[AUSTINMACHINING]

Hi All,
I've been lurking/following these threads for quite some time. Thanks to all you guys with the details/photos, I finally decided to pull the trigger. After looking at all the other offerings, I really wanted the bigger work envelope of the Torus. Also looking forward to the rapid speeds offered via servos. I also ordered the PDB kit currently in development (should be ready in May according to John). There seems to be a lot of experience / expertise here, so I should be checking in here a lot, especially after the mill arrives . I gather there is a lot of tweaking and possible repair required once the mill arrives. Austin Texas in a long way from Canada (Fingers crossed). Fortunately I've been in electronics for 25 years, so should be able to diagnose most issues that may pop up.

Thanks again for all the informative posts. Hope I can add something useful.

-Matt

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. I doubt you'll have to do much in the way of "tweaking" - they seem to come pretty well setup. Expect to spend about a day getting it all assembled, but after that you should be good to go.

I will give you a tip - I used what I think is an easier approach to getting the machine on the stand than what's in the manual, if you have a forklift (I rented one for the day, since there was no other way of getting the crates from the street up to my shop). Get the 40" of 1-1/4" pipe recommended in the manual, and also buy a pair of ratchet straps - Harbor Freight has some decent ones for under $10 each. Rather than using chains and lifting the machine from above, as in the manual, put the ends of the forks UNDER the pipe, then run the two ratchet straps OVER the forks, and attach to the lifting eyes on the front of the machine. This made for a VERY stable lift, and it was really easy to position the machine accurately. With the exception of having someone to push/pull on the machine to help get the mounting bolts lined up, I could've done the entire process by myself. It only took about two hours to get the crates off the truck, into the shop, unpacked, and get the machine mounted to the stand. It took another 2 hours or so the next day to get the chip tray assembled, and get it wired to power.

Regards,
Ray L.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Thanks Ray,
Good info on the Install. I'll have to check on the forklift option. I used an engine hoist on the last mill, but the hoist leg spacing was not wide enough to get around the pallet, so I had to chew the pallet away board by board. I almost ran out of travel trying to get the mill high enough to get on the stand. Had about 1" to spare. Fork lift sounds like a good way to go.

-Matt

[AUSTINMACHINING]

The Torus Pro showed up today at an intermediate drop off point (my brothers shop) because an 18 wheeler can't get to my hood much less my driveway. Despite many instructions to call first, (large letters on the BOL/shipping instructions), they showed up unannounced so I was not prepared to make the transfer. They ended up leaving it on a concrete slab until I my fork lift guy can show up Friday and get it to my house. Man this thing is BIG. I was aware of all the specs on paper, but in person, its a monster. The x axis motor was loose in the crate, but I don't see any obvious damage anywhere. The crate looked like it took a beating getting here, but everything inside looks good. It's going to take a while to assemble and check out. Lot's of steel stuff. Just the adjustment feet for the stand weigh more than my dog (Chihuahua) .

Looking forward to getting it on the stand. Let the "Fun" begin !!.

[MRM RCModels]

Welcome to the club. Don't forget to check out the Hertel AL endmills from use-enco.com

[eltejano]

Congrats on the mill. I am trying to decide between this and the tormach.

[kvom]

Having seen the Torus at Cabin Fever as well as the Tormach, I'd still go with Novakon unless I needed the carousel tool changer "right now". 400ipm rapids!

I saw the prototype auto-draw bar, which will also work with my older NM200-V1. I'll probably order one when they go into production.

[UniqueMachining]

eltejano
If only all decisions in life were so easy.

Lakesnake
It's my understanding that the mill is tested then the X axis motor is removed for shipping.
Tables just to damn big for the crate. Nice problem though.
Many Happy Chips.
John

[Novakon]

The Torus Pro showed up today at an intermediate drop off point (my brothers shop) because an 18 wheeler can't get to my hood much less my driveway. Despite many instructions to call first, (large letters on the BOL/shipping instructions), they showed up unannounced so I was not prepared to make the transfer. They ended up leaving it on a concrete slab until I my fork lift guy can show up Friday and get it to my house. Man this thing is BIG. I was aware of all the specs on paper, but in person, its a monster. The x axis motor was loose in the crate, but I don't see any obvious damage anywhere. The crate looked like it took a beating getting here, but everything inside looks good. It's going to take a while to assemble and check out. Lot's of steel stuff. Just the adjustment feet for the stand weigh more than my dog (Chihuahua) .

Looking forward to getting it on the stand. Let the "Fun" begin !!.

We are very pleased it showed up at your location in one piece (three crates though). The X servo motor is detached prior to shipment since it can not fit assembled while crated. Four bolts and the set screw on the coupler will put the motor back on. The tray is connected via three screws, and the front bellow via four screws and you're done!

The assembly onto the stand is also a piece of cake. I tried Ray's suggestion and assembled the EXPO machine as shown in the attached pictures. It was very easy to do. From assembling the spacer pads on the tray to setting the mill onto the bolting holes, it took about 30-45 minutes. Don't forget the silicone sealant under the pads and inside the bolt holes to make it water tight! Notice the pipe through the column and the straps to hold up the front. A forklift is the way to go.

Happy cutting!

Novakon Team

[AUSTINMACHINING]

OK,
Glad saw this post as I was just about to get the hoist process going. Is there a manual ?. Does anyone have an electronic copy ?. If there is one, I did not come with the mill and I couldn't find one on the web site. Sorry if I missed it. I was trying to figure out the water tight table etc. Looks like there is a "sub plate" tack welded under the table creating a "chamber" between the table top and the sub plate. Is that water tight or do I need to silicone the bottom from inside the cabinet as well. ?.

Thanks

[Novakon]

We will send the old manual to you but there are some major differences between the older machine and the Torus PRO. The new manual is only "days" away, so I will have a final draft for review very soon...so far, this manual has been a real treat with better information and presentations. The new draft operational manual will be sent to you as soon as it arrives.

The chip tray has 6 spacers on top that are screwed onto the chip pan from underneath. A small bead of silicone under the spacer will spread out nicely to seal the underneath of the spacer to the tray. All that is left is to squirt some silicone into the threaded hole when you bolt the mill down to the table. In the kit you will see some alignment pins to help guide the mill squarely onto the table holes...you will find this very helpful. With a little patience, this will flow together very easily.

Regards,
Novakon Team

[AUSTINMACHINING]

We will send the old manual to you but there are some major differences between the older machine and the Torus PRO. The new manual is only "days" away, so I will have a final draft for review very soon...so far, this manual has been a real treat with better information and presentations. The new draft operational manual will be sent to you as soon as it arrives.

The chip tray has 6 spacers on top that are screwed onto the chip pan from underneath. A small bead of silicone under the spacer will spread out nicely to seal the underneath of the spacer to the tray. All that is left is to squirt some silicone into the threaded hole when you bolt the mill down to the table. In the kit you will see some alignment pins to help guide the mill squarely onto the table holes...you will find this very helpful. With a little patience, this will flow together very easily.

Regards,
Novakon Team

Ok,
I got it now John, thanks. I had everything bolted down right, just wasn't sure were all the silicone was required. Everything has gone together nicely so far.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

OK,
I'm up and running. Been slower than I hoped due to other work. Everything went together smoothly. I'm going through a learning curve with Mach, but I think I've got most everything figured out to start cutting. I ordered a Pendant from Vista CNC on Ray's recommendation. Booted everything up and all Axis with the pendant control worked beautifully. Servos's are sweet !!. Had a little trouble getting the spindle working, but I think it's user error. I have to run a single line of G-code to initialize the spindle settings before I can use the pendant to control spindle speed. The spindle definitions are set up in mach 0-6000 RPM(as far as I can tell), but I guess it needs initialization via G-code ?. My control system on my other mill is very basic compared to Mach, so I got some learning to do.

Everything seems well put together. I hard wired my power as I didn't like the power connection (small gauge wire in small terminals), but everything else seems well done. The spindle is very smooth turning by hand. I get a growl, vibration around 1100 RPM's but speeds above and below seem smooth. Don't know if it's VFD harmonics, resonance etc. at that particular RPM. Is there any spindle "break in" procedure I should follow ?. Spindle run out and face perpendicularity are hardly measurable. My indicator increments are .0005". If I had to estimate, run out would be ~ .00015 ish. I've leveled the machine as best I can using a carpenters level. Not sure how accurate that is. With my limited measuring gear I can't detect any tramming issues. Still need to measure backlash as well. I've ordered some Hertel end mill everyone raves about here. I'm not ready to commit to full blow massive flood cooling just yet. I'll be using MQL in combination with a vortex cooler to get started. Pretty much an experiment, so we'll see how that goes. If nothing else, it will help to shoot some video. Should be Shootin' some chips this weekend .

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Wow! ,
This mill is GREAT !. Ran my fist part last night. Made a nonsense part just to test a few different HSMworks tool paths. Adaptive clearing,slotting,2d profile,horizontal, parallel and Trace (3d chamfer). Everything worked perfectly on the first try. The rapids are set at factory ~250 ipm. This was using a cheap .25" HF 2 flute end mill, .25" ball mill, and a really old spot drill (chamfering). Love the smooth fluid motion of the servos. The pocket floors of the part are ultra smooth . DOC was .5" at 6000 RPM ,20 ipm., chip load .0016 ipt. I'll try some 1/2" hogging when my tooling arrives next week.

My son shot some phone video while I held my breath.

Torus Pro Testing - YouTube

View image: testcut1

View image: testcut6061

[LeeWay]

That is very cool. I know what you mean about anticipating disaster with the first run. That is a pretty common emotion for that I suspect.
On mine, I just hit the go button confident that it will work as intended now. Been that way for years. You will get that confident in this one pretty quickly as well, I suspect.

My Torus is due to be delivered Tuesday PM. I didn't think I would be anticipating it's arrival as much as I am, but I am certainly looking forward to it and to be able to do rigid tapping.
Keep us posted with new test parts and videos. Love it.

[MRM RCModels]

Nice! What camera are you using?

[GJeff]

Sounds great. What kind of mist system is that and does it come with the machine or did you add it? Are you happy with the mist or does it make a lot of vapor in the air?

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Nice! What camera are you using?

That's from my Son's HTC 4g LTE phone.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

Sounds great. What kind of mist system is that and does it come with the machine or did you add it? Are you happy with the mist or does it make a lot of vapor in the air?

It's a Koolmist system purchased separately. Tough to say just yet. Didn't notice any thing, but the mill is contained in an area just big enough to fit and I have a 200 CFM exhaust blower above the mill. I'll have to do a lot more cutting to find out if it will stay permanent.

[wwendorf]

Ok, that is a lot to drool over.

Wow... When I get more room and need another mill, I'm thinking Torus Pro will be it.

Wade