According to each manufacturer's web site,
A Fanuc 0IC-10, 12.6x8.7x8.7 travel takes an 1,100LB part, and weighs 4,200LBs.
A Mits FA10S, 13.7x9.8x8.6 travel, takes an 1,100LB part, and weighs 4,400 LBs.
A Charmilles 240cc, 13.8x8.7x8.7, takes a 1,650Lb part, and weighs 5,390LBs.
A Makino U32J has no weight listed that I could find.
A Sodick AQ327L, 15x11x10, takes an 1,100 LB part, and weighs 7,480LBs.
I agree with JayCee regarding the embedded software that Sodick promotes. I only took a brief glance at the Esprit in a wire, but I looked closely at a sinker with Solidworks, and their marketing is mis-leading.
I would be glad to go into detail, and they have an interesting concept, but the bottom line is, if you want to use that functionality, you pretty much need a stand-alone off-line seat of Solidworks.
In
this thread , Dave Haven and Mits Tech are discussing the straightness compensation feature available on the Mits FA20S. I've never run a machine with this feature, but it's another interesting concept.
Since the mechanism of taper on tall parts is wire wear, this is not something intrinsically wrong with any particular machine that can be "fixed". It's inherent to EDM. Whether you can truly compensate for it this way, I'd like to know.
I was at Sodick's New Jersey center last week, and although I didn't look at every component, my general impression was there is a lot of stainless, in places that are brass on my Mits FX10K, and favorably comparable to Agie's I've run(and liked).
I think every machine has certain areas of weakness, for example, the lower nozzle on my Mits is ceramic, and I've gone through three of them in the 4 years I've run this machine. They're not cheap. I've rebuilt the wire chopper more times than I can count, even buying an aftermarket version, since the OEM design is so bad.
But I'm not saying someone should not buy a Mits. I believe every machine has a niche, it depends on the type of work you're doing, the type of shop, and the type of operator. I wasn't here when they bought these machines, but I'd be hard pressed to say it was a mistake.
For the record, I've never run a Sodick, nor do I have any dog in the fight over who buys what from whom.
Cheers!
Roy Solomon