[Contract_Pilot]

Sent an e-mail to them for price of some electronics to make life a bit simpler on a retrofit. Their Response?

All of the items listed are replacement items for our PCNC Milling machines as well as our SB Lathe. These items are reserved for warranty issues for our Machine owning customers.

We therefore decline the sale. I am sure you will be able to source these items elsewhere.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this will cause you.

Now the comment "I am sure you will be able to source these items elsewhere" gets me wondering if the slant lathe motion control board is available commercially?

I know the simplest for a basic cnc mill and path pilot is to use a Leadshine MX3660 drive/bob combo then not much editing is required if you use the 440 setup and Wiring in the manual.

[cncbasher]

Sent an e-mail to them for price of some electronics to make life a bit simpler on a retrofit. Their Response?



Now the comment "I am sure you will be able to source these items elsewhere" gets me wondering if the slant lathe motion control board is available commercially?

I know the simplest for a basic cnc mill and path pilot is to use a Leadshine MX3660 drive/bob combo then not much editing is required if you use the 440 setup and Wiring in the manual.

Not sure what your requirements are, it,s simple enough

Sarah

[instructor37]

Sent an e-mail to them for price of some electronics to make life a bit simpler on a retrofit. Their Response?



Now the comment "I am sure you will be able to source these items elsewhere" gets me wondering if the slant lathe motion control board is available commercially?

I know the simplest for a basic cnc mill and path pilot is to use a Leadshine MX3660 drive/bob combo then not much editing is required if you use the 440 setup and Wiring in the manual.

I have seen the generic Tormach machine being sold by the Chinese and you can order it without electronics at a pretty cheap price. They probably don't want to be selling their control system to anyone who might be getting the machine direct. There was another thread by a guy wanting to buy spindle bearings and he got a similar response.

[tmarks11]

Why not just use the Leadshine controller? Are you worried about getting path pilot to work? Nothing magical about the BOB that Tormach is using.

In fact, the Tormach 440 uses the Leadshine MX3660, and no proprietary control board.

There are a couple build stories on the bench top forum of people successfully retrofitting emco cnc lathes and getting pathpilot fully functional.

[kstrauss]

I have seen the generic Tormach machine being sold by the Chinese and you can order it without electronics at a pretty cheap price. They probably don't want to be selling their control system to anyone who might be getting the machine direct. There was another thread by a guy wanting to buy spindle bearings and he got a similar response.

I don't really have room for another Tormach but I'm intrigued. Any links to the Chinese clone?

[Contract_Pilot]

I already looked in to that the China one is the XK7120

Response from alibaba supplier STAR

1) XK7120/7130
Our supplier, the manufacturer also cooperate with TORMACH directly, they have agreement on XK7120, the manufacturer can only provide to TORMACH all over the world.
XK7130 no problem, we can deal.


Seems simpler on edits to just use a Tormach BOB vs others the path pilot code mods are extensive and just plagued with errors. Seen 1 post on the MX3660 there was very little editing in PP just basic Machine and VFD parameters. Lost page!! But No real major changes to hal and ini no hours upon hours of debugging just wire it up, set machine limits and vfd and drive steps etc.

I was mainly after slantpro boards

Control Board 32574
Turret Control Board 32785
DC Bus Board 32005
Associated Cables

[tmarks11]

Seen 1 post on the MX3660 there was very little editing in PP just basic Machine and VFD parameters.

Should be almost no editing since the 440 uses it.

The down side on buying a XK7120 is that chances are you will get a machine assembled with components rejected by Tormach QC. And once you have paid to ship it halfway around the world, "what you see is what you get". You could also get a machine with substandard bearings, lower quality/cost ballscrews, etc. Chinese companies build everything to a price point, and will swap components out at will to lower the purchase price AND make a bigger profit.

Too big a risk in my mind. Worth paying a few thousand to deal with a US company instead of a group that speaks english poorly or not at all when you start having problems.

Also, the "XK7120" on Alibaba shows a Series 1 or 2 machine.