We've got 4 lasers here for various purposes, usually for marking on or through paint or adhesives. Keyence (http://www.keyence.com/products/marker/index.jsp) makes some really nice lasers. Granted, the price is a little steep for what you are probably looking for. Another option is Universal Laser Systems (http://www.ulsinc.com/materials/metal/). I think they cost considerably less than the Keyence markers.

Thanks for the article Pete. Your shop was definitely awesome to see. I would love to put some sort of quick change system on the new mill, but that'll be a ways down the road I think. It certainly wouldn't be anything near what you have!

I assume those horizontals are considerably more expensive? As in, over $100k. A horizontal might be way more productive in the usual machine shop environment, but we're not a normal machine shop. We're more of a toolroom than anything. Nothing we do is high capacity, or even high demand. At least, not at the moment or in the foreseeable future. The couple of products we have had that were high demand it was simply more economical to have someone else make them. There's been times that the current mill doesn't even get turned on for a few days. Of course, there's also times that it should be running 24/7 too.

I think a horizontal would take up too much floor space. We moved into a new building recently and have way more space than we used to, but it's still a premium. I do appreciate the input, especially with the ball lock stuff. That looks really neat, and I can see a few places in our operation that it'd come in handy.

I had thought about that, but then our old-timer machinist made me second guess myself. So the big savings is not having to break down the first one to set up the second one, right? We've only got a couple of things that take multiple setups, but I can definitely see that helping. Another question, are spindle chillers worth it for a 10k spindle? We plan to get a speeder for when we've got to do intricate stuff where a higher RPM would help (more often than you'd think).

We haven't considered horizontals, no. It never even crossed my mind to look at them to be honest.

We're thinking of adding a new machine to our small shop, and I'm curious how people take advantage of a larger table to improve productivity. We're essentially a prototype shop, and the vast majority of our work is smaller than 14"x14", and almost exclusively aluminum. We've got a 6-year old Hurco VM1, which is a good size for almost everything we currently do. We're thinking of adding a Hurco VM20i to the mix and use it as more of a production machine, while the VM1 stays as the prototype/one-off machine. So my question is, how do shops take advantage of a larger machine like that for the same size work?

We send what little bit of custom tooling we need to US Tool Grinding and Machining here in Winona. The prices seem pretty reasonable for what we get, and they get them out to us in a hurry.

I didn't think it should take very long. They're cutting them off a bar and leaving a piece on the end and then hand finishing them on a deburring wheel. That seems like a huge waste to me, and I don't have any experience with a CNC lathe

I've got a local company making some parts on a lathe for me, and I'm curious if anyone can give me an idea of how long it should be taking them to make them. The latest ones are a simple pin, 0.1875" dia, 0.75" overall length, with a 0.150" length x 0.063" diameter pin on the end. The tolerances are +/- 0.003", and they're made out of 12L14 Steel. How long should it take to make 500 of these on an average CNC lathe?

So basically the best way is just to convert the splines to arcs?

I know I've fixed this before, but can't remember how. Every time I import a file from Solidworks and program it, the code (and finished part) is never arcs but small facets. I know part of the problem is that most of the curves I'm using are splines due to the part I'm trying to match, but where is the setting to make those facets as small as possible? I suppose I could simplify the splines into arcs to clean up the facets on the machined parts, but is there a better way?

The way the Hurco guys explained it to me this morning was that it essentially uses the conversational programming to transform the toolplane and then can use standard 3-axis programs. It didn't necessarily have to be on the centerline of the table or anything along those lines. I'm not too concerned about the cost of the post or anything like that, since that's a one-time cost that pays for itself in the long run. Strength isn't something we are to worried about, we don't do really large parts or put large loads on the spindle. Obviously it's got to be rigid to keep vibrations down and get a better finish, but the few parts I've seen off the Hurco machines have a pretty darn good finish. I realize something like this or the Haas wouldn't be anywhere near the quality (or cost) of a high-end Okuma or something, but that's also not something we'd use to the full extent and get our money's worth out of. I really appreciate all the opinions and options, so keep them coming!

Well, our VM1 has travel of 26x16x20, and I don't think we'd want to go smaller than that. One of our products that would greatly benefit from a 5-axis mill starts as a 12x12x0.5" block, so I'd definitely have to be able to get that on the table. Can you elaborate on that a little? Remember, I've got no experience with programming anything over 3-axis, and minimal experience with surfacing to begin with.

Sounds like it's right in that $200ish range. I see the Haas starts at $150, so that's certainly a consideration. It's definitely not a major rush for us to get one, it probably wouldn't be until late summer or even late into the fall before we ordered it. I've also never programmed anything more than 3-axis, so that'd certainly be a new experience. One major thing we're looking for is something somewhat universal, and by that I mean it can be used for a lot of 3-axis work when we don't have anything complicated to do. 99% of what we machine is aluminum, there's very little steel or any other material. We're also mostly a prototype/fixture shop, so it's not very often that we run a part more than a few times. We have a few production parts that are run, but most of them are easily handled by a standard 3-axis machine and are rarely run more than once every couple of months. This machine would be mostly for expanding our current capabilities, and reducing the load on the mill we have now.

I don't know how much it costs. I heard something regarding pricing at IMTS, but I don't remember exactly what it was.

We are looking at the Hurco VMX42SRTi, and I'm wondering if anyone has one of these, or has anyone seen one work? Or does anyone have any opinions good or bad on this particular machine? Obviously it's no high-end 5-axis machine, but it (or something similar in design) would probably suit our needs rather well. I like the fact that the rotary table is on the same plane as the rest of the bed, so it can easily be used for larger parts in a 4-axis mode, but at the same time I don't really even know if we would even use that feature. We're looking to expand into the 4/5 axis world and I'm curious what everyone thinks is a good starter machine. The vast majority of work that we do is fixture making for our painting process, with a small amount of production work. I've had few parts that a 4- or 5-axis machine would drastically improve manufacture time, but we've always made them work with our 3-axis Hurco VM1, it just takes a heck of a lot longer with multiple setups. So I'm interested in opinions on what people think is a good first 5-axis machine. It doesn't need to be insanely accurate, or extremely fast, or anything like that. Just a good, somewhat budget friendly starter machine to get us into the 5-axis field.

$50k/yr is excellent pay here,. If you're making $75-100k/yr as a family, you're doing very well. Heck, my parents combined make around $80-90k and that's enough to run a farm and have plenty left over to have some fun. Granted, the farm partly pays for itself, but still doesn't break even. They were making a lot less when they had us three kids in the house, but we still lived a comfortable lifestyle and were never short for the things we needed. Between my wife and I, we're just over breaking even on our current bills, but that's our own fault for having so many student loans and two car payments. We certainly don't have a huge house, but we have a comfortable house that's perfect for our first home. At the same time, we can adjust our lifestyle to have more money left over simply by eating out less often, or by packing a lunch. There's also the option of trading one of our cars in on something we wouldn't have a payment on. In a few years when our cars are paid off we'll have an awful lot left over after each month compared to what we have now...or would if we weren't having a kid in July (that's going to be a whole different mess). I still can manage to save up enough to go to a few hunting banquets and spend some money at those, as well as a fishing trip to lake of the woods each year, and even a ballgame or two. If you can't live in this area as a single person on $25/hr, or a couple with one kid at $40/hr, you're doing something wrong and need to reevaluate your spending habits. I'm certainly not saying there's areas where $50k/yr isn't enough, but my area is definitely not one of those. Perhaps we have a different definition of "decent lifestyle" here, but there's a heck of a lot of people making way less than I am, and they're doing just fine with their 3 kids. I look at how much my parents had when I was growing up, and how much my wife's parents had when she was growing up, and realize I'm doing awfully well for my job and area. I also realize that if my parents could raise 3 kids and run a money-pit of a farm on their wages, then I can certainly raisea family and pay my bills on my wages.

I dunno, I can make it just fine on less than $25/hr. It depends entirely on your cost of living, and you've got to be somewhat smart with your money. Heck, my wife only makes about $13/hr, and between her and I we live comfortably enough for us. Do we have tons of extra money to invest or save? Of course not, but we're also only a few years out of college. Give me a few more years to pay off my car and student loans, and we'll be sitting very comfortably. Heck, if I didn't have the student loans I'd be extremely comfortable with what I'm making right now. No one making $25/hr should have to take government assistance, except perhaps. in areas of extremely high cost of living. you might not have a fancy new car or a big house, but you'll be just fine at $25/hr.

I give Haas credit for one thing, and that's that they put the prices directly on their site. That's a good thing to do in my opinion, because then at least you know what you're getting into, and if the machine you're looking at is even a feasible option.

I do. I've got X5 MU1 and X6 MU3

neither seems to make a difference. My drivers are up to date as well

no it does not.

Does anyone else have this issue or know how to fix it? My mcam window goes blank when I have the window any size other than maximized. It just recently started happening, ever since I started using idisplay to use the ipad as a second monitor. I tried reinstalling mcam as well, but that didn't fix it.

it looks like some are, which we'd get a tapered cutter for, but there's at least one part that doesn't appear to be a consistent angle. That particular part has to be machined on two opposite sides, so that'll be a pain if the customer is adamant about doing this.