I touched a Tormach today...

[theshooter]

Hi Folks,

I would like to publicly thank zephyr9900 for sharing his personal shop with me today. He was very kind to allow me to come see his Tormach in action and pepper him with questions. I even got to touch it!

zephyr9900 ran a piece of work through and I got to get a sense of the machines abilities, how easy it is to operate and all of the basic controls.

It was a great visit that I enjoyed thoroughly - it also confirmed my thought that the Tormach is exactly the machine I need for the work I plan to do.

Thanks zephyr9900 !!!

~ TheShooter

PS - if you haven't seen some of the tiny, itty-bitty railroad model parts he makes with it, you should - truly amazing.

[zephyr9900]

You're far too kind! I'm just thankful I didn't hit you with any endmill shrapnel...

It was a pleasure meeting you and being able to show off my Tormach. As I probably more than amply demonstrated, any limitation on what can be done with the Tormach lies in the user and not the machine!

Randy

[Glenn1]

I too also got to see a tormach yesterday, up here in Minnesota. Ken the owner of the machine was great, we basicly went through the whole process of making a part. I cant wait for my machine.

[Turismo]

Randy,

I live in MN too and am seriously considering the Tormach.

How much was your shipping and delivery costs?

This may be a little forward, but I would like to see a Tormach in person before I purchase.

Dale

[zephyr9900]

Dale, you'll need to get hold of Ken in MN (who I don't know personally.) I'm in CA.

You are still welcome to see my Tormach though if you want to make the drive.

Randy

[highspeedmazak]

I am also looking at a tormach but want to make 100% sure it is a good choice?

[ATV]

I also live in Minnesota and have been looking for a mill. The tormach plant is only 4 1/2 hours away from where I live.

I've watched all the videos on the Tormach site. It looks like a great mill. But I do have a question. It looks awesome for CNC work but what about when you maybe just want to cut a slot in something and don't want to hassle with a program? There are no cranks or anything on the mill.

Also, would the limited table travel be a problem? At this point, I don't really know what I may want to mill but the last thing I would want to have happen is to find out the mill is too small. All of the videos showed milling with the head perfectly vertical. While it doesn't appear that the Tormach head rotates, how frequently do you find that you need to mill something at an angle rather than perpendicular?

[apeman88]

ATV,

You have full control over the mill in manual mode through the keyboard or the optional pendant. i.e.... use arrow keys to move the X&Y and pageup/down to move the Z. To jog axis... hold down the Shift key and it will jog at max speed of 65ipm. Hold down the CTRL key and it will move one step at a time. The step and the other fuctions can be defined on the Mach3 screen. So... overall... no need for cranks and etc. I had a smaller Taig Mill before this and although I installed crank wheels... I NEVER used them becuase using the keyboard is so much easier.

As for the table... The only thing I wish it had is longer Y travel. I have never maxed out the table yet but have jogged too much and tripped the limit switch. Personally.... the size is more than enough. When will you be machining a piece of metal larger than 18" X 9.5" X 16"?

Tormach head DOES NOT rotate. And I for one perfers this... no alignment problems like my old Taig or other mills. If you need to mill something at an angle... get an angle vise and hold the part at any angle you want.

Good luck!

Ken

[philbur]

I agree with everything Ken says.

A CNC mill operated manually effectively has a 3 axis DRO, power feed on all three axis and the two systems talk to and work together with each other. What could be better on a manual system?

However one convenience missing when using the keyboard is continuously variable feed, but this is easily solved with a pendant (of the right type).

Another convenience lost is the physical feedback through the handle wheels when feeding a cut. Unfortunately you have to learn to live without this and rely more on looking and listening for your feedback.

Phil

PS: You can't normally mill with hand-wheels on a CNC machine equipped with ballscrews in any case. The "gearing" is wrong. The force on the cutter will drive the handle wheels.

ATV,

You have full control over the mill in manual mode through the keyboard or the optional pendant. i.e.... use arrow keys to move the X&Y and pageup/down to move the Z. To jog axis... hold down the Shift key and it will jog at max speed of 65ipm. Hold down the CTRL key and it will move one step at a time. The step and the other fuctions can be defined on the Mach3 screen. So... overall... no need for cranks and etc. I had a smaller Taig Mill before this and although I installed crank wheels... I NEVER used them becuase using the keyboard is so much easier.

As for the table... The only thing I wish it had is longer Y travel. I have never maxed out the table yet but have jogged too much and tripped the limit switch. Personally.... the size is more than enough. When will you be machining a piece of metal larger than 18" X 9.5" X 16"?

Tormach head DOES NOT rotate. And I for one perfers this... no alignment problems like my old Taig or other mills. If you need to mill something at an angle... get an angle vise and hold the part at any angle you want.

Good luck!

Ken

[ATV]

Ken and Phil,

Thanks for the thoughtful and very helpful replies. It sounds like the Tormach would be a good fit for me. I'm a computer guy and being able to design the part on the PC and then cut it is very appealing to me. But I do know there will be times where I don't want to mess with a CAD program. Running the mill from the keyboard or pendant would definitely be a good option in that case.

I read some people complaining they didn't like the tormach pendant all that well. Truth be told, I don't even know what it looks like. But my question is, is there another brand pendant a guy should look at or is the tormach pendant the way to go?

[ATV]

Glen and Dale,

If I decide to buy a tormach, I'd drive to Wisconsin and pick it up. I could certainly pick up a couple of more machines at the same time. Have you guys made a decision to buy one yet? I'm about 30 miles north of Minneapolis.

Tormach says they keep the machines in a warehouse in Chicago because of its location for shipping throughout the U.S. They said that if I drive out and pick up a machine(s) that there would be a very small freight charge to ship the machine from Chicago to their office in Wisconsin. But we would save hundreds of dollars by my bringing the machine(s) from Wisconsin to Minnesota.

Also, if more than one machine is bought at a time, they give a 10% discount on software, tooling and accessories.

Let me know what you're thinking about as far a a purchase decision.

[Don Clement]

I read some people complaining they didn't like the tormach pendant all that well. Truth be told, I don't even know what it looks like. But my question is, is there another brand pendant a guy should look at or is the tormach pendant the way to go?

Gosh, are we talking about the same Tormach jog pendant? I have both types of Tormach jog pendants and the 30616 jog pendant works great. see: http://tormach.com/document_library/...Controller.pdf
There is nothing not to like about the 30616 jog pendant. Works better than hand wheels to make the Tormach into a manual milling machine. Also, I use the 30616 jog pendant when finding an edge with edge finder or finding reference height with my #1 tool height gage. see: http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/tor...view/4a78?b=11 Notice the height gage is finding the top of the ½” diameter pin set on a 45 degree angle plate with the flat spindle anvil. Try finding the top of a cylindrical pin with the spherical tip of a digital probe.

Don Clement
Running Springs, California