[John S.]

I can't truthfully comment on owning one of these but I did install one here in the UK back in the end of July or begining of August.
No connection with Tormach, this was a paying rigging job.
I was very impressed on the size, weight and build quality.
It was obvious from the start that this was a 'as built CNC' and not a conversion of a manual machine.

My brief was to get this into place and leave the new owner to connect the computer and get it running.
As I said earlier I was that impressed that I called back a couple of weeks later when I was in the area to see this machine under power.

It was behaving flawlessly and nothing I saw gave me cause for concern.
The machine uses Mach3 as a controller and the new owner who may chime in here as I know he read CNCZone, had fitted a touch screen with an overlay keyboard on it making a very neat self contained machine.

It looks to me that a lot of thought has gone into this as I can't see any cost cutting on the spec.
Two area's that could be pared down to save money are the breakout board and pressure oiling which many conversions don't have.
Because this seems to be a genuine attemp at a reasonable cost genuine CNC mill both are fitted.

As said previously I have no connection with Tormach and was paid by the owner of the machine and not Tormach for my work.

John Stevenson.
Nottingham, England.

[dammachines]

No connection with Tormach, this was a paying rigging job.
...
My brief was to get this into place and leave the new owner to connect the computer and get it running.

John,

Since you've had experience moving one of these (and it sounds like you do this type of work a lot) I have a few questions for you if I may.

My plan is to set the machine up in my basement shop. Tormach discourages dismantling the machine (though Greg was helpful and told me it was possible and gave me a few tips if I chose to do it.) so I'd like to avoid that if I can.

I will need to move the machine about 100 feet around to the back of the house, down a 10 step, 4 foot wide concrete stairwell, and through a 36 inch wide doorway. So, the question is - does this seem possible with the machine completely assembled? It's the doorway that bothers me most, but then again finding a way to move 1200 lbs down 10 steps doesn't sound like the easiest job either.

So, does it sound like it would be possible to get it down there in one piece? And would you recommend going with a professional to get the job done? It's not quite the same as when I moved the 300 lb lathe down there. (And certainly not as much $ being risked if something were to slip!!)

Thanks,
Dave.

[dammachines]

Just wondering, anyone ever had a machine like this moved professionally before?

I called a rigger not to far from here and he gave me a "ballpark" estimate over the phone of $2000. This is just to move the mill around the house and down the stairs. Seemed a little extreme for such a "small" mill. Looks like I might be keeping it in the garage for a little while...

Dave.