Reliability of a 10-15 year old mori lathe...

[peter.blais]

Hi guys.

I'm considering buying a mori lathe (SL-150 or similar) from the mid to late 90's. It's not going into a crazy busy production shop, but rather an enviroment where it will run probably 16-24 hours a week turning titanium / aluminum and some steel.

Are these things pretty solid at that age, or am I going to be fixing it frequently?

One i'm looking at has a sub spindle and live tooling- I assume those additional features are just more stuff to break.

What are you guys finding who are running them? I have never owned a Mori before but I have a feeling they are pretty damn solid still at that age.

I'd be sending a tech to the machine to have it inspected prior to purchase of course.

[littlerob]

There are 3 major machine tool companies that are the success' that they are for a reason. Mori is one of them. 15 years is not really "old".

Robert

[underthetire]

SL150's were a solid little machine. There were only a couple of area's on the early ones that had problems.

Turret clamp system leaked on the first ones, the factory should have fixed it by now, and it was pretty apparent after the first month. That was only on two or three I saw.

Turret indexing gear was weak on the first gen. They had cap screws holding the gear on the shaft, and if the machine was indexed in to something, they would break and cause damage. Mori had a "free" retrofit with a new shaft with a KMT nut.

If it has live tooling, have the service guy check all the tool holders, they are expensive new. I've rebuilt plenty of them if they aren't too far gone. Also have him check the drive belts and intermediate shaft for the live tool drive. NL series did away with all that and have integral motors in the turrets.

As with any used machine, he should check backlash, alignments, way lube pressure, spindle run-out and noise, and electrical for any "modifications" by PO's. Check the hydraulic system for contamination, especially on a sub spindle machine. ATS collet systems had a leaky nose when they first came out.

[JohnnyTurn]

In your opinion. Who are these three successful CNC machine tool builders?

By the way I have a 1980 Mori SL3B that holds tenths and is a tank. If you have a green Mori, you can't kill it. Yes can things wear out? Sure. But like anything else, how has the equipment been used and maintained? My old gal was a one owner machine from a small job shop.

JT

[littlerob]

Originally Posted by JohnnyTurn In your opinion. Who are these three successful CNC machine tool builders?

Try this, IMO there are more options but who am I?

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/polls/...d_machine.html

OR

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/newthr...ewthread&f=159

[triumph406]

Originally Posted by peter.blais Hi guys. I'm considering buying a mori lathe (SL-150 or similar) from the mid to late 90's. It's not going into a crazy busy production shop, but rather an enviroment where it will run probably 16-24 hours a week turning titanium / aluminum and some steel. Are these things pretty solid at that age, or am I going to be fixing it frequently? One i'm looking at has a sub spindle and live tooling- I assume those additional features are just more stuff to break. What are you guys finding who are running them? I have never owned a Mori before but I have a feeling they are pretty damn solid still at that age. I'd be sending a tech to the machine to have it inspected prior to purchase of course.

I was talking to somebody a few days ago about Mori lathes, I was interested in an SL1. His advise was get a machine that had a Fanuc controller, AND a Fanuc drive. He said avoid any machine taht doesn't have a Fanuc drive, as fixing a non-Fanuc drive could be very expensive.

[DouglasR]

I can say nothing but good things about Mori! I have a 1986 SL3-H cnc lathe with a Fanuc System 11T-A cnc and LNS hydrobar bar feed unit. This machine has run 40+ hours a week since new (I took it out of the box when I worked at my former employer -bought it from him when he went under)and still holds tenths!! I can easily turn and hold +/- .0002 with it.

The machines are rugged and accurate. Mori support is great, I have never been stuck for parts.

Obviously, if the machine has been wrecked or abused it wouldn't be able to do this, and the reason I paid a premium for such an old machine was that I knew that from day 1 it had never been mistreated. The right machine will give you YEARS of good service.

[rkucbel1]

These machines are as solid as bulls. I bought a 98 CL200 a few months back for a 'special price' since it had been wrecked. The chuck was in pieces and the turret was over .250 out of alignment! Oh no!

Absolutely nothing was wrong with the headstock. Spent about 2K to get a new chuck.

The turret was a SOB to get off, but the only parts that needed replacing were the tapered 'crash absorption' pins. Put the turret back on and turned a 6" long piece with less than 0.0001" deviation!

I bet the 80's era machines are still good too. The only thing that would turn me off is the capabilities of the controls pre 92-93' or so.

Not sure a shop that only runs only 16-24 hours a week would make full use of the sub-spindle. If you get a deal on a live tooling version, go for it. I don't have it and wish I did. That little bit just adds so much more capability with not a lot more investment.