Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it


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    Default Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    I'm hoping to close a deal on a small manufacturing company within the next month. I'm moving the company from a very small isolated town that didn't have any supporting manufacturing business near it. Consequently, they purchased new in 2014 Haas TM1 and TL1 CNC mill/lathes that are used one month a year. I know one of the tasks for the mill is ridiculously simple. It drills 6 parallel holes in a 1" thick plastic block. I have excellent CNC experts locally so I'm not worried about setting them up properly. Our local community college has a two year machinist program that uses the same Haas TM1. They have 6 of them. I am making an assumption that I can continue to use these machines to produce the existing designs with an unskilled person loading it and pressing the green button. I'm also making an assumption that an experienced CNC person can give us guidelines and recommendations about maintenance, wear, tooling, etc. It makes more sense to sell the CNC's and have someone else make the parts but due to loan structuring it doesn't benefit the company to sell them.

    Once the shop has been moved and is comfortably in Production mode, I'll hire someone to run it so we can offer machining services to other business. Though this won't be the only CNC shop in town, it will be the only one that has room to accept work.

    The Haas TM1 screen says 1416 hrs power on time, 229 hrs cycle time, 108 hrs feed time.

    Which brings me to the question - what are the guidelines for space around the CNC's? One limitation of the previous shop was a poor layout due to being in an inadequate building. I'm hoping to put the TM1 and TL1 and a 5x10 plasma table and a welding table in one end of a 40 x 60 shop so the other end has room for assembly. Steel will be in a rack on the side. Parts and inventory in a small room on the side of the shop. Thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated!

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    Community Moderator Al_The_Man's Avatar
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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    One of the most important factors when buying used machinery, especially when moving it is to make sure you get all documentation, I have lost track of the number of those that have purchased machinery at auction etc and did not get the documentation, which is often found on site.
    If they are not available, download them ASAP.!
    One day the machine's memory back up battery fails and there are no parameters and macro's to be re-loaded, the result is without them the machine is just a lump of iron and steel!
    Al.

    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.


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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Good point. I have lots to do with this transfer.



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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Another thought is to NOT locate the CNCs near a plasma or welding table . The metalic dust from the plasma is conductive and abrasive and can destroy your machines. Been there seen that one a time or two.



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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Exactly. I don't absolutely have to install the CNC's until April/May, but the plasma and a large press brake are used all the time. I'll have separate dirty and clean ends of the shop. I might end up renting a separate shop for the CNC's.



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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    I guess in theory, you could keep the machine where it is and feed it work from your larger location. It might also be that the owner just wan't good at marketing the capabilities all that well.



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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Update: I closed the deal on the shop and moved everything to the town where I live (Sheridan, WY). All is well. The CNC's may never be up to even 10% of their capabilities. I stumbled through and learned VSP on the Haas controller well enough to perform basic machining tasks. So far I haven't broken anything! I have lots to learn. It would be nice to hire someone to do this but that won't happen this year.

    If someone else was the owner of these machines I'd not recommend they let me mess with them. I've made some dumb mistakes: (a) hand-jogged the z-axis at a high rate and overshot where I wanted it to stop and jammed an end mill into a part. (b) jogged Y instead of X and cranked the vise a bit. I could have broken something if I'd had a strong bit in the mill. A CNC pro came by the other day and gave me some pointers. A CNC instructor is coming by tomorrow. Our main task is drilling holes in plastic. Easy enough. This isn't a precision metal parts type of machining.

    Now that it looks like it will be useful, I've purchased a nice machinists level and will 1.) have someone else setup the mill and lathe, and 2) use the level to constantly validate the machines. I'll calibrate the level against another machine setup in a very large company that takes machining seriously.



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    Member hanermo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Fantastic update !!

    YOU are doing GREAT !
    99.x% of truly new cnc shops are no-where near where you are --
    customers, parts, ongoing reasonable business leading to low losses or slight profits, on a cashflow basis.

    You are also doing great in looking for training and skills from others - the "cnc-pro" you mentioned.
    This is an excellent business decision for someone like You new to the parts making business and industrial cnc in general.

    Kudos to You on all levels.
    Very Well Done.

    With an occasional mentor "cnc-pro" you can easily become proficient on basic usage on plastics, in less than a month.
    Doing alu parts is not any harder, just riskier in tools and potential machine errors.



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    Community Moderator Jim Dawson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    Quote Originally Posted by davidhaile View Post
    Update: I closed the deal on the shop and moved everything to the town where I live (Sheridan, WY). All is well.
    Congratulations !

    Now that it looks like it will be useful, I've purchased a nice machinists level and will 1.) have someone else setup the mill and lathe, and 2) use the level to constantly validate the machines. I'll calibrate the level against another machine setup in a very large company that takes machining seriously.
    The purpose of leveling the machines is to take any twist out of the frame and the TM1 frame can twist a bit. We leveled ours when we installed it, then ran it for a week, and releveled after it had a chance to settle a bit. The mill is simple to level, check with the table in the center and at the extremes of travel. work back & forth and find the best level you can. The key is to rotate the level at each check and make sure it reads the same in both positions. Not sure how to level the lathe, since it's a slant bed, it's pretty hard to find a surface to place the level. Maybe the manual would have some insight to this.

    You can easily calibrate the level; All you have to do is place the level on a kinda level surface, look at the bubble position, then rotate 180° and read again. If the bubble reads the same at both ends, then the level is calibrated. If it doesn't read the same, then adjust a bit and check again. Just make sure the level and surface are clean, any crud will affect the reading.

    I bought a precision level really cheap because the seller thought it was broken because it was so far off. Not sure what they did, but it was way off. I calibrated it and leveled my mill at the same time. Adjust the mill a bit, check the level and adjust a bit, rinse repeat until both the mill and level are correct.

    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA


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    Monkeywrench Technician DareBee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

    In reality the level doesn't need calibrated because you always do a 180 check.
    equal equal wins

    www.integratedmechanical.ca


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Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it

Purchasing a shop that has a couple of rarely used CNC machnes in it