[mws2107]

I am getting into doing my own machining for firearm parts we manufacture currently with others. I am wanting to start this in my garage so not to grow expenses to quickly. Cost of machine is not too big of an issue.



The issues I have ceiling is too low for any Haas VF series, MM series or TM series.



I have never ran my own machine however I do solid works and have years of 3d printing experience as far as other knowledge of machining.



Things which I must have a auto tool changer, enclosure, machine needs to be newer do not want a repair headache machine and most important - high quality finishing.



I do not need a big work area to start at this time all of the parts I make are smaller than an ar10 lower.

I will be going bigger in my next machine after I move it from my garage and move my business at the same time.


I have read a lot about Tormach however, the quality I see, leaves me questioning whether it is a good match. Asking here because I think this is one of the best resources I have seen and will be on here a lot soon I feel.

Thanks Ian

[Ydna]

Not sure how close your height restrictions are, but I can say that some of the Haas published heights are on the taller side, and sometimes you can squeeze a machine through a door with some elbow grease. The minimills in specific will ship in a position several inches below the maximum operation height, and their spindles have a flexible conduit that can be wiggled out of the way (or unbolted for even more room). If your restriction is just the door, you may be able to find a way to get it in safely. If it's your ceiling then maybe not although I have seen a few remodeling jobs where guys cut a hole in their ceiling then boxed it in.

We have a PCNC 770 so I'd be happy to answer any questions you have on it. We only use it for dry machining, mostly steel, no crazy work. It's nowhere near the same machine as a Haas, though I don't have any experience with office-mills.

[precisionmetal]

I have a 2005 Super Mini Mill, and after getting it through my garage door, I had to pass it under an even lower beam inside my garage which measures 83.75". I did completely unbolt the flexible conduit and lay everything over on its side. Oh... I brought it in on a pallet jack... the lowest one I could find.

I had to do a bit of fine tuning on positioning, because the Z column goes up between 2 floor joists under a bedroom. 16" centers on the floor joists gives a bit over 1" clearance on each side. The height is needed when the machine goes "home" during startup. Oh... I also skimmed about 1/2"+ off the bottom of the cast iron pads that the adjustable feet sit on.

My machine does not have through-spindle coolant, so I re-routed the coolant from the stock configuration (which went through the aforementioned flexible conduit, and down the through the Z enclosure). That flexible conduit gets a lot more flexible without that 5/8" ID coolant hose running through it! I now run the coolant straight up from the pump to a large 5-micron canister filter mounted on the back of the enclosure, then immediately through the back of the enclosure into a distribution manifold and to the programmable and fixed nozzles, plus added a connection for a wash-down hose as well. End result is that the entire coolant run is no more than 8', instead of almost 18' in stock configuration!

I've had zero issues running the machine in such tight quarters.

PM