[JEMACHINING]

Hello everyone!
I'm in need for another Machining center and would like to hear from you guy's which one would be the best buy for a under 30k? Would like 40x20x20 of travel and able to take heavier cuts. I cut mostly Steel A2/4140/D2 so 7500 of RPM would be plenty enough at this point. Currently I own Fadal 6030 which has been doing excellent job for me but cant afford another one due to the budget limits.
I was looking at Haas, Fadal3016,4020, Hitachi-seiki, Leadwell, Okuma, older mori,mazak, etc... Not sure If I want to stick with Fadal or maybe try something different.
Let me hear from you guys what is your experience and preferences.

Thanks a lot!

[underthetire]

Obviously used then. I wouldn't touch a Hitachi, spare parts are tough on those. Haas is a good machine, however absolutely no good for heavy materials like that. While I'm a huge fan of good linear guide mills, if steel is what your doing, stick with box ways. You could probably find a early 90's mori seiki MV40B in that price. Just make sure it's a B model though, not all mv40s are box way. Id look at okk, older kitamuras, matsuura as well. Look around, find something your interested in, post back with what you found, and get opinions from this group.

[JEMACHINING]

Thanks for you Help! I was think about Kitamura and Matsuura...Are they any good? What about parts? Hard to fix?:cheers:

[underthetire]

Parts should be no issue with either. Easy to fix? Depends on what's wrong. Even the easiest machines to fix have that one or two items that are challenging. Haas would be about the easiest to work on, since they are so simple.

[Tkamsker]

Hello everyone!
I'm in need for another Machining center and would like to hear from you guy's which one would be the best buy for a under 30k? Would like 40x20x20 of travel and able to take heavier cuts. I cut mostly Steel A2/4140/D2 so 7500 of RPM would be plenty enough at this point. Currently I own Fadal 6030 which has been doing excellent job for me but cant afford another one due to the budget limits.
I was looking at Haas, Fadal3016,4020, Hitachi-seiki, Leadwell, Okuma, older mori,mazak, etc... Not sure If I want to stick with Fadal or maybe try something different.
Let me hear from you guys what is your experience and preferences.

Thanks a lot!

Hi
Go and get you an good machine as you Like
(depending on the Jobs you Need)
Then refurbish it
I think that for instance sk30 or similar is more important than Other stuff
I use linuxcnc and i am happy.
I use Lathe and Mill
Now i Build antoolchanger ,,...

[vdek]

Obviously used then. I wouldn't touch a Hitachi, spare parts are tough on those. Haas is a good machine, however absolutely no good for heavy materials like that. While I'm a huge fan of good linear guide mills, if steel is what your doing, stick with box ways. You could probably find a early 90's mori seiki MV40B in that price. Just make sure it's a B model though, not all mv40s are box way. Id look at okk, older kitamuras, matsuura as well. Look around, find something your interested in, post back with what you found, and get opinions from this group.

I cut P20/A2/D2/H13 all day long on a HAAS VM2/VM3, it cuts the metal like butter with the right tools. Although the tools I use can cut faster with a more rigid machine, they still cut plenty fast enough for the price point of the machine. When I say fast, I mean 1400RPM, 225 IPM, .025" DOC on a 2" Bullnose cutter with full engagement. With the right tooling you can go nuts on these machines.

[underthetire]

And if you had a more rigid machine, tool life would be better and the machine would last longer. Not saying you cant do it, there are just much better options out there for steel cutting machines.

[vdek]

The machines have been cutting steel for large molds for over 5 years now and it still keeps +-.0002". Of course there are better options which will cut even faster for pure roughing applications, but those come at a heftier cost or other design trade offs. The HAAS both roughs and finishes very well.