syil vs tormach

[robert ramageParticipant @robertramage25020]

Im looking at buying a cnc machine. Any one got experience with eith the syil x6/x7 or a tormach 1100mill. ?

 

I work 95% of the time in aluminium,brass,and cast iron .

The other 5% is en19/en24 etc

 

what sort of cuts would i get in aluminium on the tormach using a 16mm cutter?

 

Any info much apprciated. Robby

[robert ramageParticipant @robertramage25020]

CNC MACHINE

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

No contest, go for the Tormach.

Their back up and support is second to none, Syil has no back in the UK or spares.

 

I have no association with Tormach BTW.

 

Andrew Johnson has a Tormach and he’ll probably chip in to answer your cutting depth queries.

 

John S.

Edited By John Stevenson on 02/06/2011 23:19:12

[Jim NolanParticipant @jimnolan76764]

Robby,

Bloody hell mate were you been, asking a question about CNC on this site have you got a death wish. It’s been blood on the dance floor for the last week or so, when it comes to CNC.

But as you have asked do a search on Tormach and you will find a similar question by me. I bought a second hand PCNC 1100 about 3 month ago and am delighted with it. It’s got a good working envelope plenty of installed users a healthy internet based fraternity with plenty of help if you struggle like me.

Check out YouTube for plenty of videos of it working one guy I found particularly helpful to watch is NYCCNC his time laps assembly video is fascinating.

The Tormach was far bigger than I envisioned prior to purchase. Having seen the typical size machine you see demonstrated at Harrogate or the Midlands buzzing away it’s just in a different league. There is plenty of tooling available up to a 38mm face mill and you can take a hefty cut with that if your confidence is up to it

I cannot speak to Syil but Tormach support is excellent as an example I purchased Sprutcam of them as my CAM package and was struggling with it, still am for that matter. I dropped Eric the software engineer at Tormach a line and he organised a 1to 1 WebEx session where he went through all my issues remotely on my computer a real confidence booster.

Tormach have also improved the machine over the years recently introducing a power draw bar and an auto tool changer both retrofit kits and both expanding the machines capabilities.

There are two very good articles in ME Worksop number 171 and 172 (the very mention of that should be pulling the scabs off a few peoples tender spots) by Andrew Johnston which are also very informative and worth getting on back order.

You can see my own machine at

http://www.northernsteam.com/TormachCNCmill.htm

If you are considering a purchase from the states it might be worth looking at Novacon who I think are a more direct competitor to Toramch than the Syil machine. Although a much younger company than Tormach they don’t look a bad machine.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Hi Robby,

 

As John and Jim say I have a Tormach 1100 PCNC. I’ve had it for about two and half years now. I haven’t kept a log of run time, but I would suspect I have many hundreds of hours of machining on it. This has mostly been with aluminium and various plastics, but I have also cut low carbon steel and quite a lot of 316 stainless steel. In the very near future I will be cutting cast iron and gauge plate; I have no worries about the machine coping with these materials.

 

Overall I’ve been very pleased with my machine and Tormach have been very responsive to the few issues I have had.

 

To answer the question about using a 16mm cutter; in a roundabout way it is the wrong question. Here’s why. Fairly early on in my CNC machining I made some complex heatsinks, 300x300x40mm that had a lot of pockets. I started machining these using a rather expensive 16mm rougher. As I recall depth of cut was 5mm, 80 to 100% engagement and about 2500rpm. It did work, but didn’t sound nice when plunging at the beginning of the cut. Eventually as the cutter got a bit blunt I managed to stall the machine. What I now know is that CNC requires a different approach than that used on manual machines. Rather than run a relatively large cutter at slow speeds it is better to run a smaller cutter at higher speeds and feeds. For aluminium I now have three stock cutters. One, a HSS 12mm rougher, 4000rpm and 900mm/min feed, two and three are 10mm and 6mm carbide slot drills run at 5000rpm and 600mm/min feedrate. This is just as quick, or quicker, than a large cutter moving slowly. The cutters are much cheaper too!

 

I’m near, but not in, Cambridge; if you are in the area you are welcome to drop in.

 

Rather than type out lots of possibly irrelevant information I’ll send you a PM so we can discuss specific issues off line.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

Edited By Andrew Johnston on 03/06/2011 19:35:34

[JoeTParticipant @joet]

Hi, I know this thread is 2 years old now, but I thought I'd reply to it rather than starting a new thread as I am part of a group trying to make the same decision…

I am a member of a 'hack-space' type group in Cambridge called Makespace – **LINK**

and we are considering getting a Tormach / Syil sized machine for cutting steel and aluminium.

Would either of these machines be more or less suitable for some serious hobby level and beyond use by a number of chaps of varying abilities? I think one of our concerns with either machine would be keeping the thing operational – we're probably more likely to make mistakes than the average seasoned model engineer, and so spares and support would be important to us.

Cheers,

Joe Tapply.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Joe, have sent you a PM.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Isn't a 'hackspace' just an name for a 'club workshop' in the 21st century?

Perhaps "Model Engineer's Hackspace" will be the number three publication and carry all the CNC?

Neil

[JoeTParticipant @joet]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 14/08/2013 20:14:47:

Isn't a 'hackspace' just an name for a 'club workshop' in the 21st century?

Perhaps "Model Engineer's Hackspace" will be the number three publication and carry all the CNC?

Neil

It's probably the wrong term, but it was the first that came to mind! Please have a look at this article if you're interested in the various sorts of places people can get together to make stuff : http://makezine.com/2013/05/22/the-difference-between-hackerspaces-makerspaces-techshops-and-fablabs/]

I'm more worried that I'll never have a shed/workshop of my own TBH – most of the UK seems to think it is great that shed-worthy land will be £10,000 / m^2 in a few years!

 

 

Edited By JoeT on 15/08/2013 10:09:34

Edited By JoeT on 15/08/2013 10:10:09

[Anonymous]

Joe: As mentioned earlier in this thread I have a Tormach PCNC1100. As also stated I live near Cambridge, so you are welcome to visit and see the machine. Send me a PM if you're interested.

I have cut the gauge plate and cast iron mentioned in my original post, with no problems. Here's an expansion link cut from gauge plate:

And here are bevel gears cut in cast iron:

Regards,

Andrew

[JoeTParticipant @joet]

Those are lovely looking parts Andrew – and thanks for the offer of a visit – I will gladly take you up on that – PM to follow

Cheers,

Joe

[JoeTParticipant @joet]

Are there any happy Syil owners out there with parts & insights they'd like to share?

Cheers,

Joe

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Not criticising, Joe, I think its great that a new generation is finding their own way to have shared spaces and gear. We need to recognise that these folk are part of the future of model engineering. They will all have sheds… one day!

Neil

[Author]

Posts