New 770 owner

It is doubtful I will get any sleep tonight, my new 770 arrives tomorrow! I have a Bluebird engine hoist rented and space cleared out, i'm ready! I just hope that the freight guy helps me get the machine into my garage or at least my driveway. If not I will scramble a case of beer and some buddies I guess. So here is what I purchased so far:

770 mill w/manual oiler
stand
path pilot
various TTS tool holders
G wizard

I did not buy too much to start with, It is quite the investment! I already have a monitor, keyboard, vise, and cutting tools. I really would like the PDB and maybe an enclosure later on. I am using Fusion 360 for cad/cam. I

have been researching coolant quite a bit and seem to get lots of mixed opinions on what system and products to use. For manual machining aluminum, I have always used WD 40, I guess its time to get something more sophisticated.

I like the idea of flood coolant but am afraid that it will get rancid if I don't use it for a while, I live in a hot, humid environment. I also have corrosion concerns as I live in South Texas very close to the coast. That leaves me with a misting system. I purchased a Noga mister a while back but it has the dreaded coolant cloud buildup issues many have talked about. I hear the fog buster does not make as much of a cloud in the garage so that my be the way I go.

Lastly, the things I have read on G wizard recently have not left me too confident in its use, any tips there?

Aside from the new Tormach, I also have a Grizzly mill/drill and a Clausing 10x24 manual lathe and a Miller Syncrowave 180 that I like to play with

I am not too sure what all I will use the Tormach for yet, I do know for sure that it will do a lot!

When I graduated high school, I wanted to be a machinists but my dad wanted me to get a "4 year degree"....... Here I am 15 years later with a mechanical engineering job that I don't necessarily love and a passion for machining. I love engineering but sometimes I cant stand engineers!

Congratulations on your purchase! I love my 770, and after having it for several years I can't imagine being without it.

I've had issues with GWizard myself...I often find it to be very aggressive, but if you take the time to learn what it can do, it's very handy to have. I especially like the geometry sections.

Good luck and post some pictures of your install.

Welcome to the group! I've had my 770 for just-on a year now, and love it. I'm in UK and decided because of costly shipping and import fees, to get the PDB (which I don't regret at all) and the 4th axis, which apart from oiling and testing it, hasn't left its storage! I did buy the Rapid Turn which I've used almost as much as the mill. The whole set up is accurate and easy to use, but take your time with first cuts.

Once I set-up the mill I decided to by-pass the wood-carving PCNC exercise and went straight to metal, drilling a neat 4mm hole in the table about 5mm deep.......I'd screwed-up the tool length offset, or not selected the right tool in PathPilot, so take your time and use the feed-hold slider on EVERY cut, turning it to zero near the work and then checking the 'Distance to go' readout for each axis. As you gain confidence, it'll all become straightforward. I am a retired-engineer / hobbyist so don't use the 770 either for production, or indeed very frequently, so I've learned to double-check as much as possible and (touching wood) haven't had a tool breakage or other disaster for a long time. (Cue major cock-up tomorrow). I also followed advice and bought a Haimer for setting accurate work offsets, and it's great. I also bought Cliff Hall's Impact Tolerant Touch Probe and find it much more accurate than the Tormach passive probe, which I bought originally but returned un-opened for refund.

So for a year I've been looking at that darned hole in the table and decided today to mill it out accurately using conversational in PP (that took 110% concentration and triple-checking....) and made a close-fitting cast-iron plug, knocking it in with Loctite 620 to finish 0.5mm above the table. Tomorrow I'll mill-off the plug to juuuuust above the table, finishing with a flat stone. It won't be invisible, but I'm hoping for 'not as obvious'. The point of all this is, for me, it's taken until now to have the confidence in setting tool length offsets, pathpilot and accurate measurement to make the repair. OK, it's not done yet, so wish me luck! Since getting the machine, I've been steadily building a 3.5" gauge model steam locomotive, and produced parts that would have been very tricky to do by 'conventional' means. I'm not a hand-filing expert, and don't want to be. Tricky and intricate parts, good repeatability, Fusion 360 CAD/CAM, soft-jaw setups and the 770 makes it all possible.

All the best, Andy

I have had my 770 for almost two years now and love it. I use a Kool mist system on the Tormach with a 120v solenoid that turns the air on to the mister when called for with g code and a converted 1 gallon fuel can that I leave in the enclosure. The Kool mist coolant seems pretty stable in the can so no odor issues yet. I was pretty timid with feeds and speeds when I first started but Gwizard is one of my friends that helped me get more aggressive and comfortable pushing the machine. I would recommend that you work towards some type of enclosure as when get your machine running the volume of chips that a shear hog can generate is enormous :-)


Enjoy the new toy

Welcome to the joys of a new toy!

I got my 770 about 3.5 years ago with 4th axis but no PDB or automatic oiler. I'm sorry that I waited since the PDB makes tool changes much quicker and the auto oiler reduces problems from my forgetfulness. Both highly recommended if you can afford it.

One of my first projects included gouging the table with a 1/4-inch endmill so please let us know how your cast iron plug repair works.

If you don't have an enclosure then using flood coolant is likely to be a disaster. After a few coolant on the floor events I built an enclosure using 80/20 aluminum extrusions and Lexan. (If you build an enclosure be sure that you make adequate allowance for the 4th axis stepper.) I now mostly use a Trico Microdrop system rather than flood. Fog doesn't seem to be a significant problem and the air does a pretty good job of clearing chips.

Welcome Mech_eng!

I have the 770 and it has been a hell of a learning curve over the last 6 years. Most people start where you are, and build on it over years as over the years the accessories start to easily out weight the cost of the initial machine purchase..... particularly as your skill improves and you chase higher and higher tolerances.

+ 1 on the enclosure, this was great to keep the piece in the house, as I share the space with my good wife and there is only so much tolerance when she has to pick out metal shavings from her sewing or standing on them with bare feet.

Checkout hsmadvisor this is a great calculator, I use both (gwizard) as find that both have good and bad points.

Cheers,
.adrian

Enjoy the 770, I have had mine for 2 years although making time for it has been tough lately.
I agree with making an enclosure for it, specially if you use a fly cutter. The clean up more take more time than the machining itself.
Go for the 80/20, I didn't and built mine from thick aluminum extrusions. It has been a lot more work, fabrication, with no real money savings.
Enjoy!

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Update: my mill made it in the garage just fine. However I did not even get it out of the before I had to start boarding up my house. I reallly hope I have a home when I get home much less a Tormach......frustrated. Oh well I guess me and mine are safe, everything else is just ''things"

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Originally Posted by mech_eng

Update: my mill made it in the garage just fine. However I did not even get it out of the before I had to start boarding up my house. I reallly hope I have a home when I get home much less a Tormach......frustrated. Oh well I guess me and mine are safe, everything else is just ''things"

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Best of luck with the storm! I live in a cyclone (southern hemisphere version of a hurricane) zone as well so know what it is like having to bunker down or get ready to evacuate.

Stay safe!

Adrian

Another happy 770 owner at the one year point. Here's a quick advice list from a semi-newb:

1) DIY enclosure: https://lensprojects.wordpress.com/2...diy-enclosure/

2) Water test your stand before assembling. I use Fog-Buster so don't have a flood coolant leak problem, but do have an auto-oiler, and get oil in my computer cabinet. I can't see the holes but they have to be there.






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Originally Posted by mech_eng

...I did not even get it out of the before I had to start boarding up my house.

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Living in hurricane territory sucks. Participated in a couple mandatory evacuations myself, glad to be out of there.

Any updates on your house yet?

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Originally Posted by lens42

Another happy 770 owner at the one year point. Here's a quick advice list from a semi-newb:

1) DIY enclosure: https://lensprojects.wordpress.com/2...diy-enclosure/

2) Water test your stand before assembling. I use Fog-Buster so don't have a flood coolant leak problem, but do have an auto-oiler, and get oil in my computer cabinet. I can't see the holes but they have to be there.






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I had that problem with my 1100 stand, I set the computer up on small blocks and dont store cd's or anything on the floor of the cabinet............

I just set my Tormach 440 up a month ago and I bought the flood coolant kit but I ended up installing the Fog Buster in the M7 position on the Smart Cool and I love it. If I want just air,I simply close the lube valve and now have air only. I think for less than full time use, it's a good solution and best for keeping the vice, bed, etc in good condition. I have a friend that runs several CNC mills at his work and he said that they converted them all from flood to Fog Buster. The Smart Cool is a great feature..

I was just wondering if your house and mill survived the storm buddy. Let us fellow tormach owners know, we care.

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Originally Posted by joeyjrc

I was just wondering if your house and mill survived the storm buddy. Let us fellow tormach owners know, we care.

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Sorry for not getting back on, been busy. I was very fortunate, the storm took some shingles off my roof and destroyed my back fence. I was in the windy side of Harvey, not the flooding(Ingleside TX). I Got home and had 4 days without electricity but some others had much much worse.The mill survived and just got setup.

It survived the hurricane that is lol. I crashed it today (z direction) and am having z axis movement issues I have to figure out, down is rough and up is a no go...any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by mech_eng

Sorry for not getting back on, been busy. I was very fortunate, the storm took some shingles off my roof and destroyed my back fence. I was in the windy side of Harvey, not the flooding(Ingleside TX). I Got home and had 4 days without electricity but some others had much much worse.The mill survived and just got setup.

It survived the hurricane that is lol. I crashed it today (z direction) and am having z axis movement issues I have to figure out, down is rough and up is a no go...any thoughts?

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Update: I disengaged the Z axis brake and got the machine to move in Z direction.

Glad your house and mill are OK. Not sure why Z axis would be giving you issues but I'm sure someone on here will know whats up and help you out. My 770 had a loose Y axis connector inside the cabinet, just had to push it in, problem solved.
Good luck.

Oh man, I think I had nightmares about your mill sitting on the garage floor under water. Very relieved to hear it survived.

Glad you and the family are OK.

PDB has to be top on the list. You wont regret it.
Enclosure is very nice too but I can see folks reluctance given the price. I sprung for it on my 1100 and am SO glad i did now that the sting of paying for it is gone [emoji23]
Lot of Diy designs to choose from.