe and would like some advice and have a few questions to ask. I have decided on a Haas lathe and was first looking at the TL-1 but after going to the Haas Demo Days a few weeks ago, decided the SL-10 would better suit my needs (small garage shop so size is important). I am 99% sure I want the SL-10 but if there are any alternatives, I'd like to hear about them.

In terms of options for the SL-10, I am thinking of getting the Value Price package which has the Chip Auger, Tool Presetter, and IPS. I don't know if I need the high volume coolant pump or not - I will be doing mostly aluminum, copper, and brass and a little bit of stainless steel. Do I need the liner kit and liner adapter guide kit? I may also get the 5C collet chuck for times when I am doing repetative small parts. ANy other option advice would be appreciated.

I have been looking at what kinds of toolholders and inserts I need and the array of choices is positively staggering. I think I have narrowed the list down to the basic 'starter' set of tools and would like some advice if these are correct or not.

For roughing, the MWLNR and MWLNL with 80 degree trigon insert
For finishing, the MVJNR and MVJNL with 35 degree diamond insert
For boring, an 80 degree trigon insert boring bar (steel or carbide?)
For external threading, the SER and SEL laydown insert holder
For internal threading, the SNR and SNL laydown insert holder
An internal grooving tool for cutting thread reliefs
For parting, the SGTBN holder and SGIH parting tool
For grooving, the SGTHR and SGHTL holders with neutral inserts (not sure but I think these can also be used for light turning also)

That's about it for the basic list, but I might add the MRGNR and MRGNL round insert holder, a second larger diameter boring bar and maybe a few insert drill bits.

I looked primarily at the Dorian website because of their prices, but noticed that their tools don't seem to be qualified (except in rare cases). Not sure what it means to be qualified so any help on that would be nice. I also looked at Iscar but they are more expensive. Will the Dorian tools work or should I invest in the Iscar or comparative qualified toolholders? I only want to buy the toolholders one time.

Any help, advice, or comments would be greatly appreciated

[Geof]

Did you consider the GT20? It is considerably smaller than the SL10 but can put out similar parts at similar speeds.

You can get a basic machine and put on a manual chuck and use gang tooling or you can get the hydraulic chuck option and the eight place tool turret.

An advantage with the GT20 is that it has a large spindle bore at just under 3" ID. This means it is possible to fit a 10" manual chuck to work on large bar stock. We part off pieces from 2-3/4" and 2-1/4" leaded steel round bar.

[acerocket]

I do parts that are anywhere up to about 10" long. Sometimes they are bored all the way through (of course they need to bored from both ends so it means turning the part around). The GT-20 only has a 12" max length, right? I like the idea of the extra inch or two on the SL-10. How much do I lose if I add the tool turret to the GT-20? It might be an option and I will keep my mind open.

[Geof]

Yes the GT is limited in length and the turret cuts the useful Z travel almost down to half. Our parts are 0.4" to 0.8" long so that doesn't worry us .

[PBMW]

Well. I have a 2004 SL10. I also have the barfeed for it. Tool probe, parts catcher, high volume coolant, visual quick code, rigid tap, chip auger (what a piece of crap!) 5c, 16c, liner etc... yada yada...
When I needed another turning center I bought a Daewoo 220A Lynx.
I bought it with high vol coolant, probe, chip conveyer, tramp oil skimmer, tailstock (Not the piece of crap like on an SL10.) 5c, 16c, 6" chuck and a bar puller. I paid I think 68K delivered on my shop floor. This machine has 20 real world HP not 15 Haaspower. It also rapids at 1428 ipm. The Haas rapids at 700ipm.
It will machine circles around my Haas. The daewoo runs the same programs as the Haas but about 20% faster. I have owned the Haas for about a year and a half. Spent over $10k in repairs. I have had the Daewoo since November and have spent $0.00 in repairs. Both get run 14/16 hours a day. 7 days a week. I do know a couple of SL10 owners that are happy with them. Some of you guys on here and a couple on the practical machinist list. But I know more that are not happy with it.
I paid $50k for mine used, that was a bad move. It's going to be traded on a new live tooled Daewoo next year. I have had oil pump problems, low voltage alarms, (My power is just fine) service issues till the cows come home, Stupid stuff keeps breaking every month.
I talked to Vince Selway about service. Same O same O....
Sales guy from Selway shows up at my door, glad handing. I ask him what other machines he sells cause I ain't NEVER going to buy another Haas. The poor guy looked like a whipped puppy. I almost felt sorry for him.

[Geof]

Here is another view on Haas lathes.

One Million Tool Changes On Sl10

I have a second SL10 that has not done as much work being a couple of years newer but it has given no problems. Also a HL1 and HL1 Big Bore and I cannot remember when they had a service call, it is at least 5 years for the big bore and it runs every day.

[Wiseco]

Originally Posted by acerocket ... I also looked at Iscar but they are more expensive....

When I bought my machine, as it needed a complete tooling on it, I calles Sandvik and Iscar rep to quote on tooling. Iscar was the less expensive. He offer me near (if not more) 75% off the price of holders. Also, Iscar inserts are less expensive than Sandvik. But you should check Kennametal also, I heard good thing on them.

[stefan2108]

we have an SL-20 with live tooling. all in all a good machine. we already had 2 haas mills in the shop when we purchased the lathe so we were familiar with the software. I was still dissapointed with the lack of cycles such as a finishing cycle for the grooving (need good surface finish for sealing surfaces), the machine also can´t figure out two angle connected by a radius which our 20 year old graziano could master, live ttoling programming is a disaster... for complex parts the only way to go is with an additional cam system. but still not a bad bang for the buck.

[tvwilkes]

I have a 2005 SL10. I run a variety of materials,SS,4140HT,and titanium. I have zero issues with the machine. My rapids are 1200ipm,holds .0001 tolerances all day. For my shop conditions, I couldn't ask for a better machine.

[axis]

if you get the tool changer on the gt-20 your lenth is more like 6-8inchs
if you want to bore a hole then is more like 3-5 inchs
and you may want to see if the gt20 has the wiring for a barfeeder i think you can only use a bar puller

[Geof]

Originally Posted by axis ....and you may want to see if the gt20 has the wiring for a barfeeder i think you can only use a bar puller

If you are bar feeding or pulling you need the hydraulic chuck option. You can easily build your own bar feed operating from the user M functions. We have three shop built hydraulic bar feeds that use the machine coolant to push the bar stock forward like a piston. One has a pressure tank that is filled with coolant through a one way valve from the regular coolant pump and is pressurized with 100 psi air to do the feeding. The air supply to the pressure tank is interconnected with the air that opens the chuck. The other two have separate hydraulic pumps and motors. The regular coolant pump supplies coolant to the hydraulic pump through a standard hydraulic filter. To feed the bar the user M code operates a relay to turn on the hydraulic pump motor just before opening the chuck.

On the two machines with separate pumps it is possible to feed the bar with the spindle running and this saves a few seconds per part over pulling because there is no wait for the spindle to stop and restart.

[BallisticFab]

We have an 06' SL-10 BB that's about a year old now and it is great, an encoder went out once, and we have coolant leaks every once in a while but that's it. 1200 imp and .0001 is easy. We run nothing but stainless and CrMo and we run it at 100%-200% on a very consistant basis and it's held up well so far.