New to me 1100

[GrooveGuru]

Recently purchased an 1100 from the original owner. Serial number 092! Machine has less than 200 hours on it which I assume is pretty rare since it was built in 2006. The original owner bought it for one project, he didn't even take it off the shipping pallet. After he "finished" he tucked it away. Those engineers! I must say it looks pretty cherry. Saw it running and air cut a few things to test it out, all seems well.

Also I am new to the forum. Ive been machining for over 6 years and I am the Journeyman Machinist for an aviation company called Kenn Borek Air. Im used to a Haas TM1 so getting a 1100 is great because there is not a huge difference in bed travel. I got this to machine parts on my own time in my garage. Mainly aluminium avionics panels and sheet metal doublers. I would like to do the spindle upgrade in the future as that seems like one of the best upgrades for this model. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Sp-4renegade]

I would op for a power drawbar.

[David Bord]

I would op for a power drawbar.

+ 1! The power drawbar is probably the best upgrade you can make... That's coming from an early machine owner of 2006 with every upgrade possible to my machine.

David

Ps, welcome!

[Don Clement]

+2 on the PDB. After the spindle upgrade the PDB was the most productive addition made for my 1100.

Don

[shred]

When you get tired of blocking the head up on power-off (it will slowly fall unless you have the gibs very tight, so keep a chunk of 2x4 handy), get the Series 3 motor upgrade. You get a lot more for the money than the Z-brake kit.

Also check the various tech-note fixes have been done. IIRC there are 3 or 4 posted on the Tormach site.

[Steve Seebold]

Welcome to the group and congrats on the machine.

The PDB will be an excellent upgrade.

I got my 1100 series II last July, and it has run almost every day since then.

I'm a former shop owner and in my shop I had a Haas TM1 with a 5C 4th axis. (my TM1 was built before they put the full enclosures on them) I loved that machine. I bought it new in 2004. In 2008 I sold it and made an attempt at retirement. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made.

My PCNC1100 will do ANYTHING my Haas would do, it just takes a little longer.

You're gonna love your PCNC1100. Mine has turned out to be best thing I could have done to keep my sanity.

[ErnieD]

Also check out the manual quick change draw bar by Scott from SDM Fabricating. He sells the plans for it. You do not need an air compressor with his design. If you do a search you can find a video showing him using the unit.

Ernie

[GrooveGuru]

Thanks for all the info guys. I have watched many youtube videos showing the power draw bar and it does look like a huge time saver. All the upgrades would be beneficial to get eventually. The 450% improvement in stopping power is appealing. It is a great little unit with a very positive reputation. My first contracts only really use 3 tools and is mostly 2.5d profiling with a ball nose in aluminium. I'm sure the machine will handle that with no issues.

The Haas TM1 I have used my whole career and it just asks for more. It pre-dates having the enclosure and has the two table doors that slide left and right. 2004.

[Steve Seebold]

Thanks for all the info guys. I have watched many youtube videos showing the power draw bar and it does look like a huge time saver. All the upgrades would be beneficial to get eventually. The 450% improvement in stopping power is appealing. It is a great little unit with a very positive reputation. My first contracts only really use 3 tools and is mostly 2.5d profiling with a ball nose in aluminium. I'm sure the machine will handle that with no issues.

The Haas TM1 I have used my whole career and it just asks for more. It pre-dates having the enclosure and has the two table doors that slide left and right. 2004.

That is a wonderful machine. I loved the one I had in my shop. My only complaint was it was a little on the slow side with a 4000 RPM spindle and 200 IPM rapids, but I used it to cut steel, titanium and inconel.

[GrooveGuru]

That is a wonderful machine. I loved the one I had in my shop. My only complaint was it was a little on the slow side with a 4000 RPM spindle and 200 IPM rapids, but I used it to cut steel, titanium and inconel.

We had a guy come in about 3 years ago and tweak some parameters and now we get 6000 RPM from it.

[Sp-4renegade]

You should of waited, Im putting my 2012 series 3 with 173 hours, back in the crate. It is one sweet mill. But for my type of work, I can tell it just will be too light. The Tormach is too nice of a machine to make it do something it wasnt designed for. I mainly do machining for farm equipment. I did learn the programing and how a cnc mill works, down the road I can now get a VMC and keep the Tormach for retirement in 12 years. It is a great machine to learn on. Well back to the Manuals, you guys have fun.

[Steve Seebold]

You should of waited, Im putting my 2012 series 3 with 173 hours, back in the crate. It is one sweet mill. But for my type of work, I can tell it just will be too light. The Tormach is too nice of a machine to make it do something it wasnt designed for. I mainly do machining for farm equipment. I did learn the programing and how a cnc mill works, down the road I can now get a VMC and keep the Tormach for retirement in 12 years. It is a great machine to learn on. Well back to the Manuals, you guys have fun.

Sorry to see you go. You might look for a used box way FADAL. I say box way because FADAL's came either with box ways or linear guide ways. I think the box machine would do better for your application. and you can get a mid 90's machine for under 15K. When they were new, they were $70K plus. Mine was $72,000.00.

I had a 3016 FADAL with box ways and it weighed about 9,000 pounds. The same machine with linear ways was just over 5,000 pounds.