I just bought a used Tormach (series 1 circa 2006). It hadn't been used for about a year and a half and had a nice thick coating of dried coolant and chips... After a couple of good cleaning sessions, I am now ready to start looking at the functional aspects of the machine. One of my concerns is the lubrication system. I have no experience with one shot lube so I don't know what to expect of it. Is it reasonable to expect that the oil might have dried in the lines after sitting for so long or can I assume that the lines are ok?
Also, how long should the handle take to go back to its resting position when you pull it out to deliver a shot of oil? Mine seems to take a long time and if I push on the handle there is a lot of resistance. Does this indicate that there may be a blockage or is this normal? How does one check that the oil is getting where it is supposed to go?
I am quite excited to have the Tormach. I am moving up from a Taig so that is a pretty substantial step forward. Funny how these things go. I had long been debating the relative merits of buying a PCNC, either 1100 or 770, versus converting some flavour of Weiss clone. While I really wanted a Tormach, for cost reasons, I decided to do a conversion and was waiting for a shipping quote from one of the dealers.
Come Monday morning, I hadn't heard back so I was going to call, get the quote and if it was reasonable, place the order. Then I logged in here, and saw a Tormach in the featured ads and realized it was only about 140 miles from me... I drove down to see it that night, made the deal and went back on Wednesday in a rented truck to pick it up.
I still have some work ahead of me before I can start making chips but should be able to get it under power sometime this week and jog it around. I hope to get it up on the stand this weekend or next...
bob