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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Mikinimech > Finally got my Mikini 1610L Working!
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    9

    Finally got my Mikini 1610L Working!

    Like many of you, it came down to the Tormach and the Mikini. Ultimately, I chose the Mikini because of its enclosure and higher precision. I got my unit with the integrated controller, the 4th axis, two vises, touch screen, etc. Pretty much the whole package.

    Upon getting the machine I was really impressed with the quality. The weight is perfect for so we could still move it around, but you know its not going anywhere. It actually took us 2 weeks to get it into our machining room in the basement of our facility.

    Once we had the 1610L in place and hooked up we started to set up mach. We had several problems with the controller that prevented us from using it. Due to diagnosing and shipping times we lost about 3 weeks. Ultimately we came up with a fix and mach is now running well and controlling the mill just fine.

    On the day we finally figured out and fixed the controller issue, just as we were going to cut our first part, the power supply rectifier board shorted against the mill's body and blew. Another 5 days lost due to shipping a replacement, but I'm happy to say we got everything working now.

    I actually made our first parts on the mill yesterday and plan to have the machine working 6-8 hours a day at least for the first couple weeks. So far so good.

    Our plan is to eventually purchase a total of 4 of these as long as it proves to be reliable. On the next one I'll probably just skip their integrated controller and build my own dedicated PC.

    If anyone has any questions about the 1610L let me know and I'll respond. One of the hardest things about deciding on the mill was the lack of online reviews or users on the forums. So, if I can help others make their decision I'm happy to do so.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    4

    Mikini mill

    Nice to here you got yours up and running after some setbacks.
    My partner and I are considering this mill as well with a purchase coming in the next month or so and I have been reading as much as possible about it.

    Are you concerned about a ATC or will you be utilizing your multiple machines for this scenario?

    What is you main material you will be cutting?

    Did you stay with the R8 tooling?

    How were the guys at Mikini Mech to work with in regards to your problems?

    Thanks very much for your time and help,

    John

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    9
    Quote Originally Posted by john534 View Post
    Are you concerned about a ATC or will you be utilizing your multiple machines for this scenario?
    An ATC would be nice, but I'm not too worried about it right now. We make a lot of one-offs, and small production runs (25-50). Since most projects are new and small runs we won't be leaving the machine unattended in most cases, so an ATC isn't high on our priority list. Precisely because we do so many different projects and prototypes it is advantageous for us to have multiples of the smaller mills.

    Quote Originally Posted by john534 View Post
    What is you main material you will be cutting?
    We work 95% of the time with various aluminum alloys although we do at times work with 4130 chromoly.

    Quote Originally Posted by john534 View Post
    Did you stay with the R8 tooling?
    Yes, I got their basic toolink kit, but we already have a lot of R8 tooling from various manual mills we have. I don't mind the R8 tooling, but I am looking for a good tapping head that will work on the Mikini with Mach.

    Quote Originally Posted by john534 View Post
    How were the guys at Mikini Mech to work with in regards to your problems?
    I dealt exclusively with Phil. He was helpful and attentive, but it was frustrating dealing with the time delays of communications and shipping. Hopefully they have added some things to their quality control checklist and you won't have to deal with the same issues.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    4

    Mikini mill

    Thanks for your answers, I find that I am in a scenario very much like yourself and I am glad all is positive so far with this mill. Your help has made our purchase pretty much a done deal....

    Please keep posting your findings and maybe some pics/videos if you find the time...... I will be watching with great interest.

    Thanks again

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by moadib64 View Post
    ....It actually took us 2 weeks to get it into our machining room in the basement of our facility.
    If I buy one it would also need to go into a basement shop. That would require moving it down a flight of stairs. Did your move involve stairs? If so, how did you handle that, given how heavy it is?

    Pat

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    599
    Why would you build your own PC versus the integrated controller? Cost? Performance? What components would you use?

    I think we would all love some pics and video. The ONLY videos online featuring the 1610L are from Mikini and are very short.

  7. #7
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    Nov 2008
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    9
    Quote Originally Posted by pkelecy View Post
    If I buy one it would also need to go into a basement shop. That would require moving it down a flight of stairs. Did your move involve stairs? If so, how did you handle that, given how heavy it is?

    Pat
    The mill weighs over 2000lbs. We ended up cutting a hole in the floor and building a gantry to lower the mill and about 10,000lbs of other equipment down. I don't think I would try to slide it down stairs.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    9
    Quote Originally Posted by SWATH View Post
    Why would you build your own PC versus the integrated controller? Cost? Performance? What components would you use?

    I think we would all love some pics and video. The ONLY videos online featuring the 1610L are from Mikini and are very short.
    We had lots of problems with the integrated controller. For the price you you could build a faster computer and have a full license of Mach. If I thought that it was a bulletproof setup without any hassles or problems (as is the turnkey salespitch) I would do it again, but with all the issues and diagnosing steps that we had to do to get it running I could have built our own system and been cutting chips 3 weeks sooner. As for the PC itself the hardest part to building one is getting a motherboard with a parallel port, but if you look at the Mach forums there are a lot of recommendations.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
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    599
    Quote Originally Posted by moadib64 View Post
    We had lots of problems with the integrated controller. For the price you you could build a faster computer and have a full license of Mach. If I thought that it was a bulletproof setup without any hassles or problems (as is the turnkey salespitch) I would do it again, but with all the issues and diagnosing steps that we had to do to get it running I could have built our own system and been cutting chips 3 weeks sooner. As for the PC itself the hardest part to building one is getting a motherboard with a parallel port, but if you look at the Mach forums there are a lot of recommendations.
    Is it simply a PC running Windows XP or something? If so I can build one for FAR less than $1500. Does it need a special enclosure or does the motherboard just bolt right in to the Mikini somewhere? In fact I have a nice computer now that has a top end motherboard with a parallel port, 3.4Ghz Pentium4 and 2G of ram that I could potentially scavenge. Is the license of Mach not a full license? How much is a full license? After talking to Phil I was leaning towards the integrated controller but I don't want do buy expensive redundant things.

    Do you like the touch screen and find it worth it? What is the cost? How do you like the Mikini vices? Are they like the Kurt vices and what are their size? What size is the 4th axis and do you like it? Does it have a quality tailstock?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    9

    Re: Finally got my Mikini 1610L Working!

    Is it simply a PC running Windows XP or something?

    - yes, it is essentially a laptop board with integrated video and laptop harddrive.

    If so I can build one for FAR less than $1500. Does it need a special enclosure or does the motherboard just bolt right in to the Mikini somewhere?

    - it is pretty nice how it fits in the enclosure and all the wiring runs through the case.

    Is the license of Mach not a full license? How much is a full license?

    - no it is not. I figured for $1500 it would come with it. I should have asked. The full license is about $300. The demo will run 500 lines, but if you are using it commercially you really should by it. You'll need it to use the nsf wizards too.

    Do you like the touch screen and find it worth it?

    - I like it, but it gets messy quickly.

    How do you like the Mikini vices? Are they like the Kurt vices and what are their size?

    - I got two of the 6" vices. They are good.

    What size is the 4th axis and do you like it?

    - I have it, but haven't used it yet.

    Does it have a quality tailstock?

    - looks pretty basic, but functional.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    599
    Anyway you could post the specs of the integrated computer so I can price comparable components? Or even what spec/components you would prefer to have had.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    26
    My 1610L is on a boat in the middle of the Pacific on its way to NZ.

    You mentioned some problems getting things going with Mach3 or were they just with the failed controller?

    Did you use the .xml file Phil provided or did you have to make mods? If so are you able to post your working .xml here.


    Thanks

    Matt

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    9
    Quote Originally Posted by kenealym View Post
    My 1610L is on a boat in the middle of the Pacific on its way to NZ.

    You mentioned some problems getting things going with Mach3 or were they just with the failed controller?

    Did you use the .xml file Phil provided or did you have to make mods? If so are you able to post your working .xml here.


    Thanks

    Matt
    The main problem we had with the controller was the integrated video card chip overheating. We have fixed that by cutting a hole in the controller's case and mounting an additional fan right over the heatsink. It runs very well now.

    The other problem that we had was with a power supply board that shorted out.

    ultimately, we took out all of the electronics and made sure they were isolated from the mill chasis. I recommend at least a thorough inspection before operating the mill.

    As far as the mach 3 settings go the only things I had to change was the screen resolution settings to fill the large screen.

    You will also want to synch the axis. While the Y axis is perfect, the X axis was about off by quite a bit and the Z axis just a little. Make sure you check that before you start cutting circles.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    9
    Quote Originally Posted by SWATH View Post
    Anyway you could post the specs of the integrated computer so I can price comparable components? Or even what spec/components you would prefer to have had.
    You can get the recommended specs from the mach site to build your own controller.

    From memory, this version comes with 2gb of ram, 2.xGHz Atom processor, 320GB harddrive. It is running Windows XP. No discs, serials, or backups were includes so if the system goes down I assume i'll have to send it in to get rebuilt.

    I'm fine with the specs. If we wouldn't have had the problems we did I probably never would have bothered looking at the controller. It doesn't take much to run mach. Full licensed software would have been nice. Microsoft and Artsoft both offer OEM to system builders.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    9
    I am glad to report that yesterday we ran the mill 10 hours without any issues. The chips were flying. While we have been cutting parts I've been experimenting with feedrates to get the right finish.

    Other than a few broken drill bits and having to clean the coolant tray a couple times we've had no more set backs.

    I've been drilling a lot of holes so my favorite tool so far has been our keyless chuck.

    Phil suggested an er25 tapping head, which we are getting this morning. I'm still not sure how 'll do the tapping in mach, but I have to figure it out.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    26
    I would be keen to hear how you get on with Phil's tapping head as I have ordered one too. I assume you just use G95 (feed per rev mode) with the tension/compression in the tapping device taking up the slack for minor variations in feed.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    6
    Hi Guys:
    Very interested in this machine. Keep posting. Lots of us looking for such a machine! Thanks for the feedback.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    9
    We've been using our mikini everyday for about 8hrs.
    Wish it had more power but I think we have it dialed in.
    We are cutting all 6061 aluminum.
    Using solidworks with visualmill for the main stuff and the mach nsf wizards everyday for the simple stuff.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    72
    Hi Guys, I'm a little confused. People have bought machines that don't work right out of the box. Where is the quality control. I want a machine that I can plus into a 240v power supply. get the gist of it's operation and start work. I'm not too keen to assemble my own machine (days I hear) or have to mess around (repair/replace) with things, at my cost, for who knows how long, before i can start making my products. If I wanted something that is a lottery as to whether it's going to work or not and have absolutely no support, then I would just buy direct from the chinese, where QC is "something somebody else does". Regards Peter

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    199
    Mikini is still a young company. Setting up the machine takes about a half hour. Mikini will support any issues that come up and replace any faulty parts for free.
    I have not heard of anyone having major issues upon machine delivery but little things have popped up.

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