[Cartel, LLC]

i am looking to add a turning center to our shop and was originally looking for a haas as we have had great success with our haas mill. when asking around with some machinists the general thought was to stay away from haas lathes (were buying used) and to steer more towards hardinge. so, i guess whats the thought around here? im looking mid to late 90's or early 2000's. so, like an HL series, SL series haas or conquest or cobra series hardinge and i would like to have at least an 1.5" thru hole.

[underthetire]

Why limit yourself? Might want to look at some other good or better brands as well.

[Cartel, LLC]

and im not opposed to that at all. i originally thought haas as i figured it was better to have the same manufacturer in my shop for service repair and ease of learning to run the machine. but then a few people told me about hardinge instead so i guess now gimme your opinion too to help me make a better decision.

[underthetire]

Well,
Mori Seiki
Okuma
Nakamura
Daewoo
Mazak

Nothing wrong with Hardinge for the most part, but all these are good machines, so gives you more options. First though, find out who services them in your area.

[wizard]

Seriously I really question he wisdom of buying a fifeteen year old or older machine without the intention of upgrading the controls. I suppose if you shop carefully you will find a machine with a well supported controller that you can still get parts for, but the question is really for how long!

Frankly I'm not directly in the machining industry but rather the automation industry. Even so some of our equipment makes use of CNC hardware and frankly even ten year old equipment will cause you to scramble for parts.

So maybe this isn't what you want to hear. However you may have an economic arguements for used, if so I'd suggest staying with mainstream controllers on machines from US based builders. Yes that is a bit of flag waving but really if you have a choice isn't it better to keep money in the country!

[philippritchard]

The only problem with a hass lathe or mill are the programming and the way they have gone about it, its rubbish to put it mildly, if you wish i will paste in there programming cycle's and you can make up your own mind, if it was me i would strongly take a look at the colchester tonado's they are are very adaptable and easey to programme,

[underthetire]

Fanuc/okuma/ mitsubishi still supports all the old controls pretty well. 15 years old in a cnc with a reputable builder is no big deal. Just stay away from odd ball controls and you will be fine. I will say mori probably does the best job at supporting parts. You can still get parts for the early 80s machines without much problem. Haas seems pretty good as well.

[wizard]

Fanuc/okuma/ mitsubishi still supports all the old controls pretty well. 15 years old in a cnc with a reputable builder is no big deal.

This I have to disagree with a bit. Buying a fifteen year or so old machine means that you will most likely run it for a few years, at which point you will be repairing machinery close to twenty years old. Mechanically this is no big deal, controls wise it is another story. The thing is the electronics industry changes rapidly and parts quickly become impossible to get. It really doesn't matter if you are a reputable machine tool builder or not, if you can't get parts you will have problems. We regularly run into situations where a part is no longer available requiring a retrofit.

Just stay away from odd ball controls and you will be fine.

I'd say stay with controls with well defined interfaces and really good documentation. Sooner or latter a retro fit or modification will be needed.

I will say mori probably does the best job at supporting parts. You can still get parts for the early 80s machines without much problem. Haas seems pretty good as well.

[underthetire]

Idk, I can call fanuc tomorrow and get replacement parts for a old 80's series 10 fanuc shipped overnight. Also many 3rd party rebuilders for it as well. 15 years old would be a i series control, plenty of parts for those. Automation stuff makes more use of plc's and pc's than machine tools do.