[Pyros3]

Hey Guys, I am looking to spend around 20,000 dollars total on a mill and lathe. I was looking at the Tormach PCNC 1100 with the duality lathe, but then I heard that I should stay away from the lathe. I am still interested in the PCNC 1100 as I hear it is great mill and the customer service is outstanding.

Basically I am looking for machines for light production runs. I would like a 4th axis option for the mill, and I would like a manual/cnc lathe, a decent lathe. for what I am doing .001" tolerance would be okay, but I assume that most of the cnc lathes can get that. I am also looking at the Syil C6-B Lathe, but I heard their customer service wasn't very good from a few places, other than Keith in Canada.

I would like to get a pair from the same company, but I would rather have the best for the money.

Any help?

Thanks!
Chase

[LUCKY13]

I think you are going tofind your budget is going to hurt you. After getting started you will find you need much more than you expected and if you plan on fourth axis this will add to this problem.

The Tormach is a great setup for what it is and your right the service is good. But to be honest you couuld probably spend atleast 13 to 15 of that 20 just getting your mill to where it needs to be. Software, tooling, work holding just really add up much more than expected. If you dont get the mill to a good point then you will be stuck without the ability to really used it.


I highly suggest you do this if you buy, get what you need to make it happen without fuss because you will be limited on speed ( how many parts you can produce in time) anyway and that is just part of entry level CNC. The Tormach is a very good entry level setup, but you need to understand exactly what it is you will be able to do with it.


Now learning curves, figuring out exactly what you need and how to achive what you want will take time. And chances are you will spend sometimes when it is not what you needed so you will have to go respend.

You need a lathe. In your possition if you did get the Tormach you would be able to CNC a lathe yourself without much problems ( you will have learned alot by then also). If not you really need to think about getting more money to start with because its going to take it. If so you could by a manual lathe that would allow you to still have a usable lathe to work with until you did CNC it. This would probably allow you to get a better lathe that would be more productive in the long run. A real good choice for this would be the PM1127vf-LB, it would be a nice lathe to start with, the price is good also.

This lathe is at Machinetoolonline, and then you have to tool it up also. But this lathe comes with a petty darn good start on tooling so that helps alot. Plus his shipping is free.



The Tormach has proven to hold up so good that its a no brainer at this level of need. I personally would go for the IH mill but they seem to be having problems right now and chances are getting one would be tough.
So stick to the Tormach, unless you want to build one yourself. It sounds like you need to put it to work, not be working on it though. ALthough I suggested building a lathe, that is only after you have a working CNC mill and doing so would not be much a problem at that point. Plus a lathe can give you a lot of great work even in manual mode, as to where a mill takes much more in time, and tooling to do such. When you have learned, then the change over to CNC on the lathe would be pretty easy and fast if planned for right.


Alot depends on what your trying to really do though. But you will find that the more you spend on getting the machine putting work out for you, the more you will get out of it which means more money in return. Trying to get by without on some things like software and tooling will only hurt you.

There are some other options out there right now though, some that even look pretty good. But having proven results after years of being on the market with the fact that Tormach appears to be staying with us holds a lot of weight for a companies needs. Its kinda hard to step on on a ledge even if the machine might turnout to be better. It becomes a gamble which is not the way to run a company unless you have lots of funds.



I think a good thing to add to your post would the exact need you have for a mill and lathe so others could give more detailed input. I am not that expeiranced, although I did run a shop before I was hurt. The type parts needed made, how many of them you need in a time frame, what tools/software do you already have, have you ever ran a CNC or even manual machines?

Many things can come into play here. The type tooling and software are big on this list to know exactly whats needed thing. When it comes to tooling I am afraid you will find you need way more than you think. When I speak of tooling I include things like measurement tools like inspection plate, and setup measurement instraments. You can really drop 5 G's real fast here between this and cutting tools, work holding and such.

I dont mean to sound like I am trying to turn you off from doing this. Its a worthy aproach if aproached right. JUst knowing what you really need and what you can really afford to do will save you a hugh amount of greef.


Good luck, I have a storm rooling in so I will have to shut down for now.

Jess

[Pyros3]

Hey Jess, I appreciate all of the information.

I wouldn't consider myself a newbie even though that's what I put on my post, I am in product development. My expertise is 3D Cad Drawing/Design. I have had quite a bit of manual machining experience as well as CNC in school, which I recently graduated from, so it is all still fresh.

Yeah I thought about building my own lathe, I have seen several on here and they are awesome. I was more afraid of starting it then realizing that I couldn't do it. But with these forums I feel like it is more of an option since everyone is always willing to help.

I also have a good idea of tooling and how much it will all cost, I want to do it right the first time. I tried to get my partner to buy a Haas Mill and Lathe, but that was a little much. We need to get started first to see if we can actually start selling stuff.

Basically I want to start making some of my own designs and sell them. So I will only have to meet my own deadlines, and if orders start going through the roof then, that's a good problem, and we will probably by a larger production machine.

I wouldn't mind having a manual lathe, because for the simpler things it is generally faster and easier, however a lot of the stuff will have complex curves and everything.

Also I will be using it for prototyping, so there is no telling what that will consist of.

Also with the 4th axis mill, I suppose for the prototype parts, I can just use it as a lathe, until I can get one built...

I am still kind of curious about the Syil Lathe. I haven't been able to find much info about it, personal experiences.