which mill

[gcasper]

I have been doing mill work for twenty years and now need to do cnc. I am deciding between the Haas tm1, acer 3vs w/anilam, and a-trump with centroid. I only machine plastic, mostly acrylic, and small parts. All three machines cost the same.

[307startup]

I'd go with Haas. Better controls in my opinion, and in my area, service is pretty decent. I have something against machines that cost the same but don't provide all the same specs. Doesn't the Acer and the Atrump both use a Cat-40 taper in a Bridgeport knock-off J-head? Definitely not as rigid as the column mill on the Haas. Not that the Haas can't or doesn't have faults, it's just that in my opinion, for the same price, it's more machine for the money. And you never know if you might want to use it on a material other than the ones you stated. That's when the added rigidity of the column mill really becomes a benefit. Just my $.02. Some people knock Haas, some people love 'em, for your situation I believe that it is the better of the 3 machines.

[pit202]

I have HAAS TM-1 from `05 , this is over two years and I haven`t any problem with them, maybe it isn`t so rigid and so covered as I wish to do metal work with big tools , but it works and works and works. I allready wait for SL-20 big bore , and the next mill will be probably VF-3 if they past my rigid test. ( Haas -the leaking machines :P )

[gcasper]

The Haas tm1 seems like a lot of machine for the money but isn't it hard to program for a novice? The others have conversational programming. The cnc knee mills have r-8 tooling.

[DSL PWR]

The Tm-1 is easy to program. I just got mine this spring, and a day later I was cutting parts. I wouldn't want to mess around with r-8 tooling now that I have a push button tool change that is very repeatable. I doubt you could get a 2" face mill rigid enough in an r-8 taper. I just wish I had bought the tool changer! I was cursing myself after 250 tool changes in 5 hours!

[Donkey Hotey]

The standard answer: it depends.

Do you have a standard knee mill that you plan to keep? I've just taken the plunge from my 16x40 engine lathe to a TL1. I'm convinced that except for spindle torque, a TL1 is a better lathe than any manually controlled lathe.

I tried to make the same justification with the mill. I have a VF2 but can't imagine ever getting rid of my Acra knee mill. The abilty to do compound head setups and other unique setups makes a knee mill a tool you can't replace. The head on the TM1 can't be rotated, extended or tilted. It won't do production very well but when I need to bore a hole at a compound angle and don't want to build extensive fixtures, the knee mill wins.

So if you're going to keep a conventional mill around for the odd stuff, buy the Haas. I can't even begin to justify the other two choices you listed unless you need the machine to do virtually everything. The others won't be nearly the CNC that the Haas will be but at least they'll have all the compound adjustability of a conventional knee mill.

Doing plastics, I would think that the 4000 RPM spindle on the Haas would be your biggest reason to get it.

Have you seen the TM1 in person? Get in touch with your local Haas Factory Outlet and see if you can get a demonstration. That's their job and they're generally happy to demonstrate it. The machines sell themselves. Really: at the same price point there is no comparison. I see the others at Westec and wonder who buys them.

You might consider the TM2. The extra table space is really nice.