Smithy Automate lathe review and pics

[Ican]

The best thing you can do to help alleviate the anticipation is do some thing else. I try to pretty much ignore it, but it only works to a small extent. It does help though. Particularly with a lathe, you ain't gonna be running right away. Lots of things to do before putting one into service. Concentrate on that aspect and cross your dotted eyes.

Good Words. I had to re-re-re-organize a shop, pull wire, arrange a forklift, and then after it was parked in the shop, it took me about three days to get everything like I wanted it. So far, it has been worth the work. My machine remains smooth and accurate. I hope everyone can get the same results for their $$ and efforts. There are a lot of "Little things" that have needed attention....but again... it has been worth it so far. Dan.

[kadesmithy]

Wow, reading back through these posts is a bit painful. Most of us take great pride in taking care of our customers, and go above and beyond on most occasions. We have a lot of people making a living with these machines that would agree.
There is a technical department that should handle all technical requests, the best place to reach them is 800-476-4849. I personally try and keep up with everyone through email as well, but occasionally those fall through the cracks. If you need us, please call.

I am bringing this post to the attention of the owner, clearly there are some processes that need to be corrected.

[brianbonedoc]

Thanks Lee - I have a bunch of tooling and such lined up so far. I am sure I am missing something however.

I am sure the setup will be a little challenging. I still have to rearrange the garage. I have to research how to hook up the phase converter too.

Shouldn't be long now. . .

[LeeWay]

I recently connected a 10HP phase converter on our Timesavers wet belt sander. I used one of the American rotary models that suited it. Simply a breeze to do. No problems whatsoever.
Excellent instructions as well as videos are provided with them. That and the quality parts makes it really not a big decision. You can rely on quality name brand parts. Already had one fire in the shop on a machine. Don't require another.

[dertsap]

what is the experience level of the operators on these lathes , are they seasoned lathe guys who are used to typical cnc trouble shooting or completely new to coding . I saw the mention of needing lots of support and "hand holding" . None of the companies are going to be doing much if any hand holding , haas for example will send someone out to hand hold but they also charge a couple hundred per hour , and so will any other company .
I can't speak for anyone else but Kade has always been quick to respond and answer any questions I've had , and when i was redirected to someone else regarding technical questions they were quick to respond as well

[Ican]

Brian, I had to do the phase converter too. The instructionsAmerican Rotary sends are nothing less than great! It makes the install and hookup of the converter itself a breeze. The diagrams are spot on. They even had the wires pre bunched in the motor electrical box, all I had to do was add connectors to my wires and put them where they belonged. I don't recall a single thing being difficult to understand. Just make sure you oversize the supply wire. They show you can run various sizes for different parts of the hookup...and of course depending on your distance from the supply to your converter /machine. I just ran the largest size to everything. I think I used # 8 if I recall. Easy. Dan.

Edit... I forgot! I did have one problem. I went to the local electrical supply and purchased a top of the line "Eaton" 3 phase disconnect. I tested everything as I went.... I'd put in a component, wire it, turn it on, test it...turn off the power and go to the next. So... I install the "Top Of The Line" disconnect... test it.... One dead leg! I could see the blade inside clearly go into the slot for the leg... The pieces it went between to make contact were too far apart... no contact!!! I turnd off the power.... fine tuned the gap with a hammer... and all was good. Trust Nothing! Check it all!! Ha! Dan

[brianbonedoc]

Dan - thanks for the tips. I hear nothing but good things from American Rotary. How is the noise btw?

I plan on plugging it into a 50A 220v right next to where the lathe will live. I don't think it will be an issue hooking it up.

Did you have a "wild" leg off the rotary that you had to deal with? Or were all 3 phases pretty spot on voltage-wise?

[brianbonedoc]

dertsap - I am not an 'experienced' operator but have cut my teeth on a converted grizzle lathe that I CNC'd and ran pathpilot on for about a year.
I am sure there will be a learning curve, but I am not a total novice either.

[Ican]

what is the experience level of the operators on these lathes , are they seasoned lathe guys who are used to typical cnc trouble shooting or completely new to coding . I saw the mention of needing lots of support and "hand holding" . None of the companies are going to be doing much if any hand holding , haas for example will send someone out to hand hold but they also charge a couple hundred per hour , and so will any other company .
I can't speak for anyone else but Kade has always been quick to respond and answer any questions I've had , and when i was redirected to someone else regarding technical questions they were quick to respond as well

You are correct...almost. I have never has Haas send anyone for $200 an hour. Three times that perhaps...sometimes 4 or 5 times that if your Haas HFO is as sorry as ours. I had a problem with a tool changer.... A service guy was 75 miles south of me... when I got the bill, I was charged for mileage from Dallas. Thats why I own an SL6 from Automate and why I'll buy another this spring if my SL6 keeps performing.

As far as experience... I have 25 years CNC. I have two engineering degrees. Now all of that is not worth a cup of coffee at Starbucks if you have a machine down and no parts, or parts that don't work. All that times 25 and a ton of code won't get you up and running...making parts. The machine has to run.

My experience so far with Kade and Automate have been fair to absolutely great. I do feel sorry for the guys here that have had difficulty getting replacement parts and then making them work. I hope all of these problems can go away and all we hear is good news about the Automate machines and service. I hope they stock some parts and that repair support can improve for those that have had less of a positive experience than myself. Kade is the ONLY reason I bought my lathe from Automate. Kade has been good to help in any way but I think the major problem might be..."They have just ONE Kade". Dan.

[Ican]

Dan - thanks for the tips. I hear nothing but good things from American Rotary. How is the noise btw?

I plan on plugging it into a 50A 220v right next to where the lathe will live. I don't think it will be an issue hooking it up.

Did you have a "wild" leg off the rotary that you had to deal with? Or were all 3 phases pretty spot on voltage-wise?

Brian, the rotary has a whine when it first starts. That stops in just a minute or two and the thing runs silky smooth and really quiet. My spindle fan makes more noise...in fact, drowns out the rotary. The motor comes with four really nice thick rubber feet...use them. I as well set mine on a piece of 3/4 plywood...on the floor and that dampens what little noise it makes even more. What I do notice is when I turn off the rotary at the end of the day... that danged motor spins literally for 5 minutes! Those are well built and balanced units for sure.

I have a 3 to 4% fluctuation in my supply. My 3 phase leg is within 2%. I didn't do a thing to make that happen. My guess is you can hook it up and fly. It will depend on your supply to some degree...but you can help that if you can isolate your converter to it's own circuit as I did. Since the install, I added a manual lathe G0709 ;-) to the same 220v single phase supply... circuit and it has made no difference at all. Dan.

[sin_arms]

Here is my experience with CNC machines, I own a Tormach 1100, a Fadal, Automate 1417, Daewoo Lynx. All of my problems with the Automate have been with fully functioning programs that have ran good parts when the problems developed so It's not something that I am doing.

My first problem with the 1417 was that the coolant pump would just shut off and I would have to reset the breaker, I figured this out as the breaker had the adjustment set too low, I turned it up and it's never had a problem since.

Second problem, the turret would fail to index properly or not lock (major problem). After quite a few inserts and some broken tooling a new Turret was shipped and I installed it, seems to be good now.

Third problem, the spindle would fail to do what's told. Start a program or MDI with a code like (M3 s1000) and the spindle would hover around 30rpm (could be 5 seconds for 5 mins) and all of a sudden ramp up to where it should be. Sometimes after a program was finished the spindle would continue to run (30-60rpm) and it may stop on it's own or you had to shut it off and restart it (e stop, reset, spindle stop buttons did nothing). Replaced the VFD that Kade sent out and the spindle wouldn't do anything, put the old one back on and it worked as it did prior. Talked to Kade and Patrick and they sent out an encoder and cable, installed it and still have the same problems. Currently waiting to hear back from Kade after he has his meeting with the manufacturer about this problem. Current amount of days with a problem machine is 125, partially my fault for not pushing to get my problems resolved faster.

[tmarks11]

All the zmat machines have servo drives for spindle control.

I would recommend that you put a chart on your website to help potential customers understand difference between the machines. You sell a lot of the machines that partially (or completely) overlap each other, all for a similar amount of money, such that it is difficult to understand why one is better/different than another.

For example, looking at your three slant be ranges (all exactly the same size, do they all have servo spindles?):

ST-1116: box ways, 4 way toolpost, pneumatic collet, servo spindle, $21.9k
TS-1117: 8 tool turret, linear guideways, $23.8k
GS-1113: linear guideways, pneumatic collet, $20k

Most companies don't compete against themselves, For example, Haas has distinct steps as you progress from small to mid to big lathe.

[kadesmithy]

Tmarks,

You make very valid points. Most of these issues will be resolved with the new website. It is getting close to going live. Product lineup, technical documents (manuals), videos, etc... will all be addressed.

[tmarks11]

It is getting close to going live. Product lineup, technical documents (manuals), videos, etc... will all be addressed.

Good news, looking forward to it. Very much want to see you succeed, as you are filling a niche that no one else is with your cnc lathes.

Is Smithy planning on updating the manuals?

[kadesmithy]

Thank you for the kind words tmark11.

Yes, manuals are being updated as we type. Thanks

[brianbonedoc]

Well - my lathe landed in Detroit. Kerry sent these teaser pics.

They are going to test it first in their shop - then send it back to CA.

[Ican]

Nice Brian!
I think the testing is sure worth the wait time. It looks good, I hope you are making chips soon!!!
Dan

[brianbonedoc]

Kade just sent me this video of the lathe running.

[Ican]

Sounds like to me the muffler bearing is bad. That won't take but a couple of weeks to fix I guess. .... Sorry, just had to!!

Thats good!! I'll be glad when you get that thing. I'm tired of waiting!! I have another tool on order for mine and today when I tracked it, I thought of you. You'll sure enjoy that machine. It won't be long until you are as crazy as the rest of us. See if you can get them to go ahead and send your converter...it comes on a seperate crate anyway. Or at least mine did. You could have it wired and ready to go. I'm excited for you Brian. Nice of Kade to send you that video. Thanks for sharing. Dan.

[Ican]

Brian.... Any good news??? Dan.