[red triangle]

Hi all. I have been planning for a long time on getting a prototyping machine for the home shop. I just bought a PCNC 1100 with 4th axis and all the goodies except the tool changer. Are there any active users here in Seattle that wouldn't mind helping me out if I run into problems? (I am willing to pay an hourly rate). I am an engineer and used to run an aerospace machine and fab shop, but most of my machining experience is manual with some programming by hand on an old Tree Journeyman about 20 yrs ago. I am going to attempt to use featureCAM for my cam software and am currently using Alibre for my CAD, but I do have access to SW. If anybody has a post for FeatureCAM that will work with my 4th axis, that would be super great.

[kevinro]

Hi all. I have been planning for a long time on getting a prototyping machine for the home shop. I just bought a PCNC 1100 with 4th axis and all the goodies except the tool changer. Are there any active users here in Seattle that wouldn't mind helping me out if I run into problems? (I am willing to pay an hourly rate). I am an engineer and used to run an aerospace machine and fab shop, but most of my machining experience is manual with some programming by hand on an old Tree Journeyman about 20 yrs ago. I am going to attempt to use featureCAM for my cam software and am currently using Alibre for my CAD, but I do have access to SW. If anybody has a post for FeatureCAM that will work with my 4th axis, that would be super great.

I am in Carnation and would be happy to help.

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[rkondner]

Hi,
New forum member here. I have been thinking about a PCNC 1100, how has yours worked out?

By the time I add a tool changer and and such I am $15K to $20K. Is a used HAAS machine the way to go?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob K.

[sansbury]

Assuming you have the space/power/etc for a full vmc, this is a choice many of us have gone through. I think the value of a tormach is that you can get into a new, warrantied, supported machine for ~12k and add things later as you need them. And even after the warranty expires, there's nothing too expensive to replace and you can do it yourself.

For used vmcs I've heard that Fadals have one of the lowest costs for maintenance and good manuals.

A VMC is what you want if you're going to be doing real production. I'm doing a batch of ten sets of four parts for a customer right now on my 1100. The ATC would be nice to be more hands off but it wouldn't speed things up a ton. If I had the ATC I might be happy to do twenty or thirty sets. Beyond that I'd want a real VMC so I could fit a lot more parts on the table in one setup. These are small 6061 and plastic parts but larger or harder materials would also show more advantage to a bigger machine with more HP.

[rlockwood]

Its also all too easy to trick yourself into thinking that because a full blown tormach costs $16000, and there are clapped out fadals for that much, that you can have a productive vmc in your garage for the same ammount. Just don't forget all of the ancillary costs that go with the vmc. Rigging will be a significant cost, and tool holders and even cutting tools themselves will be considerably more.

I'm not saying either way is the right or wrong choice, just to make sure you're being honest with yourself about the upfront costs. Its pretty transparent what a tormach will cost..

[philbur]

The age old question. What do you want to use it for?

Phil

Hi,
New forum member here. I have been thinking about a PCNC 1100, how has yours worked out?

By the time I add a tool changer and and such I am $15K to $20K. Is a used HAAS machine the way to go?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob K.

[tbaker2500]

Its also all too easy to trick yourself into thinking that because a full blown tormach costs $16000, and there are clapped out fadals for that much, that you can have a productive vmc in your garage for the same ammount. Just don't forget all of the ancillary costs that go with the vmc. Rigging will be a significant cost, and tool holders and even cutting tools themselves will be considerably more.

I'm not saying either way is the right or wrong choice, just to make sure you're being honest with yourself about the upfront costs. Its pretty transparent what a tormach will cost..

I completely agree with this. It's easy to run up the numbers on the new machine by purchasing lots of accessories you may not need, and minimizing the costs of a used VMC.

[sansbury]

I'm at probably a little under 15k, and the only thing I got which I would consider "optional" is the 6" rotary table. OK, and the automatic oiler and passive probe, which are a whopping $500 together. I also started out with a vise and a moderate amount of tooling, probably about $750 worth of stuff including a half dozen TTS tool holders and a control computer I could use. All told if you're starting out with nothing, I'd say $15k is a good budgetary number. Also, not sure of what other supporting tools you have already, bandsaw, drill press, air compressor, drill bits, etc. None of it is individually expensive but there's a lot of it and it adds up.