[Sandiapaul]

I know this has been done to death and I have read it all!

I have a one man shop doing prototype work. Due to space and move in conditions I can't get a real VMC in my shop.

The IH mill ticks all the right boxes(except tool changer) but I have read so much bad stuff I am very leery.

I have a little Dyna 2400 that I converted myself but have never finished it, I just don't have the time and its way too small for my needs.

I need a machine I can plug in and start learning the software and make parts.
I do have ONECNC that I would like to use with it.

Is the IH the right choice? My only other option would be a knee mill conversion.

Thoughts?

Many thanks!

Paul

[DarkStarMedia]

I got a used one at a good price.... It needs a little bit of work but I think it will work for me.

If you are looking at a new one the price is pretty hard to beat. But if you can extend your budget a bit ($20K+ range) you might look around for a HAAS Minimill. I like them. but people tend not to sell them a lot.

I have seen some of the older ones (mid-90's) in the $20-$28k range with tooling.

There were a number built in single phase too...

Richard

[Sandiapaul]

Interesting, ONE reply, and the email I sent to IH has gone un asnwered since Tuesday...not the best endorsement!

Really no wants to offer any opinions, or has this topic just been done to death and no one want to bother? I can understand that.

Paul

[DarkStarMedia]

Give them a call.

I know that I was working on a Sunday trying to get the Quill out and I left a message.

Tommy called me back ... on a Sunday... in about 15 min. He is a bit of a one man show so he gets busy. He could hire additional people but it would increase the price of the mills.

So... my advise is, give him a call.

Richard

[williamsmotower]

I would buy one again, tommy has been great with me.

[RustedOut]

I think Tommy has no time for emails, just give him a call and leave a message if you have to. I do think he's trying.

Bob

[jetflatline]

I like mine, but I wouldn't buy another one. The time invested in trying to get my parts shipped to me while people who ordered after me got items delivered was just not good business. I had to take action with the state AG to get the remainder of my parts and still don't have a working Mach3 license.

All of that just wasn't worth the discount price in terms of my mill being down. I called numerous times and never got an answer or a call back, sent email, sent a certified letter requesting a refund that got ignored, etc, etc.

If you can walk in the door, see what you want, test it, *then* pay for it, maybe it's a good deal.

[Cruiser]

Paul,
Most all the complaints are from the KIT days, and IH prefers selling turn keys. I would buy another if I could use it, I like mine, an old one tho. Call Tommy and talk to him personally, ask about the upgrades he has come up with and if the issue of iron fine inside the box and quil has been addressed. Know full well that Tommy is taking good care of his turnkey customers and The machine is capable.

I know this has been done to death and I have read it all!

I have a one man shop doing prototype work. Due to space and move in conditions I can't get a real VMC in my shop.

The IH mill ticks all the right boxes(except tool changer) but I have read so much bad stuff I am very leery.

I have a little Dyna 2400 that I converted myself but have never finished it, I just don't have the time and its way too small for my needs.

I need a machine I can plug in and start learning the software and make parts.
I do have ONECNC that I would like to use with it.

Is the IH the right choice? My only other option would be a knee mill conversion.

Thoughts?

Many thanks!

Paul

[mcarvey]

My IH mill (kit version) has been a trooper over the last 7 years I've owned it. I use it for prototyping work, and have logged over 3000 hours of cutting time on it. Over 7 years, the mill has been "down" due to failures for less than a week. I do not regret my decision to get the IH mill at all- it was a fantastic machine for me to learn on. My only real complaints were with the kit's instructions- they were far from adequate. Realistically, it's impractical for a company to give thorough enough step by step directions that allow most customers to assemble it correctly- there are simply too many non-trivial steps that must be done to get the machine up running correctly and accurately, especially if you haven't retrofitted a mill before. This creates a customer support nightmare, and is likely the reason why IH is now focusing on turn-key mills.
All turn-key mills in this price range are almost certainly going to have a few warts. And they all have their advantages/disadvantages. If you are planning on cutting a lot of aluminum/plastic with cutters under 1/4", the IH's 3600 rpm spindle is one of it's disadvantages. I have not been able to get the backlash in the axes down to less than 0.002", which could be an issue if you need to do super precision work. The turn-key mills may address this issue. The Tormach mills are also good but still have their share of warts.
What sort of prototyping work are you doing?

Hope this helps,
Matt

[philbur]

Have you loooked at Tormach:

1100 Personal CNC Mill | Tormach Has Affordable CNC Milling Machines

Phil

I need a machine I can plug in and start learning the software and make parts. I do have ONECNC that I would like to use with it.

[ksanalytical]

Tommy has done very well by me in most cases as well. Phone is always better than e-mail though. He's never been the slightest bit impatient when I call and seems to actually prefer phone contact.

I've had some problems with my hardware, but my experience has been generally good. I considered Tormach, but the much smaller work envelope, spindle HP and steppers vs servos pushed me to IHCNC. I still wonder if the grass would have been greener on the Tormach side though. Usually when I find myself designing some accessory which Tormach offers off the shelf...

For perspective on the table size, I'm working on a project right now which for which the 4th axis with 3 jaw chuck and a 6" vise are both mounted to the table for hole drilling operations while the area between them is being used for profiling. I never thought I'd use the 22" Z max, but a large diameter jobber drill has to come up a long way to clear a 6" in diameter part when mounted on the 4th axis...

Ken

[jetflatline]

The table size *is* nice and I'm going to always use servos and rotary encoders in the future. I started out on steppers for convenience but don't like the open-loop world now that I've spent so much time fixing open loop 3d printers and cutters that loose their place.

I'd look at Tormach now just because I don't want to make accessories instead of buy them. There have been a few people posting here talking about porting Tormach stuff and that seems reasonable to my somewhat-ignorant brain.

[kognition]

My turnkey mill arrived today with great anticipation. I ordered in December, so learned to obviously be patient as possible on an order like this. Will now get the support stand drawn up and welded here in the shop. I am using this machine for mold making (mostly tooling board) as i am a composites fabricator. So i don't anticipated much in the way of catastophies cutting such a soft medium. There will be some cutting of 6061 for some tooling, but nothing large.
I should have some updates in the coming weeks as i am pretty busy with work at the moment.
Mike

[doorknob]

They seem to have taken the pricing off of the website.

Does anybody know the current price for the manual IH mill?

Does IH generally have those "in stock" for pickup?

[Cruiser]

They seem to have taken the pricing off of the website.

Does anybody know the current price for the manual IH mill?

Does IH generally have those "in stock" for pickup?

Get the phone number off the site and give Tommy a call !

[KELLJAST]

When I originally ordered my mill, Gene (Tommy's father) was still alive. Gene's attention to detail was amazing and I felt fully comfortable doing business with IHCNC. About a year later I ordered the CNC kit with promise that it would arrive in its completion within 7 months. After 7 months passed, it took an additional 9 months of persistent phone calls, emails, and threats to get the final pieces to my cnc kit. I'm a mechanical designer by trade and have played in a tool room for quite some time so the installation and mechanics of the machine upgrade went fine. The electronics/software configuration portion of the conversion does require someone of my skill set to have a bit of guidance. All this said, if you don't mind investing about $10,000 and then waiting for a "God knows when" delivery date, then by all means order one. If you want to spend about the same dollar figure and have a mill that is preconfigured and will likely show up on time, than I would lean towards a Tormach.
My mill works fantastic, but it was only after many months of frustration and trials to get it that way. In hind sight, if I were to go the IHCNC route again(which I would not), I would never, never, ever give him a full down payment as I believe he is behind on his bills and will likely use your money to finish the guy's mill who bought months before you. I can only imagine that my mill was finally finished due to someone after me making a purchase.

Also, I had to ask him ship my limit switch rods twice due to damage during shipping. I asked that the second shipment be sent in a tube rather than a triangular shaped shipping container and still it came in a triangular shapped shipping container, damaged worse than the first. Over all product performance,,,, fantastic. Overall customer satisfaction, worse than poor. Buyer beware!!!!!

[jetflatline]

That is similar to my problems. It's not that someone is evil or bad or trying to rip people off, I just feel that it's a case of not delegating routine tasks to employees.

Had my kit shown up in only a couple of months, with all the parts and all the documentation, I'd be a much happier customer. I ended up building off of a PDF that someone saved from the "old" web site, buying a few parts out of my own pocket, and having IH ignore my certified letters asking for a refund on missing parts.

After going to the state AG to get my missing parts, I'm still without a software license for the CAD software. Best I can tell IH convinced the AG that I have a good license and don't know how to install it properly.

[ruawake]

why not consider a Mikini Mechatronic 1610LP. I have heard real good feedback from new owners. I think the size fits 3 foot by 5 foot footprint. working area is probably in between Tormach and IH. fully enclosed with flood coolant. you can order it several ways and for an extra $1500.you get a industrial controler on a built in pc.