Newbie- which one??

[falcon630]

which one should i get?the tormach, the ih mill,or the novkon mill?
the table size is bigger on the novakon mill,but the tormach has more z travel.
just needing input from you all. thanks

[flick]

Don't base your purchasing decision on sheer size... the differences between these machines are small enough that you have to consider some of the less apparent differences to make a decision.

Start by reading the design analysis on Tormach's web site:

http://www.tormach.com/document_libr...gnAnalysis.pdf

Then come ask more questions.

Oh, one more hint: if Z travel means a lot to you, scrap the IH now.

[Don Clement]

I can only speak for the Tormach which has worked extremely well for me for two years. Tormach has the absolute best customer support. Tormach also is continually updating and improving their product and make retrofits, such as the spindle upgrade kit, available to owners of older Tormach mills.

Don Clement
Running Springs, California

[justgary]

Realize, that by asking your question in this forum, that you are talking to a bunch of people who have stood in your shoes and made the very decision you want to make. It is unlikely that you will find any serious Tormach nay-sayers here. I hope you are asking in the other forums as well.

I bought my Tormach for several reasons:

1) I really appreciated the balanced design that is documented with engineering white papers about the trade-offs they made.

2) I could buy as much of the complete package as I wanted, including a decent deal on a CAM package and a coffee mug.

3) I hung out here and saw lots of good information about the machine and the company. I also watched a lot of videos of machines working.

4) I could buy it from people who speak english as a primary language (but I really don't know the status of the other companies, so don't flame me). All I know is that I called Tormach almost a year before I bought and they were very nice to me. I spent the rest of that year evaluating CAM programs, because I didn't want to buy until I knew how to drive it (CNC is kind of worthless without the C).

I think that the best question you could ask is, "would you buy your machine again?" In my case, the answer is definitely yes.

Regards,

- Just Gary

[saabaero]

I 2nd justgary's comments... Tormach - great support, great product, continuous improvement and great price! I have absolutely no regrets!

[philbur]

You give so little information I think your question is a waste of peoples time.

Phil

Originally Posted by falcon630 which one should i get?the tormach, the ih mill,or the novkon mill? the table size is bigger on the novakon mill,but the tormach has more z travel. just needing input from you all. thanks

[sharpshooter90]

Originally Posted by justgary 4) I could buy it from people who speak english as a primary language (but I really don't know the status of the other companies, so don't flame me). - Just Gary

Gary you must have noticed how Syil spells " Spindle" in their banner ad.

[zephyr9900]

There are ads? Serious comment--I've used the Adblock Plus plugin in Firefox for so long that I don't know what sites even have banner ads or not. All this site has is an oval "CNCZONE.COM" logo up in the corner and the menus...

And I would buy my Tormach again without hesitation for the reasons the other guys have said.

Randy

[falcon630]

i was just wondering about how others felt about all three machines,plus i an looking at the feed rates for each machine,ease of use and the programming of a part to actually machining a part.all three machines are good for i want to do,just wish they had a toolchanger also..

[justgary]

Sharpshooter90 -

Yes, I have. And I also noticed that Tormach uses what I consider an alternate spelling of "controller" in their ads, so maybe it's just me...

Randy -

What about the "Sponsored Links" break halfway through a page of posts? Do you see the break, but no ads?

falcon630 -

Your noob is showing just a bit, so you might want to cover it up. I really don't know anything about the other machines, but I can tell you that I don't think I have ever cut anything over 15 IPM, and even then I ruined a part. I'm a relative noob to CNC also, so from one noob to another, you are going to break a lot of tooling and junk a lot of parts while you learn speeds and feeds.

Others report what to me are astonishing feed rates, but I tend to cut 3D shapes and just can't get the surface finish that I want by going fast. The Tormach's 60 IPM rapid is not very rapid, I guess, but if it were faster I probably would have crushed my hand by now or maybe worse. I don't think I would focus on feed rate quite so much unless you are into serious production, in which case you are probably looking at the wrong class of machines.

As for programming, don't expect the machine to do much of anything for you. Get happy with a CAD program (the ability to make a 3D model), then try out several CAM programs (that help you make toolpaths that cut out parts of your model). As far as I can tell you will hate several and love several, until you ask the price, and then you might learn to love what you hate. In my case, I liked the layout and feel of SprutCAM, but it took me 10 months to try several and make sure that it was what I wanted. I already had TurboCAD and like it, so I didn't have to learn two at the same time. I should probably suggest that you resist the very pushy Bob-stuff salesmen. They are trained professionals. If you must buy that one, make sure you actually want it first.

As for the toolchanger, I've heard that one for the Tormach is "about to be released..." In reality, changing tools by hand with the TTS system is actually very easy, and you can get TTS no matter what mill you buy (with an R8 spindle).

Regards,

- Just Gary

[zephyr9900]

Originally Posted by justgary What about the "Sponsored Links" break halfway through a page of posts? Do you see the break, but no ads?

Now that you mention it, Just Gary, there is a "Sponsored Links" heading on some pages but it is that--just a heading. I've never noticed it before. Just another blue bar with some letters on it.

Randy

[zephyr9900]

Originally Posted by justgary I don't think I would focus on feed rate quite so much unless you are into serious production, in which case you are probably looking at the wrong class of machines.

I'll likely catch flak for saying this, Just Gary, but if the Mikini had a 10-12krpm primary spindle to go with its linear guides and 100+ipm movement and a good TTS holder assortment for its $10+k price, and if I didn't already have the Tormach, I'd be thinking hard about the choice. 90% of what I do fits on the 5" vise, and 1/4" endmill is a big rougher for a lot of what I do. The Mikini is a joke though with its 5krpm spindle--fast rapids are nice and good, but without a fast spindle that's all the fancy schmancy linear ways are good for. And with its restrictive enclosure, there probably isn't room for an auxiliary spindle to the side like the Tormach so ably can use with its large working envelope.

I do 3D profile finishing at up to 30ipm if the contours are gentle--no square corners etc., but rarely go below 20ipm for profiling. But that's in brass and plastic and some aluminum, no steel...

Randy