Whats going on with the TORMACH warehouse?

[mountaindew]

Well, I just saw an email saying the machine and stand are coming in two crates and will be here in the morning, so that is great. Plus the rest of the stuff was sent next day air so it would be here together. All in all, this was not too bad at all. I saw that they were having delays from when I placed this order, and I was expecting it. Now I have to get up early and go rent a pallet jack and an engine hoist in the morning. Wish me luck.

You dont need luck, but I will wish you good luck!
Use your skills, common sense, be careful and check your rigging and methods a number of times and be safe! Read and check everything a number of times. My only advice would be to check the ball screw mounting bolts on the y axis before setting on base and be very careful with all the lubrication lines and their routing. Dont just wrench it down to the base. Ask steve and others around here the best way to level and tram x,y axis and get it tuned best. You can twist the base slightly and cause a small loss of accuracy. I had no experience with machine setup so I took extra care with every single thing I did. At one time I was a crane operator so rigging moving and placing was done with more confidence then most people would experience.
Take your time and enjoy the challenge.

[eltejano]

You dont need luck, but I will wish you good luck!
Use your skills, common sense, be careful and check your rigging and methods a number of times and be safe! Read and check everything a number of times. My only advice would be to check the ball screw mounting bolts on the y axis before setting on base and be very careful with all the lubrication lines and their routing. Dont just wrench it down to the base. Ask steve and others around here the best way to level and tram x,y axis and get it tuned best. You can twist the base slightly and cause a small loss of accuracy. I had no experience with machine setup so I took extra care with every single thing I did. At one time I was a crane operator so rigging moving and placing was done with more confidence then most people would experience.
Take your time and enjoy the challenge.

I really appreciate the advise. I am used to moving big equipment. All my mills and lathes I moved by myself and rebuilt completely. I have been using the Tormach at this place called Techshop for about 3 months. I decided to learn to CNC so I dove in head first. I think I got the hang of it enough to not get into too much trouble. I will post some of my products I am making with it. I have at least 5 projects to have fully finished in the next week or two so this machine will be setup and machining non stop for the forsee-able future. I am looking at bigger machines already like a Speedio for the near future but for now, the Tormach will do.

[cordvision]

Placed an order two weeks ago. Contacted them 3 times before I finally got an answer. Order still hasn't even shipped up to this day. I need the item ASAP for my business. This is getting ridiculous!

[smokediver576]

I placed an additional order last Wednesday and have still not heard anything (just some TTS tooling and collets, should have been on the shelf). I need to order a touch screen monitor but now I'm thinking I should go with someone else. I wanted to go with the Tormach one so that I'd have tech support but now I'm concerned about that as well.

However, I did send a tech question email yesterday about the accuracy of the electronic tool setter and got an immediate response with tech info and all. Thanks for the help John Wallner!

Tormach, if you are watching this thread, please take notice and let us know what's going on. A simple press release from the president would be nice (and no, not a rambling Tweet like that other president).

Later,
Awall

[talonosi]

I placed an additional order last Wednesday and have still not heard anything (just some TTS tooling and collets, should have been on the shelf). I need to order a touch screen monitor but now I'm thinking I should go with someone else. I wanted to go with the Tormach one so that I'd have tech support but now I'm concerned about that as well.

However, I did send a tech question email yesterday about the accuracy of the electronic tool setter and got an immediate response with tech info and all. Thanks for the help John Wallner!

Tormach, if you are watching this thread, please take notice and let us know what's going on. A simple press release from the president would be nice (and no, not a rambling Tweet like that other president).

Later,
Awall

Don't buy from Tormach! You can get the exact same monitor cheaper elsewhere, or a 19 inch for the same price as their 17 inch. I don't have a model number on me now but I will get it for you today. All without the Tormach shipping problems!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[smokediver576]

I placed an additional order last Wednesday and have still not heard anything (just some TTS tooling and collets, should have been on the shelf). I need to order a touch screen monitor but now I'm thinking I should go with someone else. I wanted to go with the Tormach one so that I'd have tech support but now I'm concerned about that as well.

However, I did send a tech question email yesterday about the accuracy of the electronic tool setter and got an immediate response with tech info and all. Thanks for the help John Wallner!

Tormach, if you are watching this thread, please take notice and let us know what's going on. A simple press release from the president would be nice (and no, not a rambling Tweet like that other president).

Later,
Awall

Hey, Guess what? UPS just dropped off my package. Maybe someone should suggest ShipStation to Tormach. John Sanders uses it and you get about 10 emails telling you the skinny on what/when/where/why.

[talonosi]

I placed an additional order last Wednesday and have still not heard anything (just some TTS tooling and collets, should have been on the shelf). I need to order a touch screen monitor but now I'm thinking I should go with someone else. I wanted to go with the Tormach one so that I'd have tech support but now I'm concerned about that as well.

However, I did send a tech question email yesterday about the accuracy of the electronic tool setter and got an immediate response with tech info and all. Thanks for the help John Wallner!

Tormach, if you are watching this thread, please take notice and let us know what's going on. A simple press release from the president would be nice (and no, not a rambling Tweet like that other president).

Later,
Awall

OK, I found the model. I believe they use the 17" 5 wire Monoprice screen. They charge $259.00, currently Monoprice is charging $149.99 for them here https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_...seq=1&format=2

You can pick up the 19" here for https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_...seq=1&format=2

Monoprice must have just dropped the price because when I went to buy my screen the 17" was around $200 if I remember correctly. I ended up opting for the 19", however at $150 I would have purchased the 17"

[eltejano]

Well, received the mill super early. Spent the last few hours breaking down the boxes, setting up the stand and trying to figure out just where to put it.

[oneineight]

Just received a small box from tormach, just 3 business after placing order, fastest ever to my location.
But they are working out the bugs, along with some other items, I ordered three 10 packs of drill bits, and received one drill bit in each size ordered.
sales at Tormach will fix the problem, I guess the guys at the shipping center could not believe you could get 10, # 24 drill bits for 7 bucks.

[coffeetek]

Yeah, they still have problems... My Slant Pro order is screwed up. They shipped lathe but say they don't have enclosure and couple of other items in stock which makes machine worthless... They are really not inspiring confidence lately. I am wondering are they having financial problems since their customer service is really lacking.

[cordvision]

Got my tapping set after about a full month. Was packed so poorly that the shipping box ripped, the woodbox broke, and the contents spilled. 3 quick change collets fell out of the box and are missing. Notified them about the issue last Thursday. They still haven't shipped a replacement!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[eltejano]

Yeah, they still have problems... My Slant Pro order is screwed up. They shipped lathe but say they don't have enclosure and couple of other items in stock which makes machine worthless... They are really not inspiring confidence lately. I am wondering are they having financial problems since their customer service is really lacking.

I think the problem is getting people to move to Wisconsin, so I hear from a Tormach employee. Whether true or not, don know. I know I would not want to go from The Austin area to BFE Wisconsin, unless you really made it worth my while.

[eltejano]

Oh, and they sent two accessory sets. One was next-day air, the other was ground. Got a big box sitting in my living room for 2 almost weeks waiting on a return tag.

[coffeetek]

I think the problem is getting people to move to Wisconsin, so I hear from a Tormach employee. Whether true or not, don know. I know I would not want to go from The Austin area to BFE Wisconsin, unless you really made it worth my while.

I don't know for sure, but in my experience you see problems like this in companies which are going down the hill and have financial problems. When company is on up swing the customer service is high unless they are experiencing unusually high growth so they can't hire as fast as company is growing. I don't think Tormach is at the growth phase since their inventory is way too old, so I really think like they are in financial trouble and going down hill. I hope I am proven wrong.

[eltejano]

I don't know for sure, but in my experience you see problems like this in companies which are going down the hill and have financial problems. When company is on up swing the customer service is high unless they are experiencing unusually high growth so they can't hire as fast as company is growing. I don't think Tormach is at the growth phase since their inventory is way too old, so I really think like they are in financial trouble and going down hill. I hope I am proven wrong.

I hope so too.

[IMT]

Greg Jackson passed away over 1.5 years ago. Maybe the company has been sold. If so then it is typical for new owners to "re-organize", which could cause these kind of issues.

[MichaelHenry]

Greg Jackson passed away over 1.5 years ago. Maybe the company has been sold. If so then it is typical for new owners to "re-organize", which could cause these kind of issues.

The company is employee-owned so it's unlikely that it was sold. From what I heard Greg and his co-founder arranged that about 6 months before he died. I think that Bob Warfield had something about it at the time on his CNC Cookbook blog.

[IMT]

I hadn't heard that. Good to know.

[jdclark]

The company is employee-owned so it's unlikely that it was sold. From what I heard Greg and his co-founder arranged that about 6 months before he died. I think that Bob Warfield had something about it at the time on his CNC Cookbook blog.

Employee owned is one of those things that sounds good in theory, like a hippie commune, but seldom works in practice. A small company needs a leader with a vision to make it work- relying on a committee usually ends up in disarray.

[eltejano]

Please summarize why that - I have only toured the west coast and across to Rockies areas, and loved it ! (live in New Zealand) I don't know the central/southern/eastern states at all.

Cheers Keen

It is not exactly the most exciting part of the world there. Milwaukee and Chicago are nearby, they have fresh cheese curds which are delish, but not much to do. I visited the area before and it was great. Milwaukee has around 600,000 inhabitants and Madison about 250,000. Probably a great place to raise a family. The winters are no joke, this one in particular. I do not want to offend anyone but it is kinda boring. Dont get me wrong, I like boring, I live in the burbs in a town where not much exciting happens and I like it that way.