Tree journeyman 320 Good Bad?

[dafowfidy]

I am looking at a 320 and I was wondering if it is worth messing with. I have a Benchtop CNC and I am ready to upgrade to a Knee Mill. What are they truely worth?

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[ions82]

I've heard quite a few good things about the old Tree CNC mills. I just purchased one, myself (Journeyman 330). It had some bugs in the control. Bought it on fleaBay for just over $2500. Fortunately, I was able to fix the control by replacing a couple electrolytic capacitors. I've yet to run the machine, but the fact that it works makes it a good deal.

Anyway, enough about that. What is the story on the machine that you're looking at? Is it up and running? Have you seen it or talked with the current owner? The original controls on the machines are getting up there in age (mine is over 20 years old). Upgrading/updating the control would probably be quite costly and labor-intensive. If the machine you're looking at is in good running order, it is probably worth considering. The Trees have a good reputation. Tell us more.

[dafowfidy]

Its on CL and supposedly in running condition for about what you paid for yours. The only thing is its about a 300 mile drive so if I went to look at it I would buy it.

[iiweeldman]

Our tool shop had one for almost 15 years before trading it in for a new machine. It is a great little machine and a good step up from a benchtop. Our machine was very sturdy and mechanically never broke. There were some issues (over 15 years you are gonna have some). The power supply failed, it was rather expensive to replace, the screen burnt out. The everyday issues we experienced, was that it had very little memory, some of the stuff we cut had to be broken down into seperate programs. The spindle also didn't have enough power and could be stalled with a 1/2 inch rougher. Some of the programming was different, especially with ours, it had a tsudakoma rotary true 4th axis on it.

I would not be afraid to buy it unless you plan on running large programs.



-Scott

[ions82]

So, did the OP end up buying the mill? If so, what control does it have? My 330 has a Dynapath SYSTEM 10 (non-Delta). I've recently learned that it is not capable of drip-feeding, so the small amount of memory may be a bit of a hindrance if running larger programs. Then again, I think it all depends on what kind of post processor you're using and how the code is written.

Back in the early-to-mid 80s, programmers were very good about writing code that used as little memory as possible. These days, programmers just write whatever because modern machines can process stuff so much faster. So, if you're loading code with a bunch of unnecessary symbols/numbers/etc., you won't be able to have anything too complex. I've yet to try different post-processors to see which one spits out the most compact code. Most of the things I plan to make are fairly simple. However, I would like to run 2 or 3 vises so I can do multiple ops on the same tool change. We'll see how it goes! The mechanics of these old Trees have a great reputation. The controls are about like any other old control (quirky).