Hello Forum,
I had a great day, today cause I sent my last lease payment for the Tormach PCNC 1100 Series 3 I bought 4 years ago.
I had looked at Tormach 10 years ago and attended one of their 3 day classes in WI to learn more. I was a 20 year
machinist, at that point working on my own with a Bridgeport and a 13x40 lathe. They were using Alibre software and
Windows PC controllers at the time and the machines just did not seem ready for me. Fast forward to 2016 and Fusion
360 was being introduced by AutoDesk and Path Pilot was being released. I had been talking with several Tormach
owners about their experiences with their Tormachs and I felt the time was right to buy an 1100. So I leased #3808
and I have been really happy with it ever since. The folks at Tormach have always been helpful and considerate when
I had a question or needed to place an order for more tooling/accessories.
I would encourage anyone looking for a Tormach to buy the pneumatic tool changer and Path Pilot. Tormach's dedicated
controller is one of the reasons I pulled the trigger on my lease cause before they were running on a PC and I experienced
problems with this at the class and with an American made CNC router I had bought, before the Tormach to learn/teach
myself G-Code that ran on a PC with Mach-3. I did not like the PC performance or Mach-3, so I sold the CNC router.
You have to take a leap of faith and dive in to learn. I got to be an acquaintance of John Saunders and subscribed to his
YouTube channel NYC CNC. I reached out for help with Fusion on their forum and there are a lot of GREAT people who
are out there and willing to help you, if you only ask. Take your time but if you work at it and challenge yourself, you can
make some really amazing parts with this fairly modestly powered CNC machine. I thank you great people at Tormach for
seeing a need and making a great product.
Cismontguy
Free Union, VA