Quote:
Originally Posted by Cory
The link Dave posted was missing a letter. http://haascnc.com/whatsnew-MINIMILL-EDU.asp should work.
FWIW this isn't as screaming a deal as I first thought. If you spec this out as a standard minimill is configured you basically end up at a slightly better price than the educational discount Haas offers for a purchase of any machine, with a worse warranty (educational purchases come with a 2 yr warranty, this one you have to pay for a 1 year warranty).
The kicker may be the extras they include as part of the classroom kit. It doesn't specify what those are, but if they're including CAD/CAM and tooling certificates that could well push it over the top.
That being said, if you don't need all the things that come standard on the non-educational minimill this would be a great way to get into an entry level machine that is going to be worlds better than any hobbyist grade machine (including tormach). |
Thanks for fixing the link, slip of the mouseclick perhaps. As for Haas vs Tormach, let me put it this way: the Haas can cut aluminum at the speed the Tormach makes its rapid moves through air. Also, the Haas comes turn-key ready to use. The Tormach can be a little bit of a project to get fully up and running. Also, when the Haas breaks, they come fix it. When the Tormach breaks, you fix it. That said, I successfully bored 60 holes to within .001 on our Tormach lathe tonight, while the Haas lathe sat powered off 15 feet away. For lathes, the Tormach has kind of been our go-to machine for the past year or so but for mills, Haas is where it's at.
What makes the Haas Mini Mill EDU cheaper than the standard Mini Mill is that it does not come with a tool changer, which may or may not be a big deal for you. For me, I would go crazy having to manually change tools, but with a CAT40 spindle it's not as bad as some other systems.
And as Cory mentioned, the Haas is easily twice the machine the Tormach is, any day of the week. When we first started into CNC machining, we almost pulled the trigger on a Tormach 1100 fully optioned out, but if I recall, the price was up around $22k with tooling and whatnot. We were able to push tooling to a separate budget, up the machine budget a little bit and go for the Haas, and it's been one of the smartest things we ever did. I filled a 55 gallon drum with chips machined in it it just today. Try that on a Tormach.
As for router spindles, anything less than 2HP is not going to give you any respectable cutting power. We've had a Porter Cable 2 1/4 HP and a Hitachi MV12 2 1/4 HP. The Porter Cable was deafeningly loud. The Hitachi is substantially quieter, but is smaller in physical size, and lacks the torque that the Porter Cable had. I can imagine cutting with a 1HP spindle to be akin to watching paint dry.