[RedBarons]

Good morning,

I am writing you as we are possibly looking at purchasing a Tormach 440 or 770MX. What I would like to know is the space required for the machine. We are a high school and our space is limited as we can't have the machine where people are teaching. I do have a few isolated rooms within our space where I could make the machine fit but I would like to know if I need any specific ventilation for the room. Will it get too hot? If I have the machine in a more isolated space will the noise of the machine be extremely loud when we are in the room with the machine? Would you recommend the 440 or 770 if we are talking about high school students just learning the basics of machining with CNC?

Thanks for all your help!

[Advil]

Not enough info but I'll try to answer as a 770 owner. How big of a room? By "isolated" do you mean tiny? We are talking a workshop type space and not a closet or something correct? This is something that needs to be where you teach auto mechanics, woodworking, etc. If the room is a few hundred square feet there shouldn't be any problem. The 770 can pull a few thousand watts, and you need at least a small quiet air compressor for a fogbuster for chip clearing or whatever even if you only use it for air. So there will be some heat. The 440 slightly less so. Ventilation depends on whether this is a very small very sealed room. If it is, then yes I'd want a vent of some kind. You'll have smells like way oil, small amounts of coolant if you use the fogbuster, wood dust if cutting wood, etc. You can't shut it up in a sealed closet. But the whole idea here is to have it in a room at least large enough for a small class to stand in front of it while it's working to provide instruction yes? Noise is going to depend entirely on what the machine is cutting, what kind of tools are doing the cutting, and how loud your air compressor is. Choose wisely and carrying on a conversation in front of it while it's working is easy. A 3 or 5 flute doing light cuts in aluminum or even some other materials and the cutting itself can be amazingly quiet. Conversely if you run a single insert tool like a Tormach Shear Hog in aluminum on a heavy cut to remove material fast and everyone standing close will need hearing protection.

If this is mainly a teaching tool for CNC and it's not going to be co-opted by every student and teacher in shop or robotics class for serious work on the side a 440 should keep everyone happy and it's a heck of a lot easier to move around. If you want to let people really get some major projects done on it and you need a little more machinable area and power, the 770 will be more capable for parts that aren't very small but it's around 950lbs and really needs to be on it's own stand. It can be moved fairly easily "for a piece of major machinery" but it's not like the 440 at only 600lbs where it can be more readily moved by brute force and isn't a strain on most small hoists.

Bear in mind, Tormach wants the 770 (and maybe the 440) on its own dedicated 110v circuit, and the accessories for it (air, lights, etc) on a separate circuit. This is both for power delivery and to minimize electrical noise interfering with operation.

Hope this helped out some. You really need someone who owns some kind of mill to look at your space and the requirements to make sure you aren't going to have a problem with the install.

[jwatte]

I used a 1100 for a long time, but that opportunity went away, and I ended up getting a 440 in my garage. The reason I got the 440 is because I couldn't fit anything bigger. Even the 440 is a squeeze.

You will absolutely want the full enclosure, for chip control, else the room will have zero chance of being in control. Even so, teaching "get out all the chips, and wipe down surfaces with oil" is going to be important.

That being said: you will also want at least a foot of clearance on each side, including the back (two feet is better, if you plan on doing work to it after it's installed.)
If you can fit that for a 770, you should go with the 770.

[toyshop]

Tormach used (still?) to have an owner locator. You could check if there is someone near you. You didn't enter your location.

Dave

[soofle616]

The machine itself isn't terribly loud but given the teaching aspect of it, you can expect to get tool noise with some regularity. Speaking from personal experience over the weekend a tool can really start to scream if you mess up something the right way.