Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Curious to hear from anyone who purchased the new M series machines. For me.... I'm holding off to see the details on the MX and BT30 model. If all is good then I'll be purchasing two new 1100's!
And before the flame war erupts.... my view is that I can buy two machines with all tooling for less than a Haas. The whole reason for buying two is so that I can run separate part ops at the same time and to have a backup should one die. Also, I'm just a guy in his garage so power and weight play a huge role on what I can purchase. That and the fact that the 1100 and Slant Pro have been good for me and I've made quite a bit of coin using them.
Later,
Awall
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
If you run a Haas, you can run 2 ops at the same time. I had a TM-1 in my shop and there were times I had 4 vises on one machine running a different job in each vise all at the same time.
I would run G54 Tool 1-10 on vise one, G55 Tool 1-10 offsets 11-20 on vise 2 and so on.
First time I did it I was really confused, but after that, it got easier every time I did it.
I haven’t tried it in my Tormach yet, but I’ve said before, “I don’t want to work that hard any more”.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Steve Seebold
If you run a Haas, you can run 2 ops at the same time. I had a TM-1 in my shop and there were times I had 4 vises on one machine running a different job in each vise all at the same time.
I would run G54 Tool 1-10 on vise one, G55 Tool 1-10 offsets 11-20 on vise 2 and so on.
First time I did it I was really confused, but after that, it got easier every time I did it.
I haven’t tried it in my Tormach yet, but I’ve said before, “I don’t want to work that hard any more”.
For me it comes down more about having the second machine as a backup to the primary machine. The fact that I would then be able to spin two spindles simultaneous is a plus.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Steve Seebold
If you run a Haas, you can run 2 ops at the same time. I had a TM-1 in my shop and there were times I had 4 vises on one machine running a different job in each vise all at the same time.
I would run G54 Tool 1-10 on vise one, G55 Tool 1-10 offsets 11-20 on vise 2 and so on.
First time I did it I was really confused, but after that, it got easier every time I did it.
I haven’t tried it in my Tormach yet, but I’ve said before, “I don’t want to work that hard any more”.
I thought you purchased two new Haas DM machines....?
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
My guess would be that the MX would be worth the upgrade from a 1100, the M maybe not as much.
Also, BT30 will hopefully significantly solve the TTS pull-out problem with thicker tools and more aggressive cuts.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
In the thread at https://www.cnczone.com/forums/torma...4-tormach.html Steve announced that he had purchased a VF3 and ST10. I'm also curious regarding how things worked out plus seeing the promised pictures of Steve's products.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kstrauss
...he had purchased a VF3 and ST10. I'm also curious regarding how things worked out...
I was wondering the same thing....
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Getting REAL close to pulling the trigger on two fully loaded 1100Ms!!!! Should be any day now. Guess my bank account will be about $45k smaller :-). Good thing for me is that I sold several other pieces of equipment, have a local buyer looking at my loaded series 3 ($15k), so I should be in pretty good shape. Now I just have to figure out how all of it is going to fit in the garage! Along with the slant pro, tig welding equipment, fixture table.......
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
smokediver576
Now I just have to figure out how all of it is going to fit in the garage! Along with the slant pro, tig welding equipment, fixture table.......
In short the best solution to lack of space is to build a bigger shop :)
The new chip pan and enclosure design look like they are more space efficient. With control cabinet access on back a peninsula layout along a wall or bench would be awesome for me. With more then one machine, I would need to use a tool box /cart for tooling and fixture setup. No room for dedicated work area- bench for each machine. I have bench tools "grinders, polishers, sanders…" on base plates that lock onto work benches in T track slots. When not part of my main work flow they are moved over to a storage rack. This allows me to have a wider range of bench tools on hand and use far less space. I noticed a while back in one of Keens videos he mounted his grinders to a wall in a stacked arrangement. I took note of this for future remodel.
The improved chip and coolant maintenance / enclosure is one very compelling reason to sell- trade up or upgrade.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Mine arrived yesterday here at my warehouse.
Still crated up, trying to coordinate with my logistics mgr when
I can borrow the lift gate truck and pallet jack to move it to my shop.
Hopefully get it set up next week, and once I have it set up I will post any comments
good,bad, or indifferent.I won't know until I unpack it if everything is there.
GovasInd, I'd be interested in what "nuances" I might wan't to watch for as I uncrate and assemble it, PM me if you would.
It did arrive in a timely manner, and so far the customer service has been great.
Greg
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Hello All!
New member here. I have been a manual guy for many years. I have really wanted to learn CNC machining. I have been kicking around buying a Tormach maybe the M series. I have been reading and watching youtube videos on them. Was excited about getting one, then I started running into horror stories about them. Really would like some input from anybody that has experience good or bad. Thanks for any help
Mike
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
As far as I can tell, machine tools are very much a "if you want it, it has a cost" business.
There's the cheap Chinese imports. Those can be converted to CNC control. However, you end up with a cheap machine, that you bolted some stepper motors onto -- it's still a cheap, non-rigid mill. And because you converted it yourself, there is very little support. (Some conversion kit companies answer email pretty well, but human being time is expensive, and the margin on each kit sold is slim.) The cost here is $1k - $10k. If you are cash strapped, but absolutely need to make parts, this may be an option. If you already have a mill, and want to add CNC control (2 or perhaps 3 axes) then this may be an option. Think of it as a "Smart Car" for transportation.
Then there's "complete affordable CNC mills." This is the niche Tormach established in the US. There are a few alternatives, like Novakon, which I don't have experience with. The mills are rigid enough to make some parts (not just a mini-mill,) but at best, a 1100 will be similar to a Bridgeport clone in rigidity. The smaller ones will back off a little bit from that. Tormach will answer the phone, and send you parts under warranty; this costs them money, which they get from the mark-up on selling you a mill compared to what they pay their Chinese manufacturer. The cost range here is $10k - $30k. If you want to make part in a garage for yourself, and you're not THAT strapped for cash, this is the option for you. You can get into smaller production as well, but the machines aren't specified or supported as heavy production units. Think of it as a Toyota Camry for transportation.
Above that, there's the industrial machine tool systems. These start at maybe $50k and go up. (I think there's a Haas for $30k, but it's on the very low end.) These systems come with industrial support, they probably have service engineers they can send to your location (sometimes at a cost, sometimes as part of a maintenance contract or warranty,) and you can talk to their design engineers if you run into production issues. Think of it as a mover van (< $100k systems) up to a Mack truck ($500k systems) for transportation.
I've used a Tormach at a shared workspace, and it's taken some abuse and buckled under it. (But kept cutting parts.) I also ended up buying one of my own, and it's been alright so far, with good support from Tormach. For me, making prototype parts in my garage for myself, this is the right choice.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Thanks for the response Jwatte,
What I am looking for is a machine I can learn CNC on and make some prototype parts. I have just found some information that concerns me about Tormachs rigidity and having to fix brand new machines. I know nothing about CNC and the last thing I need is a machine that I have to diagnose right out of the box. I just want to make sure that I am not wasting $15000 on a piece of junk.
Re: Anyone who purchased one of the new 770/1100 M Post Up
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lawman1331
Thanks for the response Jwatte,
What I am looking for is a machine I can learn CNC on and make some prototype parts. I have just found some information that concerns me about Tormachs rigidity and having to fix brand new machines. I know nothing about CNC and the last thing I need is a machine that I have to diagnose right out of the box. I just want to make sure that I am not wasting $15000 on a piece of junk.
My 3.5 year old 1100 Series 3 makes big metal into little metal all day long with few problems and very little drama. Years ago I was more or less in the same place with very little machine tool experience. I find the information today far better then 3 or more years ago. When I purchased my mill a huge number of people were telling me how many problems I would have. Run away controller, tool pull out, poor precision, you name it. Some tin foil hat wearing people even went on about how bad wd40 is for your tools ..................LOL. To date my mill has had 0.00 failures. It makes stuff that I design with precision at or above my modest quality tools ability to check or trust. And after years of use and experience it has been a hard tool to outgrow. In fact I spent most my tool budget recently on productive CAD software to model and cam up ever more complex parts and assemblies faster.
Note: My shop is temperature controlled with clean dedicated power to cnc machines. "imho important"
