[dbruins]

Been lurking here for a while.
Decided to take the plunge and buy a new PCNC 770 from Tormach.
They have a warehouse here in Vegas so hopefully I can pick it up and save on shipping costs.

The machine will go in my 3 car garage.
I plan on designing and milling mostly motorcycle parts out of Aluminum.
If the parts are popular in the motorcycle forums, then I might do some very light production.
I have high hopes of milling watch cases and bracelets one day (possibly out of stainless).

I read and re-read and applied all suggestion in this thread: Buying a PCNC 1100 Series 3 - Suggestions on My List

Basic Machine Set Up
	32084	PCNC 770 Series 3 Auto Oiler	$7,059.00
	31191	770 Machine Stand	$1,184.70
	31446	Lifting bar	$93.21
	33072	Haimer 3D Sensor w TTS holder	$439.00
	32630	Metric Long Tip for Haimer 3D	$62.00
	30289	8” Motorized Rotary Table w 4th Axis Kit	$1,447.11
	30197	Tailstock for 8” Rotary Table	$157.30
	30291	3 Jaw Chuck for 8” Table	$310.20
	33059	Electical Noise Suppression Kit	$38.50
	32700	Pro Ring Light LED	$32.50
	PS2-SE	VistaCNC P2-SE Pendant Jog Controller	$200.00
	Hanger	VistaCNC Hanger	$3.00
	Boot	VistaCNC Boot	$24.00
Software
	35110	SprutCAM 9 – PCNC Post only	$1,250.00
		I have IronCAD already.
Cooling and Lubrication
	31192	770 Coolant Kit	$512.37
	Enco	Enco Mobil Vactra Machine Oil	$18.00
	Enco	Enco Syn Coolant	$23.66
	31925	Floating Tramp Oil Collection Pillow	$10.35
Part Holding
	31759	5” CNC Vise	$295.00
	32799	5” Parallel set	$30.95
	31760	Work Stop	$26.18
	32580	58 Piece Clamp Kit	$64.63
			$13,281.66

Comments:
I'll be working on the Tool Holding and Tools lists next and will put them in a different post.

Questions:

1. The Tormach video at the bottom of this post on the Haimer 3D Sensor shows calibration with another indicator.
   Is another indicator really necessary?
   If so, will this TTS Touch Tool Indicator (31283) work when mounted in the rotary table or is there a better / cheaper solution?
2. Is the Pro Ring Light (32700) listed above highly recommended?
3. I'm thinking that SprutCAM is the best option to maximize tech support efficacy from Tormach.
   Do you agree?
   Or is there a cheaper CAM solution?
4. Should I spring for a Glacern CNC 6" vise instead or is it overkill for my application?
5. I'll be milling parts for metric motorcycles mostly.
   For this reason and for base-10 math reasons, metric tooling has been highly recommended.
   Do you agree?
6. Should I get imperial tool holders and metric cutters with imperial shanks? Or keep it all metric?
7. Suggestions for metric cutter sources?
   (I've found endmill.com and mscdirect.com have metric end mills with metric shanks and a corner radius.)

Tormach Youtube video

[kirk_wallace]

I would tend to go with a digital probe:
32309 - Passive Probe w/ 10mm TTS Mount

so that you can integrate your probing with the machine software to automate your probing tasks. Although, I also still use a lever indicator and occasionally an edge finder:
Carl Mahr Vintage 0 40 0 Metric Puppitast Dial Test Indicator 0 01mm | eBay
Brown Sharpe Double End Edge Finder 50 20 Wiggler Wobbler 8 | eBay

My standard 6" vise often feels too big for the 770. The lip around the base for catching coolant sticks out over the table and tends to get close to the Z pillar for most of my parts. I would look for a vise that can be centered on the table and not hang off the back of the table. I would also look into work holding without a vise. Vises are convenient but not always the best way to hold a workpiece.

I would like to go with all metric tooling, but for me the metric options are often too limited, imperial tooling is cheaper and easier to find and get in hand. I tend to need to order tooling for each job, such as drills and reamers that need a specific size, so getting it in hand quickly is more important. So, I have a mix of metric and imperial tooling and often use imperial tools on metric parts. The machine doesn't care either way.