![Quote](images/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
dan10400
Hello,
I am considering a 2010 ShopMaster Patriot and wanted to solicit some feedback
on this, because I am wavering a bit. I am primarily interested in from a hobby
perspective - have some limited experience on knee mills and lathes (Jet). What
I find interesting in the Patriot is the potential for space savings and the cnc option
The space saving was a major factor in our decision to buy the Patriots. To get a 17 X 30 lathe and a 19 X 20 mill all in a 3 X 5 space makes it great for classroom or garage use.
(I have no experience with this, but am a software developer by trade and have
been itching to dink around).
So some general questions about the ShopMaster (and combo machines in general)
is the ability to get accuracy out of them. It seems they lack the ability to tram
the mill head. The fact that the ways are used for both the mill and the lathe would
seem to conflict how to adjust both the mill and the lathe as well. Can someone
enlighten me a bit here? I have searched around to no avail.
Tramming is pretty straightforward- the mill is trammed by shimming under the 3/4" steel plate that holds the 4 columns. We did not have to do anything with the lathe portion, but it has 4 bolts that hold the headstock casting to the bed, so adjustment looks pretty straightforward. There are a couple of guys who have posted nice detailed descriptions of tramming on the Shoptask delphi forum and also somewhere on this forum as well.
WRT the CNC capabilities of the Shopmaster, any comments here? Can it be used
in the manual mode as well with this option?
That's another reason we went with the Patriot. They have designed it to be used manually without interfering with CNC. All the other 3 in 1 units we looked at lost most of the manual functions when converted to CNC. Even a lot of the dedicated separates have this problem.
Any general comments regarding the quality of the machines now that they are being
manufactured in ISO-certified plants? Anybody check the tolerances as published?
Maybe ShopMaster does before sending out?
I would describe the machine quality as good. The castings are heavy and fine grained. The handles are rugged, which is a plus when students get a hold of them. I would say that you would have to step up to a lot more money to find a machine with a significant improvement in general quality. Shopmaster does a pretty thorough inspection on the machines before they are shipped, but realistically, they will still require some final adjustment and tramming after they are set up and levelled in their final position.
Regards,
--Dan