[SWATH]

I was following another thread ( http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133172 )and came across pics of the "SVM-2 prototype" which looks remarkably like the Mikini but red. If you look in the background of the last pic you can clearly see some green ones.






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[mechie]

That is a Mikini! The specs on it from Alibaba are spot on: http://http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1365947055/Skyfire_SVM_2_Small_Cnc_Milling.html

I wonder if Phil knows about this?

[mechie]

I emailed Phil, but my email was bounced back as "undelivered". Also the Mikini website is down; it says "under construction". I haven't called Phil to confirm, but it looks like Mikini is no more. Correction: I called Mikini's number, and it no longer says anything about Mikini, just a generic you've reached 831... Phil did not pick up.

Although that is a blessing for anyone who would have bought a mill in the future and gotten stuck with the lousy spindle driver, it is shame Mikini wasn't able to fix that problem, because the rest of the mill is pretty cool, aside from a few minor quirks. After I replaced the electronics on my mill with a Flashcut driver, and replaced the spindle controller with an Electrocraft ACE 1300, my mill has been very reliable, and is actually fun to work with (instead of work on). The only problem I have now is that the motor's torque is no longer constant over the rpm range. It is unstable and weak at 6000 rpm (in fact it is useless), but has a lot of torque at 0 rpm, much like any other dc motor. Flashcut's interface is better than Mach 3 in some ways, and worse in other ways, but I like it better overall. The nicest thing about it is always works; if an axis fails to move, it is because I tuned it too aggressively, not because of some quirk in Windows or electrical noise in the mill. And if the spindle stalls, the rest of the mill doesn't have to be rebooted. In fact the spindle driver will start turning again as soon as I raised the Z axis and unload it, as if nothing has happened.

The Alibaba site has the machines listed from $5000 to $15000, depending on options I guess (I didn't look). Assuming you could get just the base for the mill for $5000 and add your own stuff, it might be a bargain...