[dustincram]

Hi All! I am looking to buy a used machining center in the next few weeks and am driving myself a bit nuts with all of the options. I am a mechanical engineer who does design work and some prototyping for aerospace and scientific markets. I tend to work in a variety of materials, AL, steel, TI, plastics, but mostly AL. Things I work on tend to be pretty good sized, and I am thinking a 40X20X20 machine is a good medium size machine. I have about 30K cash to work with, and these have been my options-

1- 1995 Haas VF-4, 7500rpm, clean and under power, $32,500. Nothing fancy, brush motors, umbrella tool holder, 15HP, no other options.

2- 1988 Mori Seiki MV55 with a yasnac control AND a Mighty Commet VMC, 1998. $25,000 for both of them, under power making parts. Don't know spindle speeds yet, price probably negotiable.

3- 2001 Hardinge VMC 1000 II 40X20X20 vmc, 12000rpm spindle with siemens sinumerik control, side mount arm tool changer, remote mpg, $29,000. Not under power but looks clean.

4-1995 Shizouka SV-4020S, Fanuc 18M control, 12500rpm spindle, $28000. Cleanish looking. Under power making parts.

Ideas? Anything I should run from screaming?

I currently run 3 CNC machines, a Takisawa lathe, Gorton Mill, and Hendy lathe, all Mach3 retrofits that I did.

Thank you for any comments, Ideas, etc.
Dustin