Sl-10 & Sl-20?

[k_scott]

My company is ready to purchase a new CNC machine. I am stuck between choosing the SL-10 or the SL-20. I am leaning towards the SL-20 because it has a lot more space inside and its future capabilities. My company machines various plastics and teflons. My future goal is to start overnight production with the addition a bar feeder from HAAS. I was wondering if there is any pitfalls I should be looking for in this endevor and if anyone has experiance with either of these machines, how they feel about them, and in their opinion which machine is better.

[gizmo_454]

Scott,

We bought an SL-10 with the bar loader in March this year. So far it has been an excellent machine. The SL-20 is quite a bit bigger machine, and allows for more options, ie: live tooling, fully programmable tailstock (as opposed to the SL-10's manual move and lock/programmable quill). We typically turn smaller parts and wanted the higher spindle RPM. Also, the tailstock would have been nice, but it wasn't a necessity for us.

Make sure you get a collet chuck for the machine that will accept the full spindle capacity. We made the mistake of getting the 16C chuck that goes to 1-5/8" cap. and the machine spindle will go to 1-3/4". We should have gone with a 3J instead. Oh well.

High pressure coolant would have been nice too, but I guess it all depends on how much you want to spend.

I hope this info helps.

Good luck!

Gizmo