DMS 5T5-5-5-48 5 axis router

Hello all,
I just started a new job as digital fabrication manager for a big art foundry near New York City. We cast and fabricate large and very large sculptures and architectural metal in bronze, ss, steel and aluminum. We use 3D printing and cnc milled foam patterns in our everyday processes. We were just gifted an older DMS 5T5-5-5-48 5axis router with moving tables and one of my tasks here is to first assess if it's worth putting together to get it running again and then do it if it makes sense $ wise.
It was manufactured in 2005. I'm still researching its history and how much use it got.
The machine is not setup yet. No power or shop air lines hooked up yet.

I've been checking out the machine with visual inspection and it is in decent condition. It doesn't look like it got much use.
-The backbone is currently disconnected, strapped to and leaning against the gantry, resting on the router knuckle.
-The oiler looks like it was working fine.
-Belts are ok but probably could use a swap out.
-Not sure how to assess the counterbalance cylinder until everything gets hooked up.
-probably missing some hardware (I can't find the bolts to hook up the backbone, for example)
-this machine doesn't have a tool changer.
-looks like there is vaccuum table componentry but not sure.
-its got Glentek motors on the overhead x and two y tables. (DMS says these were earlier motors, not the greatest)

I've started a dialog with DMS and they seem like they will be helpful in recommissioning this machine, but I want to learn as much about it as possible before deciding to spend $ on having their techs come out here for $200/hour.
I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with this machine or similar from DMS and if anyone has opinions on whether we should sink some money into this thing to get it going or put the money towards something newer and more state of the art. I figure we can probably get it running for under $10k in parts and labor, plus another $10k max for electrical and air routing and a dust collection system. This could be could be a decent backup machine after we land up getting something newer someday.
I'm also going to need some advice on best cam software to program parts with. We are a full Rhino house here and we're working with increasingly more complex and dense mesh files coming from customers as well as our own in house hi res laser scans.

thanks for any input!
best,
Robert

One of these 5 Axis Moving Table CNC Machine - Diversified Machine Systems (but older)? I doubt these sell for under $100k, even used, so if you can get it running for $20k it's probably worth doing. Did the previous owner tell you what, if anything is wrong with it? Is that an active counterbalancing cylinder, or just a gas strut? It's normal for these things to be disassembled for shipping, so the fact that things are in pieces is not a really bad sign by itself. If it's been sitting around a while, it's also normal for a few things to get lost, if it's been decommissioned a while. Did it ever have a tool-changer? The motors are probably fine, although I'm sure DMS would be happy to upgrade them for you. The computer is likely to want upgrading more than the motors, though; that's probably where DMS will be most useful. I'd say put it back together yourselves, hook it up, and see what it does. Who knows - maybe it will fire right up and work okay.

If you want a 5-axis CAM program that's easy to use, well-supported, and plugs into Rhino, talk to us about RhinoCAM Premium. Mecsoft will configure a post-processor for your machine for no extra charge, if there isn't one in their collection of posts already.

Andrew,
Thanks for your reply. Yes that is the machine type we have. I am having some difficulty getting a dialog going with the previous owner as the machine was acquired after my being hired. I've reached out but still working on getting any info from him. He always seems too busy to discuss the machine.
It never had a tool changer, which is one gripe I have about it as DMS says it will not be a plug-and-play addition to add one.
Indeed DMS has already mentioned the motors upgrade option. I think their main concern with the Glentek was if they had been running full production mode for 11 years they could be shot, but rumor has it this machine wasn't run that much and has sat unused for years.

After crawling around the machine some more on Friday I'm in agreement with you that it will most likely be worth putting this thing back together. I got my physical plant manager to confirm I can get a 220 line and shop air brought over to where it's currently stored and at least power it up to run some initial diagnostics. If all seems relatively OK I'll have the DMS guys come out and run their full calibration on it and give me some training on it and maybe upgrade the computer.

I'm going to download the Rhinocam demo and try it out this week. I'm looking for something that can efficiently and effectively handle very high poly count meshes (20-100million). We'll be cutting mostly urethane foam (10, 15, 30lb) but will get into wood and wax eventually. Looking to use 1/8" to 6mm ball ends mostly, with some 1/16" tight detail work as required. Much of our work is becoming more textured and detailed as artists and computer hardware are evolving. Rhino is our workhorse cad app but we also use Zbrush and Geomagic for all of our mesh modeling and fixing.

I posted in the 'Archived Manuals' section as well as I'm still looking for a manual for this machine. DMS says they can find me one but I'm trying to get a jump on this.

Thanks again for the pep talk. I'll send in some updates as I have them.

It sounds like you've got a good start on a pretty awesome machine. The main concern I'd have is whether it's got enough memory and computer speed to deal with the large G-code files it sounds like you're going to be feeding it. I wouldn't worry about the ATC too much; it's not like you're going to need to use a whole lot of tools, like some machined metal parts require. Typically you'll be running a roughing pass with a big ball-nose and a finishing pass with a small one (I like the tapered ball-nose carving tools which don't break as easily as the small straight ones tend to: Carbide 3 & 4 Flute Tapered 3D C arving Tools )

Let me know if you have any problems with RhinoCAM. The demo will give you a feel for the program and how it handles your files, but it won't post code - you'll probably need that custom post before it will work with that machine anyway. If you're feeding it huge mesh files, make sure you're using it on a computer with plenty of RAM and a good graphics card, since those big meshes take a lot of processing power.