[mlinder]

My company cuts carbon fiber, fiberglass, and plastic components from sheets. My current customers also wish I could make small parts from aluminum. Several years ago we retrofitted one of our routers to run a few small aluminum jobs. Needless to say, we learned a lot about endmills, chatter, coolant, etc.

Anyway, I want to offer some of my customers their small aluminum parts, but I do not want to put out big bucks for a Haas, Fadal, etc "real" vertical mill, if it were not to pan out.

I found MaxNC on the internet and have thought their machines would fit the intitial bill.

Does anyone have experience with these machines? How accurate are they? How about customer service?

I am a little concerned about the fact that there is no spindle speed adjustment on the machines themselves. It's all software controlled via a PC.

Any input regarding MaxNC would be appreciated. I will be visiting Westec at the end of the month, so I would like to be armed with knowledge if possible.

Maybe some of you have other machine suggestions that work for you?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Mark Linder

[cncman2]

I know I tried to contact them and their were not much help. Their website is very vage.

[Jcadwell]

Did you ever get any more information or a chance to take a look at the machines? The Closed Loop system looks appealing. Thanks.

[mlinder]

It looks like I will bite the bullet and get a Haas Mini Mill - YIKES!!!

Gosh, it's only $40K (gulp)

I really need (want) ATC, and a good size machinable area. Plus the controller is real nice. Plus a local rep!

Have a good day - see ya at the bank beggin' for $$$

Mark Linder

[MikeA]

I own a maxnc 10 which is their basic small stepper machine. We use it primarily for machining .118" acrylic plastic with a 1/16" end mill. It is amazingly accurate usually within .001". Now bear in mind that is in plastic. I have machined a small amount of aluminium with fairly good results. This machine uses their controller and software which is a dos based program, and I just found out is not 2000 or xp compatible. The one thing to know is on the small machine we have, the lead screw is coupled directly to the stepper motor, and does not utilize a thrust bearing, or the motor is the thrust bearing. For us has not been a problem, but I imagine in a tougher material it may be. I cannot speak for the larger machines if they are setup in this fashion. On an overall, for our application, it has been perfect, and has run probably once a day for the better part of 4 years. Mike

[wms]

Mark,
I have one Mini Mill.
Very happy with it. Nice litte machine.
I got ride of my cnc knee mill and replaced it with the mini..
Very glad I did. Now all my toolholder and programs are the same.
Nice to have the enclosure also.
Mine was one of the first ( AUG. 00). So we've had it about three years. Rock solid, no problems at all.

P.s. Tell Mike Flower HFO SD I said howdy.
Think you'll like it alot.

[mlinder]

WMS,

You know Mike Flower???

He's a great guy. I was introduced to him through my Mastercam reseller back in February. Went to Westec and checked out all the machines. Once I cleaned up all the drool, I pretty much settled on the Mini Mill. I haven't ordered it quite yet. Although it is "Mini", I need to create roon around three Kennard CNC routers and one 4" x 8" Motion Master router. I need a bigger shoe horn...

What accessories did you get with yours? Anything you really wish you had. Some things you could have lived without?

Are you in southern CA? If so, where?

Oops - time to give the kid a bath...

Talk to ya later!

Mark Linder

[wms]

Mark,
Ya I know Mike very well. I'm good friends with guys at MTS, the parent company of HFO SD. Ask Mike about his race car.

I live in WY, it's along story.

I got the 3.5 floppy, rigid tap, and coolant. But I think the 3.5 comes standard now. Not sure.

Remember that any of the control options can be turned on anytime, so if you don't ge them up front you can turn them on later if you find a need.

Boy I hear ya on the shoe horn. But hey could be worse.

[HillBilly]

I used the Maxnc Pro software and a PC to replace the original BOSS 5 controller on a Bridgeport
knee mill. It works great for what it is, the only
thing it lacked was feedrate override on the fly.

I upgraded to Maxnc Deluxe and added the digitizing probe. In my opinion the price is right.

I have recently bought their mini mill with the
closed loop system and this little machine is impressive. I'm trying now to enterface the closed
loop software to my Bridgeport. I must add at this time I paid more for the mini mill, metal only, than I did for the Bridgeport.

[Klox]

HillBilly welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy this place as much as i do....
Is the Maxnc the Haas Mini Mill or am i a bit confused?
I'm rather interested in the Haas MiniMill.

WMS can you elaborate a bit on this machine? Would it be ideal for injection moulds?

Klox

[wms]

Klox,

The Haas Mini Mill is a small (16" x 12" x 10") cnc mill.
Standard Haas control.
6000 rpm / 7.5 hp spindle
Brushless axis motors
It will run on both single and three phase power
10 tool atc.
cat 40 std or bt 40 optional taper

here's a link:http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=13


They also have a Super Mini Mill. It has faster rapids(1,200 ipm) and a 10,000 rpm spindle. And 16 meg memory, with high speed look ahead.

link to super:http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=27


Also they have a Tool Room Mill.

Tool Room Link: http://www.haascnc.com/news/display.asp?ID=11

Hope this helps.

[Jcadwell]

The MaxNC is aimed more at the hobbyist, and is priced accordingly. Check them out at www.maxnc.com. The haas is apparently a high precision tool for production work.

[HillBilly]

Klox,

All previous comments pertained to Maxnc.

Jcadwell is correct in his statement hence
the big price difference.

[Klox]

Thanx for the info! I'll go check out the links tomorrow morning. I'm branching out to injection moulds now. Can't decide on what to get first, a sparker or a cnc mill. I need both now! My cashflow is a bit on a low ebb so i must think hard & fast now to prioritize my plan of action......

See you,

Klox

[Klox]

I checked out the links. Now i want the Max digitiser as well! Oh you guys send me to view tempting places. LOL!

The Maxnc looks like very nice little machines. The Haas machines are bigger, i like the Super Mini Mill....

Klox

[HillBilly]

I was sending pictures in and thought I would send this one too. This is the interface board I made to interface Maxnc to my bridgeport BOSS 5.

By the way niether Maxnc Pro or Deluxe have look
ahead capabilities. When I run a program of G1 moves the machine goes zoom,zoom,zoom instead of one continuous zoooooom.

[cely]

I used a MaxNC-10 for 2 years. We used it to drill holes in 0.5" G10 fibreglass plates. These plates were loaded with spring loaded contacts and became part of our test fixtures for printed circuit boards. We drilled a hole under each test point on the printed circuit board and for alignment pins.

We burnt a spindle motor up after the first 6 months. MaxNC replaced it under warranty.

We had trouble keeping the slides clean and lubricated. Most of our work was near the center of it's XY range. On the occasion when we had to drill near the XY limits, it often stalled. Since it was a stepper, not a servo, stalls caused the X and/or Y position to be off and the remaining holes were offset.

Although we did some plastic milling, I thought its real forte was as a CNC drill.

The only thing I did not like were the slides.

[nicad]

howdy yall..
I have been running a Maxnc15CL for the last 2 years.. some likes, many dislikes. I ended up changing enough parts out and upgrading the poor thing untill most of the dislikes were gone.. but not all. I push the heck out of it through aluminum.

the CL is a great cheap fast moveing system.. for the most part. I can get 60IPM as they advertise.
The software that comes with the CL system will do "continous" cutting.. ie, multiple simultanious axis movements and not decel to a stop on every command. Iv run a 13meg file through and it only stopped when it got to the end of the program

there is a dedicated group on yahoo about this mill at http://group.yahoo.com/group/MaxNC-users/

hope this helps some..

out!


ps- anyone looking to sell their Super Minimill?

[DaSigntist]

Hi,
Don't know much about their machines but do know very much about their TOTAL LACK of Customer service and if you want hear the old used car sales(lady) going "Sure it will do the job" then BUY their products!

They ripped me off for $300 + USD on a motion control setup they told me was servos @ 580 oz/in when in fact they were 200 + oz/in steppers.
I told them I had a 4’X4’ machine and needed longer cables like 8’ then sent me 2’ cables? DOH!

They charged me a "restocking fee" all I can remember is all the B.S. the saleslady feed me.

Overcharged me for shipping BIG TIME!
$165.00 ground UPS for 8 lbs 15"X15"X8"

They ARE SO FREAKING LAME!
Can you tell I'm an unhappy customer......?

I don't want to flame anyone BUT the TRUTH is the TRUTH!

[cncadmin]

Originally posted by DaSigntist
Hi,
Don't know much about their machines but do know very much about their TOTAL LACK of Customer service and if you want hear the old used car sales(lady) going "Sure it will do the job" then BUY their products!

They ripped me off for $300 + USD on a motion control setup they told me was servos @ 580 oz/in when in fact they were 200 + oz/in steppers.
I told them I had a 4’X4’ machine and needed longer cables like 8’ then sent me 2’ cables? DOH!

They charged me a "restocking fee" all I can remember is all the B.S. the saleslady feed me.

Overcharged me for shipping BIG TIME!
$165.00 ground UPS for 8 lbs 15"X15"X8"

They ARE SO FREAKING LAME!
Can you tell I'm an unhappy customer......?

I don't want to flame anyone BUT the TRUTH is the TRUTH!

I know I called them and would not let me talk to the person I called to talk to. They were very unfriendly.