[acollins319]

Hi. Anyone know when the new IH Website is going to be up and running. I have been going to the site for weeks now and while it offers alot of info its very lacking in it navigation and hard to find the info and specs i'm looking for. Plus I'd like to see alot more full length videos. I like how they show videos of what the mill can do and give real machining times but i'd like to see more.

I am currently building the building for my small machine shop. As I have another full time job and i'm building the shop myself it'll be another 6 months before I make a purchase but i've already got my options down to the Industrial Hobbies mill or the Tormach. (I don't want to retrofit or buy used. I see alot of people say do it yourself. I have the skills but just dont want to. I have alot going on so one of these two machines will win.) Right now the Tormach is winning because of the vast amount of info out there not only on there site but on other sites as well. Including videos on youtube. Only thing that keeps me looking at the IH is that it uses servos and the length of the table. I'm in need of a good mill that will do small production runs of 1 - 50 pcs at a time in 6061 aluminum for the most part. On ocassion I will run a little steel and maybe very small amounts of Titanium 6al-4v.

I will be doing small for hire work in my area as well as custom milling for paintball guns, custom parts for motorcycles, and maybe a few other things im in to, as well as a full small shop plating, anodizing, and powder coating.

Note space is no option because I am building the shop large enough to expand and add more tools as need.

Thanks
Tony C.

[BobWarfield]

I was talking to Gene just the other day about it. They're putting a lot of work into the site. They've got a lot done, but I think he said there was a fair amount left to do. I have the impression its quite a makeover.

Can't wait to see it finished!

Best,

BW

[acollins319]

thanks for the reply. I'm looking forward to seeing it myself. I go back and forth every day on my decision of what machine to get and i'm sure the new website will make things even harder. lol

One of the two machines will win out in the end. Im really looking for a turn key system like these machines. I'm going to be installing 2 manual mills 2 manual lathes and one cnc mill along with all the plating equipment all in about a months time so I need to keep it as simple as I can.
My equipment purchase list is up to $26k at the moment. Its a big step for me as I usually research myself to death before I make any big purchase. It took me 3 months to choose the laptop I wanted and It was less that $1000. lol

What ever machine I go with will probably lead me to purchasing 2 or 3 more of them within a year or two of my first purchase. I currently work as a cnc saw operator. Even thought i don't call it a real cnc machine but thats what my job title is. I'm content in my current job income wise but it really lacks something in the creativity department. I spent two years at North Georgia Tech's Machine Tool program and studied cnc and tool and die making. I'm a very creative person with alot of ideas. While I don't consider myself an expert machinist by any means I can cut my share of metal. The last few years I got side tracked working in tv production and then my current job but we cut plastics all day. A far cry from the precision work I trained to do.

Anyways, I ramble alot.
Thanks for the info about the site.
Tony C.

[Runner4404spd]

one thing i'm noticing is that they are really leaning more towards turn key machines. and i think alot of the details in the instructions for the DIY guy are being removed from the site.

thats a pretty hefty shop and machine bill without having any customers.

[acollins319]

Thats the one things i'm really looking for is the turnkey system. I'll be setting up so many machines at once that I need easy setups.

It sounds like a lot to start but its really not that expensive. My father and I will be running the shop as work comes in and I design new parts or products, that area is still a little sketchy right now. I don't plan to quit my afternoon job by any means. I have great benifits and insurance's. I mean I have $77k life insurance for $1.15 a week. Can't beat that anywhere.

My father currently ownes a mid-size roofing company in the North East Georgia area but in recent years work has gotten slow and his older age, Hes only in his mid 50s but doing roofing for 30 years takes alot out of you, we really need a new way of making extra income. One thats not going to kill him to work. His roofing outfit has about $70k worth of tools and such in it for a 6 man crew so i consider $26k startup to not be a bad deal when you look at all we will be able to produce.

Were getting everything ready to pour the slab the end of this month. I think were going with a 24x36 to start. I figured that will give us enough room for the machines we have planned and it'll be built in such a way we can expand as/if needed. It really pays to have a family owned business such as roofing and construction when you need work like this done.
Since were doing all the work ourself we figured a little over $2k for the shop materials.

As with any new business your never sure if it will grow or fail but we consider it a small risk to take. Were not looking to get rich off it but if we can pull in even a few hundred a month each over what we do now we consider it worth it. Not counting that we currently spend about $5000 a year anyway having custom brackests and other work done for the roofing company when needed. The savings in that aspect alone will more than pay the monthly loan payment.

Just a few months ago we needed 18 custom brackets made, cut, drilled, and painted. Very simple work! The shop my father goes to wanted $800 to do these. He called me up and the next day I loaded up some of my home shop tools took about 2 hours of my time, not counting painting, and did the custom work on site and made modifications as needed all for about $50. We were able to save the coustomer a small amount and I made a nice bonus off it to boot.

[DSL PWR]

Make sure you don't go too thin on the slab. 4" probably won't cut it for most larger CNC machines.

[acollins319]

Make sure you don't go too thin on the slab. 4" probably won't cut it for most larger CNC machines.

what would you say I should go with. 6"

[Runner4404spd]

6 would be good. if needed you can always cut a chunk of the slab out and our something thicker. 6" will cupport 5000 lbs easy and should do 10000 lbs.

[IHCNC]

Hi Everyone;
In response to Runners post:
(one thing i'm noticing is that they are really leaning more towards turn key machines. and i think alot of the details in the instructions for the DIY guy are being removed from the site.)

We are building a lot of Turnkeys for sure, but we are also building a lot of conversions to. We are (I am) building a new website. The old website is huge and written in MS Frontpage. In the new site we are using Dreamweaver CS4, a totally different format and structure. New pages are very time consuming to do even when you are copying a current page that you have. So to save weeks of work on the How To section we are printing hard copies for the new conversion buyers. Tonight we are starting to put the Mill Tip and Production Note Pages together. 15 in all. We would like to turn on the website soon. It's new, easy to navigate and have all the products and prices. The movies are coming and we hope you like them.
Sometimes a little explanation saves a lot of rumor.

[devincox]

IHCNC,
for what its worth:
You could always cut and paste those "how to" pages into adobe acrobat and just have the pages for download. Saves on print costs and satisfies the need to have the pages accessible on the web as well and the ability to print them as well.

The software has an option to encode an existing page or site in less than a few seconds. I converted your hockey puck feet page in about 3 seconds total.
http://www.devincox.com/industrialho...s_woodruff.pdf
Took longer to type this than convert it. (c:

[c6vette]

Really anxious to see your new site.

[IHCNC]

Hi Devincox;
Thanks for the input.

[tikka308]

Seems like the servo's and the X-axis table travel are the main traits that attract many folks to the IH (as compared with the Tormach)...

[acollins319]

Seems like the servo's and the X-axis table travel are the main traits that attract many folks to the IH (as compared with the Tormach)...

Yes thats the two main things I'm looking at with the IH that attract me to it. The main things about the Tormach is the duality lathe and the stand and tooling I get for the same price compared to the IH. I like the kits that Tormach offer. I really am interested in the lathe because I feel I would need to turn threads often on smaller parts and that would save me the trouble of looking for a low price cnc lathe. Seems to be very few lathes to choose from compared to mills. Im also interested in the torque that the IH servos have compared to the stepper motors. Can I get increased feed rates with the servos or does the spindle speed limit me in relation to the amount of torque that the servos/steppers put out.

Tony C.