[WOTDesigns]

I was almost about to place an order for the Premium package of PCNC440 (> $12,000) when I came across the following YouTube video review:



Refunded : My Tormach Story

Published just around 6 months ago, in the comments section there are plenty of others who have had similar experiences so it definitely is not a one off case.

I read a bunch of comments (not all) but it appears that Tormach didn't even respond to this review!

I simply cannot take a risk with any product from such a company.

Anybody has any comments on this?

That was a classic case of buying the wrong tool for the job and then being upset. He obviously has absolutely no idea what he was doing in buying that machine to make that park. I have a Haas TM to P and would not take a job requiring 6 inch tool engagement and a great surface finish. A 1234 or 5000 pound Mill isn’t going to do what he wanted it to do. I made a hell of a lot of money on my 400 pound X3 mill that I converted to CNC Because I knew what it could and couldn’t do. I also made a hell of a lot of money with my Tormach. I then sold it for almost what I bought it for making it the highest return on investment machine I have ever owned. If you were wanting to do high in production work that requires 1 inch tooling then no a 1000 or 2000 pound machine is not the right tool for the job. That is like showing up to a demolition job with a finishing hammer. Frankly the mini mill that he has now probably take some babysitting to get it to make that cut. I don’t even like doing profile work on my brother S 700s in Steele. I leave all the fixturing work for the Haas TM2P. But the brother runs 25,000 RPM 20+ hours a day with approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours of human interaction. I also have a Haas OM2A that can only hold up to three eights inch tooling but the thing damn near prints money because I use the tool for what it’s made for.

Tormach is a great starter machine. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper to crash the Tormach 15 times then $100,000 machine once. I have had to replace the spindle on both of my Haas machines. It’s not fun. If you’re in the garage and doing hobby stuff or wanting to learn Machining having a community of that type behind you puts you leaps and bounds above a lot of other cases. Sure you will outgrow it if you get into any type of production or if the parts require immaculate finishes that you can’t tumble afterwards. If you do get into that type of situation having the Tormach as a back up machine for second operation or zero operation is immensely usefulI. We make over 1000 parts A day and every single one of them comes off the Swiss looking like crap and then I tumble it for about 24 hours because if I slow down and take a finishing pass I can only make 500 parts today. A $10,000 Tumblr sitting in the corner running 24 hours a day saves me from having to buy another Swiss. Having a tormach sitting in the corner might save you from having to buy a second machine down the road. If you can tumble your parts after taking them off of an 1100 you’re saving a hell of a lot of money versus buying $100,000 machine to learn on and not see any ROI for 1 to 3 years.

I wouldn’t let a single person who obviously didn’t know their elbow from an endmill have any bearing on your decision is for machine purchasing. Talk to people who’ve actually used both machines. Talk to people who started at the bottom and Clawed their way up from the garage and actually know how to machine parts. Yes there is a serious fanboy aspect to this brand and I don’t own one anymore so I don’t have a dog in the fight and as much as I like watching his videos to poke fun at him the dude is About as far from an expert on machine purchasing as you could possibly hope to ask for. In the last seven years I’ve bought 10 machines from 6 different manufacturers/brands and every single one of them earned it’s keep and had a place in my company’s progress. It all depends on your situation and where you are and what you’re trying to do. Biting off more than you can chew isn’t always the best way to start out. One of the only regrets that I made was going with the Haas TM instead of a Haas VF too. I got sucked in by the bigger travels and not realizing with good fixturing travels are not as important as rigidity and speed. You’re not gonna win any races with an 1100 but you can learn how to race get on the track and get the job done. If you’re good at it better machines will come along