[aarongough]

Just stumbled across this thread again, thought you guys might like an update!

I ended up getting a Vertical Machining Center, after a lot of searching I found a beat up Fadal VMC10 for a very reasonable price, cost me significantly less than a Tormach! I then spent about 2 months doing a lot of remedial maintenance on it to help ensure it wouldn't develop any problems.

I've only recently started actually using it to make parts because I had to save up cash for a compressor and tooling and so on. I had my first crack at the part I described at the start of this thread just the other day:



That toolpath is not anywhere near optimized, just wanted to see whether I was getting close! The actual part itself came out almost perfect, the largest flaw is the missed strip along the top of the scales due to the tool diameter being incorrect. With that changed and a few other tweaks I should be getting parts that are bang-on!

-Aaron

[Devastator]

Cool vid. I bet an ATC would come in handy.

[aarongough]

Cool vid. I bet an ATC would come in handy.

Thanks mate!

The machine does actually have a 16 station ATC, it's just a bit slow which might have given you the impression I was hand-loading tools...