[macona]

About two months ago I bought this Supermax YCM-16VS Vertical Turret Mill from a friend. It was previously owned by Tektronix and resided in the Model Dept where it was converted to CNC by a local company. It was fitted with an TERA 4030 series CNC control with Glentek Servo Drives and Motors, Heidenhain glass scales, Bridgeport belt housings, Ballscrews on X and Y, and a Air assist ballscrew on the knee.

My friend sold it to me because he could not get it to work. The control would come on but when you went to turn on the servo it would just shut off as soon as you let go of the button. He messed around with the servo drives and eventually it just set around for about 2 years. I was looking for a mill and was looking at a Jet vertical cnc. I told my friend I was looking at getting it and he offered to sell me his supermax. This was better for me as the Jet was a dedicated CNC machine. No real manual controls and the head was fixed so no pan or tilt. Plus since he is a friend I can barter and trade!

So I offered him something he couldnt refuse as a true lover of gizmos (His site: http://www.surpusgizmos.com ) I traded him an Esab Plasma Cutter I rebuilt, a bottle for his Mig welder, a Kurt vice, and a little cash. All in all I have about $1100 out of pocket into the machine.

It weighs in at somewhere around 2700lbs at best guess. Getting it home would be fun. Luckily I have a friend who does fabrication and weding on heavy equipment so I enlisted his help. He has a 10000 lb crane on his truck. Using that we lifted it up and onto the back of my friends pickup, tied it down and brought it over. Picked it back out and set it on a pallet where I used a pallet jack to move it into the garage.

Here are some pics of moving it.