[turbostang]

I'm very close to the point on pulling the trigger on purchasing a new PCNC1100 - but, have many lingering thoughts.

Do any of you experienced Tormach owners have any regrets? Maybe, things I might not think of....

Some things that are attractive:

Ease of use
Customer Support
Warranty
features
No trouble shooting with DIY

Some things that are NOT attractive:
Cost compared to DIY
Smallish work envelope
cost


FWIW, I'm ordering it with a 4th axis, TTS, ATC and some misc options.

[Jaynboom]

No regrets here.

[SquibLoad]

Just the obvious: not getting it sooner.

And not purchasing a 770 as a second machine rather than trying to convert a Grizzly G0704 to 'save a few bucks'. Not even remotely worth the savings compared to the Tormach.

[TXFred]

I wish I'd waited a month until the Series III machines were released. And I don't use the 4th axis nearly as often as I thought I would. Other than that, no regrets.

Frederic

[GLCarlson]

Best machine in its class, and best company in any class.

[philbur]

I've had mine for 6 1/2 years and I have zero regrets. If somebody stole mine tomorrow I would immediately order another.

With the ATC at 1/2 the price of a mill you need to be real sure you need it. If you're not into semi serious production of repeat parts I would do a careful rethink on the ATC.

With respect to envelope. No matter what size you buy somebody will say you should have bought something a little bigger.

With respect to DIY and cost. If you figure in your time and the costly mistakes you will make it's a no brainer. If your primary goal is to have many hours of fun building a machine then go DIY. If your primary goal is to start making parts then go with a Tormach.

Phil

[Spinnetti]

I'm very close to the point on pulling the trigger on purchasing a new PCNC1100 - but, have many lingering thoughts.

Do any of you experienced Tormach owners have any regrets? Maybe, things I might not think of....

Some things that are attractive:

Ease of use
Customer Support
Warranty
features
No trouble shooting with DIY

Some things that are NOT attractive:
Cost compared to DIY
Smallish work envelope
cost


FWIW, I'm ordering it with a 4th axis, TTS, ATC and some misc options.

If you need ATC and have the room, why not buy a used "commercial" mill? If I had the room (and maybe 3 phase power), I'd do that - Optioned up you'll be in the cost of a good used machine anyway. Another option is a used EZtrack which is kinda in the middle.. That said, I don't have room for a big machine and I pick up my new 1100 Series 3 next week I got the PDB and 4 axis, but no ATC. I typically design around that to minimize tool changes anyway.

[turbostang]

Thank you all for your input.

I live in a standard residence, but with an extended 3 car garage. So, any full size VM is out of the question for a multitude of reasons.

My main reason for buying a tormach is warranty. If I build a machine, the only warranty is that I can fix it.

The ATC, I'm like all of you - I'm here for necessity, and some for pleasure, and partially because of income. Those things all combined made it worth it for me to try the ATC.

The reviews of Tormach as a whole have lead me to them - and many of those other companies seem to have come and gone. The constant R&D at tormach is very promising!!

[MetalShavings]

My only regrets is not having the money to buy more of the accessories I would like to have bought.

Other than that I'm happy with my purchase.

MetalShavings

[jid2]

If I was looking at all those things and had an open bay in a garage I would buy a used VMC like a Hurco VM10.

But I didn't even have room for a Tormach - so I had to do DIY. I'll have only saved a few thousand dollars over just buying a Tormach, and devoted over a year of free-time to the project.

If I could have fit a Tormach in the corner of my garage with the wifes car in there I would have. But I would not have started with the 4th axis and ATC - I would add those as needed. Spend your money on good CAM software instead.

[turbostang]

If I was looking at all those things and had an open bay in a garage I would buy a used VMC like a Hurco VM10.

But I didn't even have room for a Tormach - so I had to do DIY. I'll have only saved a few thousand dollars over just buying a Tormach, and devoted over a year of free-time to the project.

If I could have fit a Tormach in the corner of my garage with the wifes car in there I would have. But I would not have started with the 4th axis and ATC - I would add those as needed. Spend your money on good CAM software instead.

I already own a seat with BobCad, while not many people's favorite, it works for me. In fact, a lot of what do can be banged out with Wizards for the most part. I have some projects coming up soon that will involve 4th axis for sure though..If Bobcad doesn't keep up with my needs, i'll upgrade or change.

The other part about a full size VM is that, a lot of the time, it requires the use of an equipment mover - which, around here seems to be a 600$ minimum. At least with the Tormach, I can move with an engine hoist and some elbow grease.

I think i mentioned it above, but I'd like to "hit the ground running" and be able to make parts day 1, as opposed to building/maintaining/trouble shooting a DIY solution.

[tikka308]

Love mine, absolutely no regrets. Power Draw bar is a "must" have. I'd rather buy a second machine than buy an ATC. An ATC is nice, but for me, I'd still have to be there to move the coolant nozzle. I'd recommend watching youtube videos on setup in order to plan for setup/arrival. I made a few, as have others (mine are under youtube username saunixcomp)

[turbostang]

Love mine, absolutely no regrets. Power Draw bar is a "must" have. I'd rather buy a second machine than buy an ATC. An ATC is nice, but for me, I'd still have to be there to move the coolant nozzle. I'd recommend watching youtube videos on setup in order to plan for setup/arrival. I made a few, as have others (mine are under youtube username saunixcomp)

Yeah, I've followed your channel pretty regularly. I'm subscribed under the username 'turbobrooks'.(Where's the updates!?!?!)

I think I've watched about every Tormach video about 27987987 times, and keep coming back to see if I've seen every detail.

I'd like to be able to multi-task, like work on other cad drawings, clean up, deburr etc... while the machine is cutting (on a different PC of course).

I'm excited to even be this close to a purchase -I was hoping you guys would be talking me down from the ledge, or giving me some sort of negative vibe, but you've given me the feedback needed to proceed!

[MichaelHenry]

No regrets from me and I'm one of the Series I owners from about 5-6 years ago, though I have done some of the upgrades so it is now pretty close to a Series III mill. I had a few issues over the years but they always got resolved to my satisfaction and it was never necessary to bug Tormach for answers.

I've been following the competition on CNC Zone ever since buying the Tormach and have really come to appreciate the support from Tormach, in terms response to questions, troubleshooting help, and on-going development of new or improved accessories and features. I don't think there is a better product or company out there in this class. That said, be realistic in your expectations. Tormach supports their products extremely well, but they can't provide on-site service.

As Phil wrote, were mine to be stolen tomorrow I'd be ordering another Tormach as a replacement. I'll almost certainly be order the Tormach lathe when it comes out, too.

Mike

[cheetahcnc]

No regrets. The 1100 is an awesome machine, especially with the PDB and ATC. I also opted for their controller and stand, and plenty of TTS. No need for the 4th axis yet, still working on full utilization of everything else.

Jim

[SquibLoad]

With the ATC at 1/2 the price of a mill you need to be real sure you need it. If you're not into semi serious production of repeat parts I would do a careful rethink on the ATC.

Phil

I'd agree with Phil, with the addition of this:

The ATC truly is a gamechanger, and makes it feasable to easily do small batch production. If you forsee this at all in your future, then get it.

With the ATC, you will find yourself doing things you wouldn't otherwise, and not have to 'babysit' the machine for tool changes. You can be doing other things in your shop (leading to the desire for a 2nd machine!) while your robot merrily goes about making beer (or more tool) money for you. With the PDB, tool changes are already ridiculously easy; with the ATC, you can free yourself up from the ever-present next tool change. It works slick, and it is incredible that such a powerful tool is available to us 'garage-guys'.

Yes, a production machine would be better, but this is pretty damn good. Thank you Tormach!

Gee, can you tell that I sorta like mine?!

[dbrija]

My only regrets:

1. Not getting one sooner
2. Not enough time to spend in the shop with it
3. Duality lathe (only actual regret)- thought I would use it. Vertical lathe technique does just as well for ~$1200 less

[bobeson]

I am still quite happy with my 1100 series II after four years of use. The duality lathe was a waste of money, and Mach3 still sucks just like it always has, but otherwise I feel that my money was well spent on my Tormach setup. The basic milling machine hardware is a great design; once they come up with a new control system to replace Mach and the parallel port interface, it'll be a truly outstanding product.

[Steve Seebold]

I looked at a lot of different machines before I bought my Series II 1100.

I am a former CNC shop owner, and I have yet to find anything I could do on a Haas or a FADAL that I can't do on my PCNC 1100. And do you know one thing that's REALLY great about my PCNC 1100? It didn't cost $75,000.00.

I bought my machine last July. I got 4 each 1/4, 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2 inch set screw tool holders and 6 each ER 16 and ER 20 collet tool holders. I also bought the PDB, foot pedal, the jog shuttle wheel and the delux stand.

I run my PCNC 50 to 70 hours a week making parts for remote control race boats and cars. I do mostly 1/5 scale and larger.

Would I buy anorher PCNC 1100? Yes I would. In a New York second.

[David Bord]

Not even a remote regret about the machine that I purchased new over 6 years ago... with the exception of being able to afford one a couple decades ago

Since you are buying now, you are getting a mill with several upgrades compared to the series one I started with.. Ive ordered almost all the upgrades over the years including the ATC. I dont need the ATC, but was able to scrape the cash together so purchased it. Its just awesome to have if you can afford it.

The service has surpassed my highest expectations. The whole Tormach team is just outstanding. Several degreed engineers work on the products and answer support questions. Ive never had a problem reaching someone in all these years when needing help

I looked at converting a manual mill but after doing lots of reading, I dont think I could have gotten an as reliable and capable machine after several months of work.

I personally wouldnt touch an older/used VMC if not in a serious production environment. The cost of repair could be significant if a control board etc needed to be replaced.

Tormachs control is all based on extremely popular Mach 3. Even if Tormach wasnt around you could still easily repair the machine with available components.

Buying the mill was probably the single best purchase of my life... I know ridiculous statement right? The reason comes from 20+ years of ideas that have come and gone for parts that I would have loved to make only if... Now I can get my 'Inventor' on... and its been a freaking blast.

David