I'm looking at getting a TL-1 for my small shop. I do really small runs and not many long production jobs.
I've been doing lots of mill turning but I waste lots of time on setups and G-Code.
Anyways, I'm looking at a pretty clean TL-1 from 2008 but it has 12k cutting hours on it. To me, that seems like lots of hours but I thought I'd check out other folks opinions.
That is roughly 1000 hours per year which is 20 hours a week or 3 full days a week. I know it depends on the usage and maintenance, but how worn out is a machine like that when it comes to spindle bearings, rails, and ball screws?
Of course the machine is clean and painted, no scoring on the rails, sounds fairly smooth. Not sure what one like this is worth. They're asking 15k which also seems pretty high. no Rigid tap, no turret.
Negotiated a better price and bought it.. Gave it some TLC and replaced the Z axis ball screw.
Once I found the secret Debug Hour meter I found it has 20k spindle hours, not 12k. What a let down, but it run quiet, and seems to cut good.
Chuck was worn out pretty bad. Cutting the soft jaws at least let me do some turning and testing until a new chuck gets here.