[philbur]

Anybody have any knowledge of this one:

http://www.mikinimech.com/1610L.html

Phil

[zephyr9900]

I've never seen it and I'm pretty sure it's not a Tormach (are you sure you posted this in the right forum, Phil? ) but I like the enclosure! It puts my Tormach enclosure to shame, but would do great for my lathe...

Randy

[Cruiser]

I saw an earlier add where they were selling their protype machine. Looks like it is a nice little machine. Price may be a little high. If I am going to buy something like that (which I have ) then I'd prefer something more in the lines of the IH mill ( which I have )

[tobyaxis]

Someone sent me a PM about this Mill. It is pretty new on the market and doesn't look as rigid as the Tormach IMPO, but has a few good features like a full enclosure.

It might actually be worth looking into.

[philbur]

Does it have to be a Tormach to be of interest?

Phil

I've never seen it and I'm pretty sure it's not a Tormach (are you sure you posted this in the right forum, Phil? ) but I like the enclosure! It puts my Tormach enclosure to shame, but would do great for my lathe...

Randy

[sharpshooter90]

It appears to be the floor model from the Star machinery factory in Linyi, China- model XK5624. This is the factory that builds the Tormach also. From their story, it appears they bought a mini mill from China and ran into the common issues of poor electronics ( read the Syil forum) Maybe out of frustration or seeing an opportunity they have made a deal to buy the machines and install their own electronics. The cabinet re-design also helps to make its origin less obvious. They may have gotten a jump on Tormach, Syil and Smithy by dumping all those loose Chinese wiring crimps and defective boards.

[300sniper]

it gives me ideas if i ever decide to build a full enclosure. i would also like the 200 ipm rapids.

[zephyr9900]

I'm happy with my control panel on my enclosure. I brought out duplicates of the start and estop switches, and never need to reach in to the operator panel. I used 1/4" phone plugs to make the connection, tip and ring only, using insulated sockets.

Edit: It didn't take long at all to get used to controlling the spindle and coolant pump exclusively through the interface rather than the toggles on the operator panel /edit

The start button needs to be in parallel with the one in the operator panel, and the estop is in series (so that pushing either one will break the circuit and stop the machine). I wired the estop's phone jack so that the internal estop is operational with or without the external one connected.

Randy

[keen]

It appears to be the floor model from the Star machinery factory in Linyi, China- model XK5624. This is the factory that builds the Tormach also. From their story, it appears they bought a mini mill from China and ran into the common issues of poor electronics ( read the Syil forum) Maybe out of frustration or seeing an opportunity they have made a deal to buy the machines and install their own electronics. The cabinet re-design also helps to make its origin less obvious. They may have gotten a jump on Tormach, Syil and Smithy by dumping all those loose Chinese wiring crimps and defective boards.

If this machine turns out to be connected in some way to the Tormach - Then Phil posted to the right forum.

Hi Sharpshooter - I cant find Star Machinery - do you have the link? -

[zephyr9900]

A nice thing that the Mikini has that the Tormach doesn't have is two auxiliary CNC-controllable relays. When I'm using the Proxxon spindle, it would be nice to use M3/M5-equivalent commands to turn it on and off. It's a little annoying to go away while a program is running, come back too late and the Proxxon has been buzzing away for 25 minutes after the program concluded. I guess it might be time to consider a second parallel-port card and a BOB in the Tormach's control cabinet...

Randy

[zephyr9900]

They may have gotten a jump on Tormach, Syil and Smithy by dumping all those loose Chinese wiring crimps

In my case, it wasn't loose crimps, but the terminals to which the fastons plugged were themselves of dodgy quality and several of the fastons were actually "fast-offs" until I replaced the components (all the auxiliary AC sockets)

Randy

[300sniper]

A nice thing that the Mikini has that the Tormach doesn't have is two auxiliary CNC-controllable relays. When I'm using the Proxxon spindle, it would be nice to use M3/M5-equivalent commands to turn it on and off. It's a little annoying to go away while a program is running, come back too late and the Proxxon has been buzzing away for 25 minutes after the program concluded. I guess it might be time to consider a second parallel-port card and a BOB in the Tormach's control cabinet...

Randy

if you are not running coolant with the proxxon, if you have easy access to your plugs, could you plug the proxxon in place of the coolant and use m8/m9 to control it? if you are away from your machine while it is running, that may work for you. just a though, i might be missing something though.

[zephyr9900]

That is a very good suggestion, 300sniper, and if I were not using coolant with the Proxxon it's exactly what I'd do. But I do almost always trickle coolant onto the workpiece while using the Proxxon.

I suppose I could use M8/M9 for the Proxxon and arrange a gravity "IV drip" for the coolant! :rainfro:

Randy

[300sniper]

i don't know what kind of a load both items running would be, but what about having them both turn on and off at the same time?

[zephyr9900]

Thanks, it looks like that would be feasible. All but one of the SSR's on the machine control board are 15A at 125V (the remaining one is 1A at 125V resistive load so I doubt it is for the coolant pump outlet). The Proxxon is 100W so it draws about an amp and the Tormach coolant pump is 75W/0.8A so combined they would be a safe load for the SSR.

Randy

[benji2505]

Coming back to the original thread and Tormach's little sister : I like the boxed ways of that mill. The frame seems a little shaky for a 3hp spindle, looks to me like vibration will be a longtime friend. That enclosure is too small/restricting for my taste.

[zephyr9900]

benji2505, I read "H class linear guides on all axis" to mean linear rails rather than boxed ways--did I get it wrong? Typically profile rails come in H for high and P for precision (and sometimes N for normal), which terminology might have confused me. If they were linear rails it would not help damping any.

That enclosure is too small/restricting for my taste.

But the doors come off...

Randy

[levelzero]

It's an interesting little machine. I think a little expensive for an entry level mill, although after you factor building/buying a stand it's a bit more comparable to the Tormach. The features on paper look good, but as said it's all about rigidity. Unfortunatly as fancy looking as it is, it just doesn't look very beefy.

[rc-monster mike]

It's an interesting little machine. I think a little expensive for an entry level mill, although after you factor building/buying a stand it's a bit more comparable to the Tormach. The features on paper look good, but as said it's all about rigidity. Unfortunatly as fancy looking as it is, it just doesn't look very beefy.

Not so sure I agree here - that Mikini machine is 2000 pounds vs. 1100 pounds of Tormach. Similar size and travels otherwise - hard to imagine it being less rigid than a Tormach.

[benji2505]

I read "H class linear guides on all axis" to mean linear rails rather than boxed ways--did I get it wrong?

Randy[/QUOTE]



That was my mistake, I was talking about the metal shield/protectors above the y-axis dove tail ways on -Y . For me it is always a ***** to clean these harmonica cloth protectors from small chips and the coolant does not wash it out either. Needless to say that I am expecting these cloth protectors to go down quickly anyway. If someone would offer that metal shield solution here for the PCNC and reasonable Dollars that would be a killer product to my mind.

I just read an article about OEMs returning to the US for part/component supplies and getting shot in the back by their former Chinese suppliers that start to offer the copied product on the North American Market, the first thought I had was this machine. But I guess machinists love to have an English speaking professional available by phone, especially with these machines, so that Bikini machine has some way to go.