Has anyone seen a Novakon mill

[tbas]

Hello Everyone:

I have been looking for a mill for a while and am trying to settle on the right one. I think it has been narrowed down to 2. I will be milling aluminum most of the time but need the capability to do mild steel once in a while. So to get a suitable range of work travel I am looking at the NM-200 or the industrial hobbies mill.

For me the advantage of the Novakon is i can buy it ready to go but without a controller. I have already built a controller so would like to use my own. The price of the Novakon is considerably lower than the industrial hobbies mill especially after importing to Canada.

So here is the question. Has anyone seen or operated the novakon NM-200 mill? What did you think of its quality? I am mostly interested in the mechanical quality since I will add my own controller. Does it look like a machine that can last? I will be doing light machining for a hobby business. speed is not really a factor to me at this point.

Thanks

Tom

[TacPyro]

Hello Tom.
I have not seen a 200 live, but if it is anything like the NM-135 than you will be set for years to come for the work you have in mind. I think that it's a pretty big machine though so make sure that your shop can handle it.

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by tbas Hello Everyone: I have been looking for a mill for a while and am trying to settle on the right one. I think it has been narrowed down to 2. I will be milling aluminum most of the time but need the capability to do mild steel once in a while. So to get a suitable range of work travel I am looking at the NM-200 or the industrial hobbies mill. For me the advantage of the Novakon is i can buy it ready to go but without a controller. I have already built a controller so would like to use my own. The price of the Novakon is considerably lower than the industrial hobbies mill especially after importing to Canada. So here is the question. Has anyone seen or operated the novakon NM-200 mill? What did you think of its quality? I am mostly interested in the mechanical quality since I will add my own controller. Does it look like a machine that can last? I will be doing light machining for a hobby business. speed is not really a factor to me at this point. Thanks Tom

ive seen the nm-200 novakon has set up at their shop. its a big machine. id compare it to a haas tm1 for physical size rather than a typical hobby mill. i believe its a good bit larger than a tormach.

as for quality... it looks nice, but i couldnt tell you much more than that. smithy has a video of the same design machine eating aluminium at a pretty good rate though.

[tbas]

Hello again:

I'm still trying to decide but it looks like it will likely be a novakon. I think a couple are on order by some in the forum so I will wait and see what they think of them.

Space is not an issue of me in the shop. I'm setting up in what used to be a beef barn. After removing all the cattle equipment I ended up with a 3000 square foot shop. Only the downstairs is usable as far as heavy machinery goes but thats still 1500sq feet.

As for the size comparison to the Haas. Wow would I like to get one of those. i was thinking about something like a VF2. Lol well that is not going to happen. If I lived in the usa I would be looking for a used Haas or other larger cnc mill. Unfortunately here in Canada there is little choice. Used machines are very rare.

One problem I have not solved but have an idea how to do is that occasionally I would need more than 12 inches of cross travel. As much as 16. Since the parts are symmetrical I think I should be able to build some sort of jig that allows me to rotate the part and let the part that is not being machined hang over the table out of the way. So basically machine half. Stop program. Rotate and run again. Anyone done anything like this? The material being machined would be aluminum .125 to a maximum of .250 inch thick.

Thanks again for the responses so far

Tom

[gleas]

Tom,

If they are anything like a conventional mill, you should be able to drop/remove the splash guards on the table, do your machining on one end, then slide the part over, pick up your zero's and continue. If you are doing many parts, you can use a system of dowel pins that will relocate your parts using the holes you have already drilled. If the table has a sub plate, (aluminum or plastic) things get even easier.

I just ordered an nm-135 and was also wondering if anyone has actually taken delivery of one of these machines so I can find out more about them while I am waiting.

-Greg

Originally Posted by tbas Hello again: I'm still trying to decide but it looks like it will likely be a novakon. I think a couple are on order by some in the forum so I will wait and see what they think of them. Space is not an issue of me in the shop. I'm setting up in what used to be a beef barn. After removing all the cattle equipment I ended up with a 3000 square foot shop. Only the downstairs is usable as far as heavy machinery goes but thats still 1500sq feet. As for the size comparison to the Haas. Wow would I like to get one of those. i was thinking about something like a VF2. Lol well that is not going to happen. If I lived in the usa I would be looking for a used Haas or other larger cnc mill. Unfortunately here in Canada there is little choice. Used machines are very rare. One problem I have not solved but have an idea how to do is that occasionally I would need more than 12 inches of cross travel. As much as 16. Since the parts are symmetrical I think I should be able to build some sort of jig that allows me to rotate the part and let the part that is not being machined hang over the table out of the way. So basically machine half. Stop program. Rotate and run again. Anyone done anything like this? The material being machined would be aluminum .125 to a maximum of .250 inch thick. Thanks again for the responses so far Tom

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by tbas Hello again: I'm still trying to decide but it looks like it will likely be a novakon. I think a couple are on order by some in the forum so I will wait and see what they think of them. Space is not an issue of me in the shop. I'm setting up in what used to be a beef barn. After removing all the cattle equipment I ended up with a 3000 square foot shop. Only the downstairs is usable as far as heavy machinery goes but thats still 1500sq feet. As for the size comparison to the Haas. Wow would I like to get one of those. i was thinking about something like a VF2. Lol well that is not going to happen. If I lived in the usa I would be looking for a used Haas or other larger cnc mill. Unfortunately here in Canada there is little choice. Used machines are very rare. One problem I have not solved but have an idea how to do is that occasionally I would need more than 12 inches of cross travel. As much as 16. Since the parts are symmetrical I think I should be able to build some sort of jig that allows me to rotate the part and let the part that is not being machined hang over the table out of the way. So basically machine half. Stop program. Rotate and run again. Anyone done anything like this? The material being machined would be aluminum .125 to a maximum of .250 inch thick. Thanks again for the responses so far Tom

if im not mistaken, the mn200 has 15" cross travel. in any case, yes, i believe flipping the part in a alignment jig of some kind is very common practice for large parts. i only have 5.25" usable travel on mine. poor little thing

[TacPyro]

Tom, our NM-135 will be here shortly so keep an eye open for an update.

[g29cc]

I ve been eyeballing the NM-200 lately as well. I was looking at the Tormach for awhile and now I am looking at the Novakon setup. Seemed to be a little larger and more powerful then the Tormach. But what about support ? I ll be curious to see what you guys have to say about quality of the machine after you take delivery.

[fourwheeler]

Originally Posted by g29cc I ve been eyeballing the NM-200 lately as well. I was looking at the Tormach for awhile and now I am looking at the Novakon setup. Seemed to be a little larger and more powerful then the Tormach. But what about support ? I ll be curious to see what you guys have to say about quality of the machine after you take delivery.

Well I do not have the NM-200 but I have taken delivery of the NM-135 and I must say so far I like it. Seems to be well thought out and nicely made.

[g29cc]

Just got off the phone with Kai ( hope I spelled that right ) and looks like I ll be taking a very serious look at the pro series mill now. Customer service was very good and talking the specs over the machine seemed very nice as well. The price is right in my range also. Now just have to make space ....

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by g29cc Just got off the phone with Kai ( hope I spelled that right ) and looks like I ll be taking a very serious look at the pro series mill now. Customer service was very good and talking the specs over the machine seemed very nice as well. The price is right in my range also. Now just have to make space ....

it khai

and yeah, hes pretty responsive to customers.

[falconman]

Just saw this thread. If you look in the Smithy section under 1240 CNC you can read my post on the Smithy (called the NM200 by Novakon). I got the complete mill and pc from Novakon about a year ago.