[magma-joe]

I have been gathering info for a new CNC purchase. I started out with the idea of retrofitting my knee mill to 3 axis but after searching diferent forums I have concluded that a Fadal TRM mill or a Haas TM-1 bed style mills would be a much better choice and at a comparable cost. Last known price that I can find for a base unit Fadal TRM is $20,000 http://www.ipnews.com/archives/weste.../fadal_trm.htm and the price for a Haas TM- 1 base unit is $22000 http://www.haascnc.com/VMC_PRICE_TM.asp#toolroom .There is alot of Haas TM 1 owners out there but I have not found any Fadal owners. Does any one have any experience with the Fadal TRM or the control? I am somewhat new to cnc milling (currently have a manual mill & cnc plasma machine) so I need a user friendly easy to learn control. I have a small 2 man shop and we need the machine for proto type and low production use. Both these machines are at the upper limits of our budget so before pulling the trigger on a purchase I hoped to gather more info on the Fadal. It seems that Haas has much more after sale support availible than Fadal which is also very important to me. Thanks for any feedback you might have to offer! What is the best machine to buy???

[carbidecraters]

Do a search on ebay for VMC5 their is a compny selling these for over 10K ea

[drewmeister]

I have never used the fadal trm but i have used a regular fadal with a mp control. I have also used a haas tm-1. In my opinion, the haas control is much easier and user friendly. On the fadal, everything is command based or you have to scroll around a lot of menus. The haas control is imtidating at first do to all the buttons on the screen. Give it a week and you will have no problem at all. Also on th tm-1 that I had, there was a help screen with a lot of info that would help you. Plus a haas does not have a cold start position.

[fourperf]

I have a TRM which I am very happy with. It uses the cnc 88 control and works just like any other fadal minus the atc. It prompts you to manually change the tool when your program calls for the tool change. I am very happy with it. Fadal no longer makes this machine new although you might be able to find one sitting somewhere (if you are looking for a new one)

Mark

[Geof]

...The haas control is imtidating at first do to all the buttons on the screen. Give it a week and you will have no problem at all. Also on th tm-1 that I had, there was a help screen with a lot of info that would help you....

Look at my comments in your other thread; this is what I was getting at.

[carbidecraters]

Look at my comments in your other thread; this is what I was getting at.

(wrong)


LOL Seriously this forum needs a emoticon update

[magma-joe]

Thanks to everyone who replied, it sure helps to get some feed back. Mark, did you buy your TRM new? Do you know why they don't sell them anymore? I have found a TRM for alot less money than the Haas TM1 that seems tempting because of the cost. This machine is going to be a replacement for my manual mill so I need to be able to do a certain amount of manual milling as well being able to place odd shaped oblects on the table.

[fourperf]

I did buy it new from fadal. It works really well as far as doing a little manual milling. I spoke to someone at Fadal regarding the trm and I was told they are no longer making them because they were not huge sellers. From what I understand they run the normal cnc 88 control so parts will not be an issue.

I am very happy with the performance of mine. I do sometimes miss flood coolant and the atc (when I am running a lot of parts however)
Mark