[SCzEngrgGroup]

The time has come to part with my Novakons - a Torus Pro and a Pulsar, both with AC servos. The Pro, of course, has the PDB. Is there much market for these, or should I just find some good cause to donate them to? Any idea what they might sell for these days?

[fc60]

Greetings,

What is a "PDB"?

Where are you located?

Cheers,

Dave

[Titaniumboy]

Welcome back Ray.

I would think a used Novakon mill is definitely worth selling as compared to donating. I would look at an equivalent used Tormach selling price and then apply the same discount that existed when buying new. Maybe enlist the help of Santa Cruz Electronics (Tormach dealer)?

I don’t see anything on eBay, but here is a Torus Pro listed for $7,000 on Craigslist in Denver. This mill has a lot of hours, no enclosure, and needs the Y-axis bearing replaced.

https://denver.craigslist.org/tls/d/...619997189.html




What kind of hours and backlash do your machines have? Pictures would be great to see.

Edit: PDB stand for Power Draw Bar.

[metalmayhem]

My opinion is to ask top dollar on craigslist , facebook market etc , the worst that can happen is you'd have to drop your price . Aside from the novakon suck website - the overall opinion of torus and pulsar is pretty good . Service was a bit off at a certain point but overall that was good for the most part .

It's a drag they're orphaned machines but I look at my torus and figure I'll be asking at least half to 2/3 of what I paid for it , and it has an extreme amount of use . Worse that can happen is I sell it for less which I'd be fine with anyhow . It's just takes the right guy at the right time which goes with selling anything

Also most guys looking for a mill like this is going to know that parts can be sourced from numerous chinese suppliers , plus there are other companies selling the same mill but just configured differently .

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Where are you located?

Santa Cruz, CA

What kind of hours and backlash do your machines have?

Backlash is, as expected, ~0.0005". I have no problems holding dimensions within a thou across hundreds of parts.

One of my concerns, with the Torus Pro, is it is highly customized. It was always my primary machine. I immediatey ditched Mach3, and replaced it with my own CNC controller app, running over a KFlop. I ripped out and replaced the entire oiling system with a pressure-fed system that tailors oil deliverry to each individual way, and each ballnut. Of course, it has my PDB, and my 12-tool ATC, which, given it never went into production, I cannot provide any support for. So, to me, I either have to sell it as a "kit" that needs to be converted back to some standard cconfiguration by a more than usually knowledgable buyer, or spend the time to convert it myself, and sell it as a more-or-less stock machine, Of course, I do have a HUGE supplu of tooling, including probably 50 TTS tool holders of various shapes and sizes (several difference sizes of set-screw holders, dozens of ER20 and ER32 holders, 6 home-built tension/compression tapping heads, Tapmatic and Procunier tapping heads, numerous face mills up to a 5" Glacern with six inserts, several slitting saws, probably 5 or 6 vises in different sizes, including a 6" Glacern, three 4 or 5" lathe chucks, and more.

The Pulsar is actually a pre-production machine, with a few minor differences from the final production version, and I don't even recall what those differenecs are, other than slightly shorter travels. It is currently running with a SmoothStepper and UCCNC.

And spare spindles for both machines.

I have not used either machine in probably 3 years. Don't think I've even powered them on!

[metalmayhem]

It can't be that difficult for someone to restore the torus to original state and running mach if they chose to , can it ? . I'm guessing your still running the original electronics plus your addons , or at least still have the old elecronics kicking around ?

Honestly I believe you may be over thinking it . Put them for sale at top dollar and if no one bites then it would be a good time to rethink it . Obviously new stuff depreciates but determining how much is dependent on a lot of factors . I buy a lot of used toys and I'm a deal hunter . I'll use it for a while and get bored with it or want to upgrade . I'll typically sell for more than I paid or worst case at the same price , though I've taken a few hits lol . All in all it's always best to start at top dollar and you can drop your price some if or when the right guy comes along

My observation is that guys like addons , and it seems tinkering with machines is more exciting than running for a lot of the hobby guys .
Anyone who reads these forums know how much time and effort you put into your torus . There's a lot of valuable time and money that you put into that mill . If a noob buys it then learning the mill functionality is the least of whats in front of them , and anyone with experience will be able to figure out what you've got going .

[Titaniumboy]

Backlash is, as expected, ~0.0005". I have no problems holding dimensions within a thou across hundreds of parts.

The Pulsar is actually a pre-production machine, with a few minor differences from the final production version, and I don't even recall what those differenecs are, other than slightly shorter travels. It is currently running with a SmoothStepper and UCCNC.

Your backlash is amazing. I have 2 thou backlash in Y and 6 thou in Z on my Torus (mechanically is a NM-145). Not really sure what my options are to rectify this.

Does your Pulsar have the upgraded base that can handle tons of coolant flow?

I have not used either machine in probably 3 years. Don't think I've even powered them on!

Did you graduate to a better CNC mill?