Also, just to square something up. The Brother machines weight more than Robodrills and can remove serious material with their 30 taper spindle.
Some video from some parts i make.
CNC Machining Brackets on Brother TC-S2Dn-O with …:
Height is the hardest dimension. Typically you remove the wire loom, often the z axis motor, sometimes parts of a sidemount toolchanger. But if the casting of the column is in the way you are out of luck (mini mill 2).
Sharp can come with a Seimens control now, and they have pricing on ebay actually.
Fanuc memory is often 256k or 512k. Total. Check your program size and see if its an issue.
Also, just to square something up. The Brother machines weight more than Robodrills and can remove serious material with their 30 taper spindle.
Some video from some parts i make.
CNC Machining Brackets on Brother TC-S2Dn-O with …:
Love the toolchanger on those machines, clever design! I'll make a note to find out more about the Brother machines.
I got some more quotes back today:
Hurco VM10i - $72k
Hurco VM5i - $66k
Kent KVR2418 - $53k
Hardinge GX480 - $81k
HAAS Minimill2 - $52k
The Kent is still at the top of the pack in terms of value and capability I think. It's a bit of a bigger machine than most of the others which might make life difficult for me, but the Kent rep says it should fit thorugh the doorways and such, he's coming to have a look at the shop next week. The Kent rep seems incredibly friendly and helpful too which is always nice.
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
I actually just realized that I had forgotten that I had already gotten a quote for the Sharp VS2414, issue there is that the specs say it's too big to fit... I'll have a talk to their rep and see what he says.
Sharp VS2412S-F (fanuc control) $56k
Sharp VS2414S-M (siemens control) $51k
I think the Sharp and the Kent are likely the most capable machines overall. The Sharp is better known and has a good rep, the kent has a better standard package, more tools and a faster tool change.
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
make sure you are comparing spindle speed on the machines. if you are going to do 3d contouring and small cutters in things like AL and G10 you will be wanting as much speed there as your can handle. too little speed and your feeds are not going to be pretty. I'm finding this out for myself right now
how small of tools are you looking at using? I'm stupid and doing stuff right now with things like 3/32 and 1/6 2 flute and am really wishing for a 15k spindle
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
Any updates with what you chose in the end? I'm in a very similar situation and would love to hear more about your experience choosing a small VMC that is reasonably short!
Check out my workshop YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtyEKcRbODF-sTWDF3kgEYw
I bought a Fadal VMC10 (same as VMC15 but without the enclosure) and have overall been very happy with it. However I have done a fair bit of work fixing the machine up over the years. It has all been relatively straightforward and not too expensive though, Fadals are easy to work on and easy to get parts for! There are certainly better machines out there, but finding one that you can work on yourself and that won't break the bank is hard... HAAS machines are nice because they have decent after-sale support for parts directly from HAAS, but they have stopped supporting a lot of the mid 90s machines. Fadals tend to have been treated a bit rougher over the years but they also go for a fair bit less money... Overall I'm happy with the choice I made! I actually recently bought another Fadal and am working on getting that fixed up as well.
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
If you want to see the work I did on my Fadal I have some videos showing the process:
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
And part two is here:
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
Ha! Have watched your videos on YouTube before, didn't connect your forum name with Gough Custom on YouTube. Any lessons learned from buying an used machine, versus how the experience would have been different with say the Kent 2418?
Check out my workshop YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtyEKcRbODF-sTWDF3kgEYw
Nice!
Buying new is always going to be smoother... If you absolutely need to get up and running and making parts ASAP then buying used is not a good idea I don't think. Unless you have a very good handle on how to inspect the machine and are confident in it's condition. The main reason to buy used it simply the money aspect. I was able to purchase my first Fadal on my credit card for less than $8k. The two VMC15s I just bought I got them for $3900 each... They have needed a fair bit of work so far though and I'm easy an extra $10k into one of them that I was only expecting to need a few thousand, after the spindle drive failed during testing and took the spindle motor with it! Ouch.
If you're willing to tinker then buying used can be great as long as you get a machine that has parts readily available! Buying an older Matsuura or something wouldn't be a good idea for instance as parts are expensive and hard to find. Fadal parts are easy to get though which was one of the reasons I settled on them.
My machines have easily paid for themselves a few times over at least, and I don't owe any money on them which means if the business side of things is slow they can sit without costing me money. That can be a big factor in a small business! If I'd bought new then the payments don't stop when business is slow and things would have been much harder. On the other hand a new machine would have run more smoothly straight away and I could have gotten down to making parts sooner. It's definitely a tradeoff, and you'll have to see which approach fits your use-case!
Gough Custom - http://goughcustom.com/
How did you find your used machines? Did you go through a used machinery dealer or were you checking on kijiji or go to an auction? I am in the GTA and found that is mostly through someone you know.