Total cost + import for Tormach PCNC 440, and alternatives?

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

Like Steve the OP I have an interest in CNC and would like to be let loose on a good quality machine of my own. I own a nice Isel machine but it does not have the grunt to machine steel.

Reading about another blokes experience though with his new Tormach will do for the mo and my thanks to Steve for bringing his book to my attention.

I have installed the Kindle app on my Android tablet and paid for the digital edition offered on Amazon. For an outlay of just £5.99 I am looking forward to reading how Steve did it his way!

Rik

[Chris CourtneyParticipant @chriscourtney72250]

I too purchased a copy of Steve's book last week, and I would echo James' comments above. I think Steve has identified a gap in the generally available information about buying and starting to use a CNC milling machine. It is very specific to the Tormach range of mills, but it does contain information relevant other manufacturers. He writes from the perspective of somebody coming fresh to the world of cnc machining, but with a technical background and covers the process quite systematically.

I come from a professional background of designing laser machine systems and am quite familiar with CNC. I fitted a home designed CNC controller and software to my round column Warco mill back in the 1980's and have done a number of machine conversions for my own use over the years. I recently bought a Tormach 1100M mill and have been very pleased with it.

Chris

[Steve Dunthorne 1Participant @stevedunthorne1]

When I purchased my Tormach 770MX (it was delivered April 2021) I had absolutely no idea I would, by November that year, be tapping away at my keyboard writing about the experience. Genuinely, I was driven to write down the details of all that I experienced along the journey, when it became apparent to me just how complex it had become, how interesting I had found the process, and wanting to share this for the benefit of others. Trust me when I report to you, writing a technical book with a very narrow target audience is not going to make anyone rich – it is a vanity project if it is nothing more.

Being quite a ‘techy’ sort of chap, once I decided I wanted a CNC machine, I researched the options extensively. As anyone who frequents this forum will realise, buying this sort of machine is not a matter of popping into B&Q and so my book “starts at the beginning” as they say. Literally I record the decision making process for buying the machine and it’s options, to the last detail.

Now although early on in that process I decide on the Tormach, and hence the options for it are all Tormach options by default, I would say many of the points raised are generic and may be considered useful discussion items for buying a different make of mill.

The point is I have tried hard to make this a “chatty” and readable path down which you, the reader, and I, the writer, amble together. Hopefully, in this way, this feels like a “good read” rather than a stiff technical instruction tome. In effect, we end up building the machine together as a team, and then learning how to take the first tentative steps to cutting metal on it, side by side. I have been told by a few people who have read the book, they liked this style.

But I am not an author – I am a bloke with a fancy machine in the garage who thought he might have a go at writing about it. I am quite pleased with the end result, and by the way, I do think the book looks great in paperback, it is a weighty document in the hand, something you lose appreciation for in the “kindle effect” in my humble opinion.

If I were to write it again, I would make a significant change. I made the mistake of writing the book in its entirety in metric. The second half of the book goes into quite a lot of detail on feeds and speeds and specifically this sort of thing needs to be written in metric for UK and Europe, but in imperial “inches, pound-feet and horsepower” for our cousins in the North American continent. The two systems are mutually exclusive. Many manual machine enthusiasts in the UK will undoubtedly still use imperial units on their machines, I know, but I doubt there are many people in the UK running CNC in imperial.

So if metric suits you, then I believe there is a lot of information contained within which might add to your knowledge of CNC when you come to it as a novice. Every book needs to find its target. This one is not for experts. It is an introduction. Fundamentally, the message is you can buy one of these machines and, with the support of forums, books and the internet, teach yourself how it works from scratch. Those readers intending to set up a CNC machine running in imperial units will find some sections less useful, but the basic messages contained within will always be true. As the sub-title of the book suggests, this journey I have recorded will take you through to “relative competence” so do not think this is merely a cursory glance at things. I go into quite a lot of detail.

At the risk of annoying some (see above), please feel free to take a peek at http://www.blurringtheedges.co.uk where there is a little more detail. I really hope this book can be seen for what it is, and as others have alluded to, that it potentially fills a gap in the market for this sort of book.

I hope I haven’t offended anyone. Genuinely. Thanks for reading this far.

[Steve Dunthorne 1Participant @stevedunthorne1]

[jimmy bParticipant @jimmyb]

Steve,

I too have bought the book for my Kindle.

I'm looking forward to enjoying this on my holiday.

Jim

[Steve Dunthorne 1Participant @stevedunthorne1]

Hi Jimmy, that’s excellent, thank you for your support. Tell me, how did you add the little micrometer image beneath your name in your posts? Regards, Steve

[Author]

Posts