Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 17,740
THIS IS SOLD
1998 Vectrax 3 axis CNC mill, 17X38, Fanuc OM-C, low hour
Asking $12,500, OBO
This is a low hour 1998 Vectrax CNC knee mill with 17.75" X 38.25" travels, 400 IPM rapids. 6” Z stroke on the quill and 17” vertical on the knee. 70 - 7,200 RPM spindle with an infinitely variable belt drive, two speed spindle motor with backgear for extremely high torque, can drive a very large drill or tap. 5 gallon coolant sump. Air powered Kurt drawbar for tool changes. Hand held remote MPG simplifies setups. Will fit under a 7’ garage door if you pull off the spindle motor (not a big deal). Will work under an 8’ ceiling.
Video: http://youtu.be/gjirauajXvI
[video=youtube_share;gjirauajXvI]http://youtu.be/gjirauajXvI[/video]
In that video I’m cutting ½” deep with a ½” cutter pealing off ¼” on the side at 2,000 RPM and feeding at 40 and 50 inches per minute and you can hear it handles the heavy cut quietly and with ease. That removed 6 cubic inches of aluminum. I cut away the stock and leave a 5/16” boss standing, I chamfer the top with a surface milling routine and then thread 5/16-18 with a thread mill at 60 IPM.
Fanuc OM-C motion control. Full 3 axis simultaneous linear interpolation and contouring, circular and helical interpolation. Direct Numerical Control (DNC) allows you to run huge programs directly from a PC. Accurate constant velocity motion, doesn’t need to run slow or pause at points. Works well for complex surface milling for things like mold making etc. I have used this mill for surfacing complex molds, it is excellent.
~5,000 lbs. 5 HP spindle. Oversized saddle and boxway construction on the knee and saddle makes for a very stable table. This is a pretty serious knee mill.
NMTB 40 spindle taper
5” diameter quill with class 7 precision spindle bearings
87” X 108” X 86”
This mill sold new for $38,000 in 1998 to a manufacturer in Florida who was using it to drill aluminum electrical buss bars. I bought it with about 1,100 hours on it in 2001 as my shop’s first CNC mill. We’ve had four other cnc mills since then but we’ve kept this guy over the years because sometimes we need the large travels. Being the only CNC mill in the shop without a tool changer it doesn’t get used in production and only has about 1,700 hours on it.
The Good: It’s a pretty nice and capable mill in good shape, kept in a dry climate controlled environment, with large travels and a reliable modern motion controller that can fit into a relatively small space. You won’t have a wondering zero, low resolution encoders, rolled ball screws, PC motion control or light duty, unreliable non-industrial components. It’s a proper CNC with modern digital AC servo control for Tormach money, it’s a good value.
The Bad: The coolant pump and infinitely variably belt drive system make a lot of noise. See video. You could replace the coolant pump with a newer quieter pump (it works fine, I wouldn’t mess with it), but the belt drive systems just make a lot of noise at higher speeds. This isn’t a sign of impending doom, it has always been noisy at high speeds and it hasn’t changed or got worse, it’s just not a quiet design. I keep it under 2,000 RPM most of the time and it's fine.
The Ugly: The paint was pealing when I bought it and I touched it up years ago and it hasn’t exactly gotten better looking over the years. If you’re one of those guys that just looks at your tools more than you use them, that’s not what this machine is about. It has lived in a machine shop, it is oily and dusty and not a beauty queen.
There were several versions of this mill made and in my opinion this was probably the best. There are others that are not as heavy built (don’t trust the weights listed, they all say 5,100 lbs, look at the pictures and trust your eyes) and after about year 2000 they switched over to a more affordable PC based controller. Look on ebay and you’ll see a few of these now, and I believe this is the best.
1998 Vectrax 3 axis CNC mill, 17X38, Fanuc OM-C, low hour
Asking $12,500, OBO
This is a low hour 1998 Vectrax CNC knee mill with 17.75" X 38.25" travels, 400 IPM rapids. 6” Z stroke on the quill and 17” vertical on the knee. 70 - 7,200 RPM spindle with an infinitely variable belt drive, two speed spindle motor with backgear for extremely high torque, can drive a very large drill or tap. 5 gallon coolant sump. Air powered Kurt drawbar for tool changes. Hand held remote MPG simplifies setups. Will fit under a 7’ garage door if you pull off the spindle motor (not a big deal). Will work under an 8’ ceiling.
Video: http://youtu.be/gjirauajXvI
[video=youtube_share;gjirauajXvI]http://youtu.be/gjirauajXvI[/video]
In that video I’m cutting ½” deep with a ½” cutter pealing off ¼” on the side at 2,000 RPM and feeding at 40 and 50 inches per minute and you can hear it handles the heavy cut quietly and with ease. That removed 6 cubic inches of aluminum. I cut away the stock and leave a 5/16” boss standing, I chamfer the top with a surface milling routine and then thread 5/16-18 with a thread mill at 60 IPM.
Fanuc OM-C motion control. Full 3 axis simultaneous linear interpolation and contouring, circular and helical interpolation. Direct Numerical Control (DNC) allows you to run huge programs directly from a PC. Accurate constant velocity motion, doesn’t need to run slow or pause at points. Works well for complex surface milling for things like mold making etc. I have used this mill for surfacing complex molds, it is excellent.
~5,000 lbs. 5 HP spindle. Oversized saddle and boxway construction on the knee and saddle makes for a very stable table. This is a pretty serious knee mill.
NMTB 40 spindle taper
5” diameter quill with class 7 precision spindle bearings
87” X 108” X 86”
This mill sold new for $38,000 in 1998 to a manufacturer in Florida who was using it to drill aluminum electrical buss bars. I bought it with about 1,100 hours on it in 2001 as my shop’s first CNC mill. We’ve had four other cnc mills since then but we’ve kept this guy over the years because sometimes we need the large travels. Being the only CNC mill in the shop without a tool changer it doesn’t get used in production and only has about 1,700 hours on it.
The Good: It’s a pretty nice and capable mill in good shape, kept in a dry climate controlled environment, with large travels and a reliable modern motion controller that can fit into a relatively small space. You won’t have a wondering zero, low resolution encoders, rolled ball screws, PC motion control or light duty, unreliable non-industrial components. It’s a proper CNC with modern digital AC servo control for Tormach money, it’s a good value.
The Bad: The coolant pump and infinitely variably belt drive system make a lot of noise. See video. You could replace the coolant pump with a newer quieter pump (it works fine, I wouldn’t mess with it), but the belt drive systems just make a lot of noise at higher speeds. This isn’t a sign of impending doom, it has always been noisy at high speeds and it hasn’t changed or got worse, it’s just not a quiet design. I keep it under 2,000 RPM most of the time and it's fine.
The Ugly: The paint was pealing when I bought it and I touched it up years ago and it hasn’t exactly gotten better looking over the years. If you’re one of those guys that just looks at your tools more than you use them, that’s not what this machine is about. It has lived in a machine shop, it is oily and dusty and not a beauty queen.
There were several versions of this mill made and in my opinion this was probably the best. There are others that are not as heavy built (don’t trust the weights listed, they all say 5,100 lbs, look at the pictures and trust your eyes) and after about year 2000 they switched over to a more affordable PC based controller. Look on ebay and you’ll see a few of these now, and I believe this is the best.
Last edited: