[Over Engineered]

Hi all,

I recently bought a brand new Titan TM25V Mill from Titan Machinery off ebay last month with the plan to convert to CNC eventually after making all the brackets etc manually (have bought all the steppers, drivers, etc already ). The mill turned up a week later in it's crate. Opened the crate and the first thing I noticed is a ~6mm chip on the corner of the top right Z axis dovetail. (See photos). The crate wasn't damaged at all. Quite a few chips in the paint finish but that's the least of my concerns... It's badged TM25V (no serial number stamped on it or DOM either??? Bit strange but o well...) pulled the drawbar cap off that has half the "teeth" cracked off, the missing teeth weren't in the top casing so it was like this from factory...) I undid the SHC screws to take the top casing off to check for the missing teeth and look at the nice new belt pulleys etc, no teeth, no pulleys, no belt? Ok so it turns out it's actually a TM20VL with the gear driven head not belt driven but with a 1000w brushless motor and R8 spindle... Hmmm... Ok... Confused much?

Finally got a chance to sling it onto my bench with my engine hoist to check it out on Father's Day (yep dad gets a day off he he he) to clean it up a bit and have a look/check over etc.

There are a few tools/parts missing out of the tool box according to the tooling list in the TM25V manual that came with the mill;

All these are missing;

- 22mm-24mm double end spanner
- 3mm & 6mm Hex socket wrenches (Allen keys)
- 2 x M10 "T" Screws
- 2 x M10 Washers
- 2 x M10 Nuts

There is a bit of rust on the R8 Drill chuck arbor (but nothing a bit of wire brush can fix I am guessing, still yet to clean that yet though...)

The lower Z axis cover accordion attachment plate is rusty...

Then I tried to install one of my R8 7/16" 20TPI ER25 collet chucks so I can use my tramming tool to check the tram, runout, etc... It wouldn't thread up at all so wont stay in? The chucks shoulder is hard up against the spindle so it was located properly, doesn't seem to be a locating pin at all... So WTF is going on? Then I tried an R8 Collet... No luck either... WTF??? Few chucks and collets later, I can only "grab" half a thread on one of my R8 ER32 Collet chucks, the rest won't grab at all, so I can't use any tooling or tram the machine or even check anything is straight :s (the R8 7/16" 20TPI chucks, collets, arbors, tooling, etc are from Hare & Forbes, CTC tooling, Glacern, etc). So I pulled the draw bar out and it measures ~192mm from the end of the thread to the "shoulder". With the drawbar out of the machine I tried threading it into the chucks, they thread in fine so the drawbar thread is 7/16" 20TPI and not the problem. My conclusion is the draw bar is ~18mm too short. Hmmm righto...

Then loosened the gib locks and checked the handles. The Z axis handle is sloppy as f$&@... Gibs are adjusted as well as possible but the play in the bearing is "huge" (side to side play) and I'm getting 0.54mm backlash according to the dial. Pulled the top cover off (looked a the heap of "car bog" on the back casting on the Z "tower" hmmm yeah righto...) the top of the Z axis to check for a backlash adjustment. I can't see anything to adjust the backlash? Ok so it's a dodgy sloppy bearing in the Z axis handle...

Emailed Stuart from Titan machinery again about it, he said he will send out another draw bar. Got another email from him yesterday with a photo of the new drawbar asking if it's the right one and if he needed 12mm taken off the shoulder with his lathe but with didn't give me measurements on its length. Looks the same but I replied and asked what the length was as it might be right length already. No reply. I then had a look at my drawbar again and realised if he takes 12mm off the shoulder I won't be able to tighten the draw bar as the 8mm square tensioner only pokes out of the nut 7.5mm. Sent him another email stating that info as it wouldn't work if he did take the 12mm off. No reply.

So I went back to my workshop to have a look at the rest of the machine, oil the ways with Vactra #2 Wayoil, check the rest of the dovetails etc. I oiled the tables X axis dovetails and wound it out to the left oiling the leadscrew as I went, then I noticed this big hole/casting defect air pocket that goes through the front X axis dovetail on the table (see photos). It's about 20mm long x 15-20mm high and goes right through to the base of the dove tail where it "pokes" out in two. This is a major defect and a major concern for a brand new mill no matter where it's made from. How the hell did this get through any kind of QC is beyond me and why wasn't it checked at the Titan factory before sending it out?! This is a major defect.

This is as far as I am going with this machine. I haven't pulled the table off to check the other sides of the dovetails or any of the Y or Z axis ones either but this machine is a being more hassle than it's worth so far for a brand new machine. This is a major defect and I wouldn't have bought the machine if these faults were listed or even pictured. I have wasted too much time on this machine to only get this far (which is nowhere...) so it has to go back. It's definitely not a brand new machine that has a possibility of ever being "accurate" (unless it's melted back down with a few extra pounds of metal to make up for all the casting voids and defects and re cast that is...), it's one that shouldn't have left either factory at all. Not happy and I have wasted quite bit of my time on this...

What do you all think?

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Cheers for the help!