[treg]

about to buy one. Whats it like for steel? 4340 for example?? Depth of cut??
What happens when you over load it??does the drive belts ever slip???

[treg]

does anyone know someone that has one???

[HuFlungDung]

I don't have one, but I did watch a demo. I was impressed.

These machines have vector drives controlling the spindle I believe, so there's no real danger of overloading it, because the drive is intelligently monitoring the load and it will just trip out if overloaded.

I'd like to hear any user reports of how prone the machine is to vibrations, etc, while cutting the tougher materials, too. You won't be taking mammoth cuts of course, because its not got the horsepower for it.

[WOLOG]

I have seen the TL series in action at the local HFO. I am inpressed by the machines and the controls. Our area is dominated by the oilfield. An industry not exactly known for small depths of cut or cutting a lot of aluminum. I think the machine will more than handle what is thrown at it and do it well. I saw the machine take some nice roughing passes and also left a pretty good surface finish. I hope that I will be able to add a TL-3 to my SL-30 Big Bore and VF-5/50 soon. All B.S. aside, I would buy one!!

[DEAN]

I have owned a TL-1 for nearly a year. I think it is a decent machine for the money. Pretty damn beefy, ridgid, wide linear rail spacing, big linear trucks, beefy tailstock, 2.1 inch through hole.
The chip chute is very handy. Smooth and quiet operation. I wouldn’t exactly call it a workhorse, but for what it is, it is damn convenient to have around. With all the quickcode stuff it makes for quick work of the short run stuff. Repeatability has been excellent. A turret would be very cool, HAAS is supposed to be coming out with a 4 station unit sometime soon. It can be moved with a quality pallet jack.
There are only a few drawbacks that I can think of: The VERY heavy feel of the Z axis in manual mode; for the obvious reason of having to turn the screw and servo. Everything moved about in manual mode follows mechanically versus the electronic handles found on most other hybrid lathes. X isn’t so bad. So you definitely don’t have the feel of a manual machine, but again the machine has lots of quick code stuff that only requires a few keystrokes to do most all lathe tasks, so the handles really only get used for quick tool offset setting.
The spindle max speed is a bit limiting for the small stuff, 1800 rpm.
That deadman switch has to be removed.
I am very cautious about chips entering the trucks. I am not sure how good those seals are as the trucks are exposed, so I stay on top of the situation with a shop vac.
Don’t forget there is a TL-2 and 3. The TL-1 is pretty short. I think for a few grand more you get a longer bed, depends what you do.
I’d buy one all over again.

JD