Tormach vs Ajax

[davidlee]

I have a friend that is in the market for a home CNC I have been telling him about the Tormach but he seems to be leaning toward an Ajax tool room mill. The Ajax mill looks fine but cost about twice as much as the Toromach. Has any one out there compared and Ajax tool room mill with the Toromach. The two things that he seems to like about the Ajax is that it has a 2HP motor its own control and a much higher rapid feed rate. Any help is appreciated.

David

[philbur]

What Ajax CNC mill are you are talking about. I can't find a "Tool room CNC mill on the web site". Do you have a direct link.

Buying a mill for hobby use is like buying a new car. How much money can I afford to spend, add between 20% and 50%, then evaluate the alternatives based on 10% logic and 90% heart.

I would congratulate him and tell what an excellent choice he's made.

Regards
Phil

Originally Posted by davidlee I have a friend that is in the market for a home CNC I have been telling him about the Tormach but he seems to be leaning toward an Ajax tool room mill. The Ajax mill looks fine but cost about twice as much as the Toromach. Has any one out there compared and Ajax tool room mill with the Toromach. The two things that he seems to like about the Ajax is that it has a 2HP motor its own control and a much higher rapid feed rate. Any help is appreciated. David

[davidlee]

http://www.penntoolco.com/catalog/pr...ategoryID=6079

Thanks

[NinerSevenTango]

What am I missing here? I see:

1.5 HP spindle motor

Shorter travel distances, particularly Z

NO COOLANT

3000 RPM max (vs 4000 RPM on the Tormach)

Thousands more for program features that come with the Tormach

Rotary tables not advertised as 4th axis (don't know if they are or not)

BT30 Spindle, the Tormach is R8, I preferred the R8 myself with the TTS

The control is still a PC. You can buy a PC from Tormach, too, they will configure it for you.

Doesn't say whether faster rapids are from use of servos or whether they are compromising accuracy with gear ratio or running steppers at the high end. I would ask. You can push the Tormach a lot faster too, but then you run the risk of missed steps.

--97T--

[InspirationTool]

Here is a better description, straight from the horses mouth:

http://www.ajaxcnc.com/DM45.htm

It doesn't look like either of them are that well protected from chips and coolant out of the box.

-Jeff

[MichaelHenry]

It looks like the Ajax has a lower spindle speed, 50 rpm vs 300 for the Tormach and that could be useful for some operations. The lack of coolant containment would be a problem for me and it looks like the controller might be Linux-based, which wouldn't thrill me too much either. The pendants look pretty cool, though.

So far my Tormach does all that I've asked of it and I've yet to see a comparably priced (+/- $5k) CNC mill that I'd rather buy.

Mike

[Don Clement]

BT30 Spindle, the Tormach is R8

IIR Tormach has a replaceable cartridge spindle and BT30 is an option.

Don Clement

The drop in cartridge spindle with BT30 can be found here:
http://tormach.com/document_library/...ter07_2006.pdf P/N 30505

[davidlee]

Thanks for all the good feed back. Another thing that is playing into the equation is that he is actually trying to use this machine to make more than hobbies parts he wants to use it to make prototype parts for company's like a job shop for prototype parts, he is a professional machinist. He would like to have a production quality machine but I am wondering how close you can get to that and not spend 60,000 hence the Ajax vs Tormach.

Thanks,

[philbur]

You can lead a horse to .......

Regrds
Phil

Originally Posted by davidlee Thanks for all the good feed back. Another thing that is playing into the equation is that he is actually trying to use this machine to make more than hobbies parts he wants to use it to make prototype parts for company's like a job shop for prototype parts, he is a professional machinist. He would like to have a production quality machine but I am wondering how close you can get to that and not spend 60,000 hence the Ajax vs Tormach. Thanks,

[68rustang]

Originally Posted by davidlee Thanks for all the good feed back. Another thing that is playing into the equation is that he is actually trying to use this machine to make more than hobbies parts he wants to use it to make prototype parts for company's like a job shop for prototype parts...

That is exactly what I bought my Tormach for. I am not a professional machinist but the guys that work for me are. They all really like what they have seen so far with the Tormach.

[holbieone]

i like the Ajax control with servo motors

if i had the extra money I'd buy the Ajax

but it's still the same class of machine and no matter how good the control is you still have a lite body in both machines

so for the best machine for the coast per pound I'd buy a bridge port and retro fit it with an Ajax control

[philbur]

What so great about the Ajax control.

Regards
Phil

Originally Posted by holbieone i like the Ajax control with servo motors if i had the extra money I'd buy the Ajax but it's still the same class of machine and no matter how good the control is you still have a lite body in both machines so for the best machine for the coast per pound I'd buy a bridge port and retro fit it with an Ajax control