pic: FRC228 Tormach CNC Mill

[magnets]

I have been with 2 teams in the past few years, and the tormach experience has been... interesting. The first team had nothing but success with their machine, with the machine being run hour after hour cutting gearbox plates, wheels, sprockets, pulleys, and everything else with little to no problems. The team I'm with now, isn't too excited about the tormach. We assembled a do it yourself cnc router, and we really love the thing. We use it for prototyping all the time, and it's easy enough to use that a freshman was able to make a shooter wheel to launch frisbees by herself. Then, to cut thick aluminum and steel, we got a tormach. To begin with, the new one seemed a little more flimsy than the old one. (they were both PCNC 1100) While none of the axes or tables were flimsy, the back of the machine and all the little guards and panels were all wobbly. After setting up and cutting the first part (block with many holes), we noticed that the part was only accurate to about 1/2", so something was slipping. I wasn't involved much over the summer with this team, but the end result was paying $3000 to have a technician come out, replace the table, the motor, and the ballscrew, because the motor would make noise, but the output shaft wouldn't spin. Because the motor is modified by tormach with a different shaft output, if the problem fails in the modified part, you can't fix it yourself. However, the other two axis the motor worked fine, but the shaft coupling slipped on a both.

I've never used a shopbot very much, but i've heard great things about them. Also, consider used equipment if possible.

[peronis]

Originally Posted by magnets

I have been with 2 teams in the past few years, and the tormach experience has been... interesting. The first team had nothing but success with their machine, with the machine being run hour after hour cutting gearbox plates, wheels, sprockets, pulleys, and everything else with little to no problems. The team I'm with now, isn't too excited about the tormach. We assembled a do it yourself cnc router, and we really love the thing. We use it for prototyping all the time, and it's easy enough to use that a freshman was able to make a shooter wheel to launch frisbees by herself. Then, to cut thick aluminum and steel, we got a tormach. To begin with, the new one seemed a little more flimsy than the old one. (they were both PCNC 1100) While none of the axes or tables were flimsy, the back of the machine and all the little guards and panels were all wobbly. After setting up and cutting the first part (block with many holes), we noticed that the part was only accurate to about 1/2", so something was slipping. I wasn't involved much over the summer with this team, but the end result was paying $3000 to have a technician come out, replace the table, the motor, and the ballscrew, because the motor would make noise, but the output shaft wouldn't spin. Because the motor is modified by tormach with a different shaft output, if the problem fails in the modified part, you can't fix it yourself. However, the other two axis the motor worked fine, but the shaft coupling slipped on a both.

I've never used a shopbot very much, but i've heard great things about them. Also, consider used equipment if possible.

Thank you all so much for the feedback.

I noticed how you mentioned that you made sprockets, wheels, etc. with the tormach

I guess the question would be, can the shopbot do the same precision work, or has anyone made precision parts such as sprockets and gearbox parts on it?

[sanddrag]

You can get a used Fadal for about $17k, but, you don't want to buy a $17k can of worms. You'd really have to have someone who knows machinery check it out. Also, as a note, I have no personal experience with Fadal, but I'd like to think it's a heck of a lot more machine than a Tormach. That said, I'd read of tons of people who absolutely love their Tormach and make some impressive pieces on them, and I'm considering a Tormach lathe if they ever finish it and release it for sale.

I know it may be out of your budget, but originally, I was looking at a Tormach, and ended up going with a HAAS, and I cannot even begin to describe how big of a difference it is, and how glad I am that we upped the budget for a HAAS. See if you can sell the school district on safety. The HAAS is enclosed and has safety interlocks and is "industry standard equipment."

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I know it may be out of your budget, but originally, I was looking at a Tormach, and ended up going with a HAAS, and I cannot even begin to describe how big of a difference it is, and how glad I am that we upped the budget for a HAAS. See if you can sell the school district on safety. The HAAS is enclosed and has safety interlocks and is "industry standard equipment."

I've used both, and can say with no hesitations that the HAAS is a beautiful machine and a joy to work with. It's very rigid, safe, strong, fast, well made, great control software, etc, etc, etc. With flood coolant, ATC, and a rienshaw, I'd call it my dream mill.

Whenever I've used it, I did find the Tormach more than adequate for most FRC uses. It's a good price, and cuts well. On the other hand, you can really see that it was made more for the garage machine shop (where build quality isn't quite as important) than for the industrial R&D and production runs the HAASes are made for.

Either way, make sure to get flood coolant. The only reason why I might want to use the Tormach over my team's HAAS is the flood coolant (our teacher had it uninstalled from the HAAS). It really improves cutting, and let's you crank through aluminum and even steel at very nice speeds. It can be very important if you want to go into "production mode" with a run of parts.