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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62

    Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Countdown has begun (6/20 departure date) to a long road trip to most likely buy a 2016 Tormach 1100, really nicely tooled and in good shape. Looking forward to first searching the forum for help but anticipate asking a lot of newbie questions. I'll post photos in a couple of weeks of what I picked up, really looking forward (if you can't tell) to setting up and learning the machine.

    I have a Bridgeport with an Anilam Crusader II controller, so somewhat familiar with the G-codes though I'm conversational only with the Anilam using their naming convention.

    Hoping to get proficient enough at some point to be able to add something to this forum.

    Best regards, Bruce

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    1863

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Welcome to the group. You’re gonna love your new (to you anyway) PCNC 1100. Mine will be 8 years old next month, and I have nothing but good things to say about it.

    I am the former owner of a real CNC shop where I had a FADAL 3016 and a Haas TM 1, and I’m here to tell ya, I can do “anything” on my Tormach that I could do on either of those machines, and for a “LOT” less money. It just takes a little longer. AND my Tormach didn’t cost $100,000.00

    Actually, I don’t do big parts anymore. If I can’t hold half a dozen parts in one hand, they’re too big for me.

    I manufacture a line of running gear for gas powered remote control race boats and trucks.

    I call myself “ MID DAY MACHINING” because I seldom start before 11;00 AM and I seldom work past 5:00 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    670

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Welcome to the family!

    I started with a 2014 1100/3 and now have two 1100Ms and a Slant Pro.
    The Body Armor Dude - Andrew

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    17

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Congratulations, don't forget to join the facebook group, there is a lot of help there as well.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    The 1100 I'm looking at is pretty well tooled. Comes with an 80/20 full enclosure, ATC, 4th axis with a pair of tombstones and tail stock, 2 Glacern 6" vises, Saunders fixture plate, vacuum pallet, diamond engraver, Mistaway collector, 39 TTS tool holders (18 end mill, 21 ER collet), 5 TTS drill chucks, Haimer Taster, TTS electronic probe, many soft jaws for the vises, shear hog, TTS flycutter, TTS slitting saw arbor, unmixed coolant, way oil, PathPilot controller with expanded memory, touch screen monitor, etc.

    So I'll be overwhelmed for a while . . . Been browsing the 1100 manual on some work I'll need to do. The X has about 0.0005" play, but Y and Z are both at 0.0015". Looks like the dual ball nuts have a shim between them and there's a procedure for adjusting them after adjusting the gibs.

    I'm a frequent visitor to the Home Page - Projects and Articles on Our Forum! | The Hobby-Machinist forum, search under "BGHansen" for some of my posts there. My "go to" shop projects have been making reproduction parts for an old toy called an Erector set. Mainly focus on parts for the sets sold between 1913 - 1950. Lots of work with sheet metal, brass turnings, etc. My market is really soft right now as the collecting community is really getting long in the tooth. But I'm not buying the machine with the intent of making back what I spent on it, really more of a toy at this point. I turn 60 this year and am convinced one of the keys to healthy golden years is to continually challenge our brains. Yup, learning Solidworks and Sprutcam (or maybe just dump Solidworks into Fusion360 for the CAM) will challenge my brain plenty!

    Bruce

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    99

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    NYCNC has a video of setting up the 1100.

    I think you have to set up the ballscrew endplay first. If the gibs are tight you won't be able to tell which one is too tight.

    Too tight is not good either, you need room for lube and it will wear faster. Are you planning on holding .0001? Not really the right machine for this, but then neither is a manual bridgeport.

    With care, even with a little endplay, you can hold close tolerance if needed by feeding from the same direction, just like on a manual mill.

    Mine is more basic than yours but I have been happy with it. Everytime I have to drill a multiple hole pattern at work I miss it.

    Dave

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62
    Quote Originally Posted by toyshop View Post
    NYCNC has a video of setting up the 1100.

    I think you have to set up the ballscrew endplay first. If the gibs are tight you won't be able to tell which one is too tight.

    Too tight is not good either, you need room for lube and it will wear faster. Are you planning on holding .0001? Not really the right machine for this, but then neither is a manual bridgeport.

    With care, even with a little endplay, you can hold close tolerance if needed by feeding from the same direction, just like on a manual mill.

    Mine is more basic than yours but I have been happy with it. Everytime I have to drill a multiple hole pattern at work I miss it.

    Dave
    Hi Dave,

    Thanks for the tip. The manual I have mentions a number of sources for lost motion. They start with a procedure to isolate the loss between the gib and the ball nut.

    Pretty detailed instructions for both. It's pretty intuitive for the gib. Start by loosening the gib and measure the table chuck with an indicator. Tighten the gib screw by a half turn and repeat plotting chuck vs turns. Set the screw at the point where the curve flattens out. They show 0.0007" for expected gib slop.

    Haven't read the ball nut procedure yet, but there's a number of pages going over that procedure also.

    Figure I'll set and level first, then check everything out. I'm hoping to get within 0.002" with X, Y and Z combined. Recall reading in the manual that Tormach shoots for 0.0013".

    Bruce

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    1777

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Quote Originally Posted by BGHansen View Post
    The 1100 I'm looking at is pretty well tooled. Comes with an 80/20 full enclosure, ATC, 4th axis with a pair of tombstones and tail stock, 2 Glacern 6" vises, Saunders fixture plate, vacuum pallet, diamond engraver, Mistaway collector, 39 TTS tool holders (18 end mill, 21 ER collet), 5 TTS drill chucks, Haimer Taster, TTS electronic probe, many soft jaws for the vises, shear hog, TTS flycutter, TTS slitting saw arbor, unmixed coolant, way oil, PathPilot controller with expanded memory, touch screen monitor, etc.

    So I'll be overwhelmed for a while . . . Been browsing the 1100 manual on some work I'll need to do. The X has about 0.0005" play, but Y and Z are both at 0.0015". Looks like the dual ball nuts have a shim between them and there's a procedure for adjusting them after adjusting the gibs.



    I'm a frequent visitor to the Home Page - Projects and Articles on Our Forum! | The Hobby-Machinist forum, search under "BGHansen" for some of my posts there. My "go to" shop projects have been making reproduction parts for an old toy called an Erector set. Mainly focus on parts for the sets sold between 1913 - 1950. Lots of work with sheet metal, brass turnings, etc. My market is really soft right now as the collecting community is really getting long in the tooth. But I'm not buying the machine with the intent of making back what I spent on it, really more of a toy at this point. I turn 60 this year and am convinced one of the keys to healthy golden years is to continually challenge our brains. Yup, learning Solidworks and Sprutcam (or maybe just dump Solidworks into Fusion360 for the CAM) will challenge my brain plenty!

    Bruce
    Congratulations Bruce, I think you will really enjoy the machine!
    I have had my 1100-3 for 7+ years now and really enjoy it. I use Rhino 4 and Sprutcam 7, I bought mine to learn CNC machining to have something to do in retirement and to make some hobby parts, I retired and needed something constructive to do, took a bit of effort on my part and starting at 72 years old I believe made it a bit harder as well but have been very satisfied with the machine and software.

    again congratulations and welcome to the forum!
    mike sr

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    My wife is a Unigraphics designer and pretty adept at SolidWorks. We have SW at home so will most likely go with it for CAD. Helps to have a tutor at home!

    For CAM, I'll start the cheap route with either HSM Express (from what I understand it's a free CAM package that works with SolidWorks). Or dump SW files into Fusion360 and use its CAM.

    If those options don't work out, I'll look at buying SprutCam. Since Tormach endorses it, I'd expect it to have pretty good 4th axis support, though I don't have a project for it other than maybe simple indexing.

    Some of the Erector set parts I make are some pretty esoteric gears (75-tooth, 1.710" OD - use a 48 DP cutter which isn't quite right but close enough). REALLY looking forward to programming in the indexing with the 4th axis instead of using a dividing head. Going to have fun playing here in a couple of weeks!

    Bruce

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    2151

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Quote Originally Posted by BGHansen View Post

    Some of the Erector set parts I make are some pretty esoteric gears (75-tooth, 1.710" OD - use a 48 DP cutter which isn't quite right but close enough). REALLY looking forward to programming in the indexing with the 4th axis instead of using a dividing head. Going to have fun playing here in a couple of weeks!

    Bruce

    You will love having a 4th axis after using a indexer to cut gears. I draw 2 gear blank models for cam software. I calculate o.d. =(n+2)/p and draw gear blank with full outside diameter and setup cam operations to mill out all the details. Then I calculate the size and draw a 2nd blank model with the diameter less the depth of cut (w)=2.157/pitch and import this model into cam. Then use a line on that model profile as the path for the cutter to follow. Then in my cam software you just use the multiply tool path by the number of teeth and move 4th axis cam movements as required. I use a 1" arbor saw TTS to hold gear cutters "no key" Not needed in most cases in my opinion and nice to have it slip and not destroy a cutter if something is setup wrong.

    Attachment 422364

    Attachment 422366

    The cutters I have vary in thickness and total diameter and require some careful setup in tool table to get every thing very close. Normal gear cutter centering and touch off methods with a little change of g-code would improve or mitigate this.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    All set to head out tomorrow morning for a 17 hour drive (taking 2 days) to look over and pick up the mill. Making the trip with our son, so some good father/son time to be had.

    I happened to hit the Tormach site to download some manuals and noticed that are now advertising a servo motor upgrade for legacy machines later this year. Great, I have a reason to put another $2K (guessing at the price) into my shop . . .

    Bruce

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    1788

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZThv3Ryhw0M before deciding to spend money on the servo upgrade.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    62

    Re: Joining the Tormach 1100 family

    Our son and I made the road trip successfully. Long drive from Michigan to Colorado, but worth the trip. Now in the early stages of learning the programming and other nuances. I have a Bridgeport Series 1 with a circa 1983 Anilam Crusader II control, would expect the learning curve here to be pretty short (I hope). Still have some boxes of stuff to go through, but it's up and running.

    The seller had a self-made full enclosure of welded up 1" tubing and 3/32" steel plate. Thinking of making a temporary enclosure for the back and sides by attaching thin-wall conduit uprights to the base, then horizontal pieces that'll have shower curtains on them. Yeah, ugly but hopefully effective. I'll come up with something a little prettier next year.

    Have most of the tooling on a HF 16" x 30" cart, but have another 8-10 TTS tool holders to set someplace. Also need to find a place for the passive probe, ETS and a couple of tapping heads. Should be fun to learn!

    Bruce




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