I purchased a "new, old stock" CNC ready bed mill recently from a reputable Sharp dealer, and was told it was a Sharp Santec RB-310 which they aquired from the Sharp main headquarters here in the states. It had been set up in a tech lab to evaluate different control fittings and compatability and then covered and forgotten for 10 years. When I received the manual for it some weeks later there was no mention or referrence to Sharp anywhere in it, just Santec RB-310 on the cover. The exploded views of the machine in the manual are clearly of this one in every detail, yet the name on the milling head says "MEGA", not Sharp or Santec or any combination. It's a very nice heavy square way machine with head counterweight, grade C-3 precision ground ball screws, and class 7 angular contact spindle bearings. I copied and pasted the following from the original posting on eBay:
NEW SHARP “SANTEC” RB-310 BED MILL CNC READY
MODEL RB-310
S/N AA0059
INVENTORY #2144
MINT CONDITION !!!!!!
THIS IS A HIGH QUALITY HEAVEY DUTY MILL !!
SELECT YOUR OWN CONTROL
LIST PRICE IS $17,950.00
I've never heard of Mega and the head certainly looks original. Anyone have any better knowledge or input on this? I have pictures if they will help. I'm guessing that there's probably one factory in China that produced this machine and applied the brand name to suit the different dealers like so many other products. So a Santec is a Sharp, is a Mega, etc. Am I close, or what's in a name??
Woody