[HimyKabibble]

Just heard from the freight company, and my Torus Pro will arrive about 11AM tomorrow!

Regards,
Ray L.

[AiR_GuNNeR]

Man are you going to have a hard time sleeping tonight! Congrats Ray.
Eric

[UniqueMachining]

Plenty of time to sleep when we die.
Enjoy.
John

[AiR_GuNNeR]

Picture pictures, we want pictures!

[ChrisAttebery]

Hey Ray,

I'm just curious, what drove your Torus purchase? You already have a full sized CNC knee mill, right?

Thanks,


Chris

[MRM RCModels]

It's tomorrow. Where are the pics!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Didn't have anyone on-hand to take pictures. I'll take a few tomorrow. The mill showed up about 11:20AM, the forklift about 10 minutes later. By 2PM I had it in the shop, and bolted down to the stand. That's where I had to stop. I'll finish the assembly tomorrow, and get some pictures. It was quite easy to get that far, and the rest should be a no-brainer - mostly just levelling it, bolting the chip trays together, and connecting up some wiring. I should easily be able to make the first chips tomorrow afternoon.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Hey Ray,

I'm just curious, what drove your Torus purchase? You already have a full sized CNC knee mill, right?

Thanks,


Chris

I do, but a knee mill is less than ideal for CNC, particularly since it's so difficult to really enclose properly. The Torus will become my primary "production" machine, and I'll use the knee mill for second ops, and "development" work, while the Torus is cranking out parts in volume. Plus I'm seriously considering adding linear scales to the Torus, and closing the loop through the KFlop, so thermal expansion is not an issue, since I work years round and shop temp can vary from well over 100F to down into the 30s.

Regards,
Ray L.

[BTP]

I seen in another thread you mentioned you got the servo edition and that it can do 500ipm rapids. I'm just curious where you found that info I looked all over the Novakon website and I've not yet found that. I'm debating between a Tormach and a Novakon. I'll be watching this thread closely.

[AiR_GuNNeR]

I seen in another thread you mentioned you got the servo edition and that it can do 500ipm rapids. I'm just curious where you found that info I looked all over the Novakon website and I've not yet found that. I'm debating between a Tormach and a Novakon. I'll be watching this thread closely.

BTP.
I spoke with John at Novakon yesterday. They have a new CNC mill in the works that will hopefully be available and shown at the show in York,PA. It sounds like they pulled out all the stops.

Ray,
Does the torus pro come standard with the KFlop, or is that something you are adding? I was just researching the KFlop a few minutes ago.
Eric

[MRM RCModels]

I seen in another thread you mentioned you got the servo edition and that it can do 500ipm rapids. I'm just curious where you found that info I looked all over the Novakon website and I've not yet found that. I'm debating between a Tormach and a Novakon. I'll be watching this thread closely.

I think he got that info from me during my initial testing. The pro was defaulted to that ipm and scared the hell out of me so I reduced it to 150. Very happy now.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

BTP.
I spoke with John at Novakon yesterday. They have a new CNC mill in the works that will hopefully be available and shown at the show in York,PA. It sounds like they pulled out all the stops.

Ray,
Does the torus pro come standard with the KFlop, or is that something you are adding? I was just researching the KFlop a few minutes ago.
Eric

No, the Torus Pro does not use KFlop - I am doing that myself. I've had one on my knee mill for more than a year, running my own custom CNC Controller app, and would never go back to Mach3.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I think he got that info from me during my initial testing. The pro was defaulted to that ipm and scared the hell out of me so I reduced it to 150. Very happy now.

Exactly right.

Regards,
Ray L.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Below are pictures of the new machine. I should explain - This is a stepper machine. In a month or so, I will get the servo upgrade kit, and convert it to servo. There were no servo machines in-stock when I ordered, and this was the quickest way to get a machine.

Getting the machine setup and assembled was really quite simple - probably 4 hours start to finish. The only small problem I had was some missing hardware - washers mostly - which I had on-hand. The only part I couldn't have done by myself was getting the machine on the stand, which I did with a forklift. It was very helpful to have someone else to help push and pull the machine to get the mounting bolts lined up and threaded in. All the rest was easy.

The machine quality seems quite good, and the electronics are particularly nicely done. There are a few of the usual minor cosmetic issues, but nothing unexpected. The only bad news is, it doesn't work! I'm sure the problem is something simple, and I'm expecting John to call me shortly to sort it out. The PC works perfectly, but when I turn on power to all the mill electronics, the PC locks up - not even the mouse will move! Turn off the mill electronics, and the PC returns to normal. As I said, I'm sure it's something very simple that will get resolved as soon as I talk to John, so I'm not at all concerned about it.

Pictures below, along with a picture of my knee mill, and the "new" Carolina bandsaw I just picked up for $150. It's old, and a little dirty, but it was never even out of its shipping crate until a few weeks ago. This will replace my cr@ppy H-F 4x6 bandsaw.

Regards,
Ray L.

[Analias]

Is there an emoticon for envy? Looks purdy sweet.

[TiagoSantos]

Does the PC crash, or does it just freeze while the mill is on? That is, once you shut off the power, does it resume exactly from where it was, or do you have to reboot the machine?

Is it possible that the PC isn't frozen, just the USB peripherals? Try opening up something that moves (screensaver window, or the clock..).

Just curious, as it seems like an odd behavior

[SCzEngrgGroup]

We've gotten to the bottom of one problem - somehow, the Z axis driver has died. If I disconnect that driver, then the PC is happy, and the X/Y drives work. Unfortunately, I also have to disconnect the VFD, but I'll work on that problem tomorrow. It's very odd, because they run these machine in for some time up in Toronto before shipping.

Looks like I won't be making any chips this weekend, but soon....

Regards,
Ray L.

[TiagoSantos]

That's unfortunate. Must have been a rough truck ride!

[SCzEngrgGroup]

That's unfortunate. Must have been a rough truck ride!

Yup, but it happens sometimes. I'm sure John will make it right in short order. I'll spend some time tomorrow sorting out the VFD problem, and, with luck, I'll be up and running Tuesday or Wednesday.

Regards,
Ray L.

[AiR_GuNNeR]

No, the Torus Pro does not use KFlop - I am doing that myself. I've had one on my knee mill for more than a year, running my own custom CNC Controller app, and would never go back to Mach3.
Regards,
Ray L.

The KFlop looks really interesting from their site. One thing that is confusing me is the c code compiled into a dll for the software to use, or is it interpreting the c code?
I like that they provide the source code.