I have been digging through the forum as a new member for the last few weeks. I am in the process of buying a mill for CNC on aluminum 6061 and stainless every once in a while. More than likely 95% of the work will be aluminum.
The Tormach comes at a price of dollars, work envelope and speed. The 770 spindle has 10K rpm but lower torque. The 1100 has a little more torque and their is a spindle attachment for smaller mills (router like attachment). Might be an issue on stainless but maybe not enough to make it a big deal since it's not my primary material. The 1100 costs more but has 30+% more work envelope and more torque. Also room for 4th axis. The other benefit of Tormach is it's a far better engineered solution than I am going to come up with for sure. Not to mention their is support and a warranty option. Alot to like.
The other options is to convert a mill/drill. I originally started with the idea of the G0704 but have been looking closer at the 45 clone mills. The Precision Matthews, Bolton, and MTW Canada machines all look like good choices as a base. Spindle speed would be an issue on all of these so that would mean a spindle upgrade at some point.
For those who have done the conversion would you do it again? Are you happy with the results? Beyond purchase of mill what should I allow for budget of CNC conversion? What would you do different?
I think I would be happy with either option. I am not concerned with the time to complete a conversion if it can be done within a reasonable time. I don't want to look back and see that I took a great deal of time and the cost savings was minimal compared to a purchase.
For those who have responded to private messages, thanks for your help and I will look forward to sharing my journey along the way.
Thanks for the feedback....K
The Tormach comes at a price of dollars, work envelope and speed. The 770 spindle has 10K rpm but lower torque. The 1100 has a little more torque and their is a spindle attachment for smaller mills (router like attachment). Might be an issue on stainless but maybe not enough to make it a big deal since it's not my primary material. The 1100 costs more but has 30+% more work envelope and more torque. Also room for 4th axis. The other benefit of Tormach is it's a far better engineered solution than I am going to come up with for sure. Not to mention their is support and a warranty option. Alot to like.
The other options is to convert a mill/drill. I originally started with the idea of the G0704 but have been looking closer at the 45 clone mills. The Precision Matthews, Bolton, and MTW Canada machines all look like good choices as a base. Spindle speed would be an issue on all of these so that would mean a spindle upgrade at some point.
For those who have done the conversion would you do it again? Are you happy with the results? Beyond purchase of mill what should I allow for budget of CNC conversion? What would you do different?
I think I would be happy with either option. I am not concerned with the time to complete a conversion if it can be done within a reasonable time. I don't want to look back and see that I took a great deal of time and the cost savings was minimal compared to a purchase.
For those who have responded to private messages, thanks for your help and I will look forward to sharing my journey along the way.
Thanks for the feedback....K