[LUCKY13]

I know this forum is more for the Ajax control system, but I was wandering if anyone has used the Tool Room mill they offer at there web site?



Is there any video of the mill in operation that could be downloaded or emailed. I am very close to buying a mill for a home shop & would like more info on this before I would consider it. I have looked at many smaller mills & the specs on this one has me interested. There is a Ajax rep on this forum so maybe he can supply info if no one is using this mill. If this should not be in this section one of the mods can just delete it & I will atempt to contact with them in other ways. At this price level I would really like to see this mill in action. I really dont want to get into retrofiting a mill at this time, but the advetized performance is inline with what I woudl like to have out of a mill.



Jess

[yanjue]

Check the website of centroid. (if the mill you want is controlled by centroid)

Yan

[colorado]

I teach college and high school students using Centroid M400 (Mills) & T400 (lathes) controlers. It is a very quick learning curve compaired to others.
I think it is the best head unit for a CNC M/C. I have used most all of the others (Anilam , Millrite, Mitsubishi,ect..) and ease of use as well as size of the screen Centroid has them all beat. They also use different colors for rapid, feed, and cutter comp. moves when you are graphing it. I'm sure others will say I'm crazy but as for me I have never had problem with either using their Intercon or MasterCam/GibbsCam to write a G code. After my students use a Centroid it is hard for me to get them to use our HAAS CNC Mills.

[DSL PWR]

I teach college and high school students using Centroid M400 (Mills) & T400 (lathes) controlers. It is a very quick learning curve compaired to others.
I think it is the best head unit for a CNC M/C. I have used most all of the others (Anilam , Millrite, Mitsubishi,ect..) and ease of use as well as size of the screen Centroid has them all beat. They also use different colors for rapid, feed, and cutter comp. moves when you are graphing it. I'm sure others will say I'm crazy but as for me I have never had problem with either using their Intercon or MasterCam/GibbsCam to write a G code. After my students use a Centroid it is hard for me to get them to use our HAAS CNC Mills.

I bet if they learned on a Haas, they wouldn't want to use the Centroid. It's just human nature to stick with what you know.

[LUCKY13]

Thanks for the reply's, Although the controls are not what I really am asking about. Its the MIll itself they sale that I am wandering about its performance. I am sure with the Centroid controls it will do what they say. But I am not sure if I believe the Mill itself can stand upto what they are claiming.


Its a Tormach type & sized mill. Could you imagine a Tormach running at 400ipm and holding tolerance. I dont really see how a Tormach would be around very long after much of that. But hey maybe there little mill can do it, I would hope so for the price. Which I am sure much of that comes from the Centroid system itself. I have the Centroid Demo & all the paper work & docs that they sent me some time back. I was going to retro a Bridgeport with Centroid controls but I just dont have the room for it really. And this size mill will fit my needs.


Maybe no one has seen the mill Ajax sales. Centroid has no info on it though. I guess I could have gave a link to it though.


http://www.ajaxcnc.com/cnc_mill.htm


Jess

[Karl_T]

I would be skeptical on the mill's advertised abilities.

Ajax is a software control company. You know they outsourced the mill itself, almost certainly from China. Not stating who made the iron says a lot.

OTOH, for a home shop this may meet your needs. Personally I wouldn't buy till I've seen a unit first hand.

Karl

[LUCKY13]

Yes it would be for a Home Shop. Although I intend to put it to work on more than the average garage mill.


Even though the mill is a china casting, it is a Meehanite casting with hardened & ground ways with Torcite B. It also has a better class of bearings then most mills of this size/style.


I do see the mill for what it is (atleast for what it is advertized to be). But not seeing it in action has a hugh effect on what I thik about it. Plus no one that can show it in use for a year or more.


But the mills I am looking at besides this one are the Tormach and the IH Mill.

I dont want to build a mill, but it may be something I am forced to do. And I well do this before I throw money away.

To be honest, if the money end of things work out I will be jumping up from this level mill if at all possible. A TM-1, 2 is where I need to be. But I only have so much to work with & tooling and softwear will be needed also. But I am going to look at all possiblities & take the time needed to get this right. Given enough time you never know what will show up. I may be better off doing without somethings in the begining to have a better platform to build off of. Even though it would take longer to get to where I want to be. I dont have to be able to do everything right of at first.



But I would like to see this Ajax mill in action. Its going to be interesting, or something else(nuts)



Jess

[Shizzlemah]

I am sure with the Centroid controls it will do what they say.

HA! You think so, eh?



Anyway, years ago I had the non-CNC version of that #45 mill, same as pictured but with an R8 spindle. I was less than impressed. I ran it for about 4 hours then sold it. Threw in a few hundy more and got a bridgeport.

But this cnc jobbie is no comparison for a TM-1. The TM1 has a fixed head and wont float out of tram like this asian iron. Of course the TM can handle flood coolant, Also, the TM1 has a toolchanger. If you say you are going to be running plenty of parts, the last thing you want is to stand there and swap tools. If you want/need a TM1, get one - this isn't going to hold a candle to it.

[colorado]

It doesn't matter which way I start teaching each class one time I start first w/ HAAS and the next Centroid...Every class always goes to operate the Centroid first when they have a choice. When I ask them why, the students always say the same thing it is more user friendly. Lets face it HAAS has nothing on Centroid when it comes to cutting or graphing your part out.....You ever try to graph 3d on a HAAS? It looks like a caveman drawing you can't tell which is the x or z axis. All I know is Centroid is a good controller when put on a good IRON machine. YOU CAN NOT TAKE A WORN OUT MACHINE AND MAKE IT ACCURATE NO MATTER WHOSE CONTROLLER IS PUT ON THE M/C. Just because the controller is simple to operate doesn't mean its not powerful just as a student who can not express him/her self well is dumb or uneducated.

[vasanthlathes]

Dear Jess,

I am Vasantha from Sri Lanka, an Island below the map of India. I have bought three systems from Ajax, Two for a Mill and one for a lathe. I have also bought some other controllers etc from some other US Companies. One has several web pages and boast of Windows based controller etc. Believe me, those are all useless. Go for Centroid Systems marketed by Ajax.

It is very simple and costs very low. I recommend that you buy the DC310 drive + PCI card, inclusive of the software for mill or lathe controller(whole package costs less than 3K), and the hand held Pendant.

To set it up you will have to get three servo motors (80 to 120 V DC) with differential encoders for each axis. If you buy an old mill with DC servos fitted it is easy. You may have to buy ajax differential encoders if the ones you have are just quadrature type only. You can also go for ajax pack with servos.

Then to start set up, buy an old P111 pc 700Mhz plus, with a color card like SIS , and remove the hard disk and fit the ajax hard disk.

Wire up every thing as per the Ajax Circuit provided. Pay attention to the limits switches, ploarity of supplies and insulate all wires. Use screened data cables of 8 wires for the encoders. You must have a DC power supply of 120V max for the three axes supply. You will not regret the buy.

I have used an extra axis for my Dividing Head and I cut gears, splines etc. I also surface harden steel pins by Oxy Flame with water spraying on this mill. I also bought a probing system at 6000K from Ajax to probe and copy molds. Let me have a week or more to put on some pictures. I will try to make a video soon and you can have it. Dont worry, go for it. If you need any assistance please e mail me.

regards Vasantha
[email protected]
Sri Lanka
14.10.2007

[vasanthlathes]

Hello There,
I am Vasantha from Sri Lanka. I have read your thread. The Ajax Mill advertised is worth the price. It is a little small by my standards.

I have bought 3 systems from Ajax (retrofit) and they are very good. If you have an old mill with DC servo motors, ball screws, it is very easy to fit. The encoders for the axes must have differential signals. Check by looking at the encoder cover. It must show A, A-, B, B-,C(orZ), C- (or Z-) pulses, 0v, AND +5V. Totally 6 signals one power, one neutral (0V) and a Ground: G or TG.

If you want to buy a system make sure you buy a Control Panel too (650USD).

Follow the circuit diagram and wire it up. Remember that if you buy some extra options you will have to pay more. For example if you buy Spindle Speed control, you can get an Inverter to drive your spindle motor to vary the speeds on the fly.

regards
Vasantha

[CNCDragon]

I have a DM45 Bed Mill in my shop. This machine will stand up to the punsishment that it is advertised. I use it on a daily basis to cut everything from engraving serial tags to cutting steel. Now, I will grant that since it is a smaller format machine, I do have to cut back feedrates and cut size. It is just a machine that I can program, setup and hit cycle start. It might take a little longer to cut, but instead of spending between 15,000 to 40,000 on a machine, it was only 14,000 ready to run. I had the machine for 2 months and went back to get the probe and tool touch off and they STILL gave me a discount. I was only charged 1,850 for the package. They also told me that if I ever wanted to go to full digitizing they would dramatically drop the price since I already had the probe. The only complaint I have about the mill is the head has a tendancy to lose tram. This is solved by an indicator and about 15 minutes of tramming. It's not quite a Boss, but price a Boss and a retrofit and then determine if it is worth the price. I guess it will really depend on what you need it for. As and after-thought, Ajax had a retrofit kit for a Boss as well, so if you need the size of the machine maybe you can get the best of both worlds.

[pzzamakr1980]

Why does this mill strike me as being very similar to the usual gearhead mill sold by grizzly and outfitted with a few nicer items. If you are looking at this machine, why not check out the Industrial Hobbies CNC ready to-go mill which has considerably larger travels and is made specifically for IH to their specs. Ground ways, precision cut gears, servo driven, optical limits, coolant-tight sealed system. This machine seems no nicer than an IH and costs 4000 more. The IH also benefits from having a much larger headstock assembly which prevents that head tram problem CNCdragon mentioned.
I've never used any cnc system other than Mach3, which is windows based, but I run my little benchtop cnc mill every single day of the week using that system and its never let me down. I also was completely self taught and it was very easy to learn, and can do anything that a true cnc control system will do. At least anything I've ever seen.