Combination Tool Room Lathe

[mcpgmr]

Hi Forum members, Long time since I posted here. I'm interested in opinions on this subject. we are looking to purchase a lathe for our composite development cell. We have looked at several machines but are having a difficult time deciding. Our budget is only 75K. I know, not enough for the Cadillac's but we won't need heavy duty since most of the work will be CFRP. I hate to use the four letter word but it looks like the Haas TL-3 is perfect for our needs with regard to capacity and ease of use. Our 40 plus year experienced Swiss Tool Maker speaks highly of this lathe and I trust his judgement. He used one almost daily for a year before joining our company last August. Haas offers a 3 1/2 spindle bore, 60" between centers and a very nice conversational control for half the price of the the leading machine tool makers and they don't offer the 3 1/2" spindle bore which is essential for our application. Any comments or machine suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Guest]

It actually does sound like you've made up your mind, you're just having a hard time convincing yourself

 

It should do the job, it's in your budget.

[Brando]

i dont think haas is as bad as everyone thinks they are, we have 2 verts and they run great, and they dont get taken care of and arent used lightly, replacement parts resonably priced and are usually in stock and most of the time you can fix it yourself

 

id go for it, like jp said you have already made up your mind anyway, besides what are the alternatives in that class of machine when considering price vs quality and ease of use?? you can either get a haas or someting from korea or taiwan.

[Newbeeee™]

The only other thing I'd suggest is a prototrak big bore. Over the pond here they are sold by XYZ machine tools, and the iron is excellent (made by king-rich in taiwan).

I'm not sure what iron southwestern uses, but the control is fantastic easy peasy.

[mcpgmr]

Yep. I've made up mine. It's our other programmer that doesn't like the four letter word. Thanks for the responses!

[Hardmill]

Yep. I've made up mine. It's our other programmer that doesn't like the four letter word. Thanks for the responses!

 

 

They are good machines, just make sure you dont beat her up and itll be fine.

Haas is what it is, they do the job fine IMO.

 

Good to see you back, its been awhile. Hows life/family??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEACE

[mcpgmr]

Hey Hardmill! Thanks for your input. Doing good here. Family is good as well. Having fun at work too. Trying to better equip our Composite Development Cell. We have a ton of new parts coming through this fiscal year. By the way we are in need of a few good Mold designers if you know any one interested. We will relocate and all that good stuff. Nice to hear from you. I'll be coming around more often. Missed this place.

[Hardmill]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEACE

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

For the price, you can't beat the features you get with Haas. Our company reps them and when our Haas customers upgrade to Japanese, they often lament how "the new machine is not nearly as easy the Haas was".

 

JM2C FWIW

[Mike@Dive Lab]

we have a TL1 we bought new in 2004. It's been great for what it is. It's never missed a beat.

[Machineguy]

The "TL" is much stronger then the "SL". They made them stronger so they are harder to knock out of alignment.

I have a full up SL-10 with the barfeeder. Never misses a beat. I just put a 3J collet chuck on it. It holds tighter when I do more then 1 bar feed push.

 

Machineguy

[chris m]

We just bought a TRAK 2460SLX and it seems like it should be a decent machine, I wasn't wild about the Haas and we already had some SWI machines so that tipped the scale in their favor. I don't think the Haas is a bad choice, though, particularly if your guys already have experience with them.

 

you can either get a haas or someting from korea or taiwan

 

And this is bad why? There are companies building machines in both of these countries that are very good

[gcode]

One of my contract customers has a stable of Daewoo Puma lathes

and they have been excellent machines

[mcpgmr]

Just got a quote for the Trak. Looks like a pretty decent machine for the price. Thanks for the tip!

[chris m]

That's what we're here for! We've had [2] TRAK 1840 lathes since 2001, one of which we sold to make room for the 2460, and they have been good to us. Our preventive maintenance in non-existent in that area, and we've had some guys working over there that were pretty rough on the equipment, but the machines stood the test of time well. If you are still in the search mode, you might want to look at Romi machines as well; if we didn't already have a handful of SWI machines in the work area, I would've looked hard at Romi because they seem like a nice machine and have a powerful CNC on them.

 

C