Johnford SV32P

[TR Mfg.]

Dose any one have a Johnford SV32P? Or any Johnford for that matter. We are think of purchasing one and looking for some feed back from some users. None of the shops around us have one. They look like a good machine to us.

[Guest SAIPEM]

Not a bad machine for the money.

It's a decent all-around production machine.

On par with a Haas or Fadal.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

might want to look at YCI quite a bit better quality, same price range

[New Job]

+1 on YCI.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

I never even heard of them till about a 2 years ago now they are selling like crazy around here everyone seems to love them.

[Matt Berube at Ferron Mold]

On another forum a user once asked my opinion of our Johnford. I wrote this 1 year ago.

 

quote:

---

We have owned the DMC-900H for about 3 years.

The machine has not been a maintenance problem lately although when we first got it there were a few problems. We had the hydraulic compensator (Z axis counterbalance) replaced under warranty. After purchasing, we found lots of thermal growth from spindle heat. This was one of our primary concerns and my boss had it in the sales contract that the thermal growth had to be less than...(I don't remember what he told them). Once set up, we found around .003-.005 of positional movement between cold and fully heated. We made them add a second spindle chiller (helped some) and then we got them to add an extra cooling channel in the lower spindle bearing housing(helped some). After those upgrades the thermal growth was down to around .0015-.003 movement from cold to warm.

 

Our machine is just on a regular cement floor (around 6" thk). I feel that this machine would be better if it were on a special slab (like 24"thk +). I cannot remember the manufacturer's recommendation. I feel that these dual column machines require special calibration. I don't feel that our seller understood the intricate nature of the dual column setup. As a result, I find that the squareness of the X - Y - Z axes to eachother is a problem. If I bore a pattern of holes in a large plate and then flip it over and indicate those positions, setting zero at one corner then moving to the opposite corner of the plate, I will get .006 TIR. This is in a 36 x 36 area. This makes the machine suck for mold plates, etc which often have many details that require very accurate positioning. I was shocked at how flexible the frame of this machine is. You can tweak the frame all over the place.

 

A couple other issues are that their sheet metal work is lousy and coolant dribbles out of all kinds of places. The enclosure door is configured in a way that makes it an uncomfortable stretch for average people to place a tool in the spindle. After running this machine for months, it developed a strange tick-tick-tick noise at certain Y axis speeds. After hours of fooling around with it and taking things apart I found that one of the way covers had some incorrect design and there was actually steel from the way cover frame scraping back and forth on the Y ways. I found this ironic that the cover that was supposed to protect the ways was doing more damage to them than any chips would have. When we first got the machine, we found that the enclosure door sheet metal was hitting the servo motor. We ended up modifying the hell out of the door to get it to open without danger of cracking the Y axis servo motor. In their defense, I believe this machine was one of the first they made in the dual column design. I am sure many of these issues have been addressed.

 

On the positive side, I do enjoy running the machine. The ballscrews and ways are massive and the control is awesome. Fanuc 16 I... I think...

 

Summary...

 

If you only need to hold +/- .005 you may love the Johnford. If you want an extremely accurate machine with minimal thermal growth I believe there are better choices.

 

Be advised, however that I have no knowledge of their new machines and maybe they've gotten better.

---

[Guest]

quote:

---

It's a decent all-around production machine.

On par with a Haas or Fadal.

---

This would tell me ALL I needed to know

[TR Mfg.]

quote:

________________________________________

It's a decent all-around production machine.

On par with a Haas or Fadal.

________________________________________

Really? The Haas VF2YT has linier rail ways the Johnford SV32P is box, the Hass has 75 ft/pds of torque the Johnford has 125 ft/pds. The Haas weighs 7,500 pounds the Johnford is 12,500 pounds. They both have about the same travel 30 x 20 x 20. The Johnford has 10k rpm, chip auger and spindle chiller as standard equipment they are all options the Haas and by the time you add them it is the same price.

[Kevangel]

one of my old customers had a Haas, then added a new "purple" Johnford , then the next new one was a new Haas again..(they kept all three)

[Guest SAIPEM]

quote:

---

Really? The Haas VF2YT has linier rail ways the Johnford SV32P is box, the Hass has 75 ft/pds of torque the Johnford has 125 ft/pds. The Haas weighs 7,500 pounds the Johnford is 12,500 pounds. They both have about the same travel 30 x 20 x 20. The Johnford has 10k rpm, chip auger and spindle chiller as standard equipment they are all options the Haas and by the time you add them it is the same price.

---

Yes, Really.

 

Haas makes a decent production machine and so does Johnford.

 

Linear versus box is an argument that is meaningless as far as quality.

The difference in weight is reflective of the way type.

 

Less saddle weight means less inertia to overcome at high speed.

 

If you want to do HSM, you won't be doing it with a Johnford or any box way machine for that matter.

[TR Mfg.]

We cut a lot of 4140 and such, the added dampaning is why we are looking at box way machines. What are your thoughts on torque?

the 75 ft/pds that Haas advertises sounds low.

[Guest SAIPEM]

The numbers by themselves are meaningless.

 

You'll need to compare the complete torque curves for both.

 

Given the wide range of positive rake tooling available, cutting 4140 or even mold steel on a Haas isn't a problem.

[#Rekd™]

Hi,

 

JohnFord Machine?

 

Must be crap.... Just kidding HaHa!

 

John Ford

[TR Mfg.]

So what would you guys look at for around $70K or less?

[New Job]

What do you want to do 80% of the time?

[#Rekd™]

Hi TR Mfg,

 

Check out Daewoo, they make both box and linear. If you get them without the coolant through the spindle they are a lot less expensive.

 

John

[Kevangel]

quote:

---

So what would you guys look at for around $70K or less

---

I am curious about the Milltronics VMC where they upgrade to roller ways instead of linear...supposed to be really stiff, then I would add 24 HP 2-speed which I think gives 150 ft lbs and a 24 arm changer on the side. Made in the USA. Minnesaota (however ya spell it)

[feed rate over ride]

we have 2 johnford vmc 1500 for about 5 years, decent machines for the money, but some issues with tool changer and other minor things, but for what we paid the minor issues are easier to deal with. box ways on y and z but linear on x, we machine mild steel but large cuts

[darren]

We have a SV45H 1997 model

used for roughing out die cavity/cores

It is a very strong machine for this kind of work

BUT!!!!!!

- M/c grows from cold to warm by a large amount

- Spindle / head becomes very hot when running in high revs

- not accurate for cavity finish machining

- poor overall Quality

other problems fixed

-spindle chiller packed up

-new slidway gaurds

-spindle orient problem (still a problem)

orient intergrated in main board need to replace the board

-toolchanger jams frequently

[TR Mfg.]

dcapps,

We are just a job shop. We'll go from plastic to 4140 in the same say.

[TR Mfg.]

I'm open to suggestions on this. We are looking at a YCI tomorrow and meeting with the Fadal guy. I'd like some feed back on what you guys are running and what you think of it.

[Rick Henrickson 65]

YCI or Daewoo probably your best bet for quality and dollars.

[heavychevy2155]

I started a new job and the have 2 Fadal 4020's both with the 24 tool side mount tool stations, forth axis, one has the Fanuc control. They also have a Fadal 6535 50 taper machine, that is one heavy Fadal, and pretty slow also. Im not saying that I like these machines, but the one with the Fanuc is pretty nice though, it run pretty smooth and quite. Overall it is the best of the three. Their is alot more cons than pro's on the Fadals.

[TR Mfg.]

It's looking like YCI will be out of our price range, for now. Will look into Daewoo.

[heavychevy2155]

Tell them you got a good price on the Deawoo and see if they can work with you. Deawoo has some pretty strong lathes, I havent ran any of they mills but they offer alot of standard options and configurations. I would like to have a choice of box or Linear ways. You could also check out HARDINGE mills they also offer box or solid way machines.