It's always interesting reading about people's choices for their equipment.
I'm sure others here have, or have had all three. I now have a mix of these three. I thought I would share my impressions. They are necessarily subjective. I'm sure someone might suggest I'm under-capitalized, or need to do more research.
After 40 years in the trade, and wearing various hats, I think I have a little clue as to what works for me. (although sometimes I wish I had a bigger clue, haha)
Brother is supported by Yamazen. So far my experience has been super positive. I can't think of a way which they could be any better at this point. Another local shop I visited (has a RX450) before buying said they could not remember a service call once the machine was set up. That's pretty cool. The control is easier than Fanuc to learn. Acceleration to full rapid is incredible. Accuracy so far is amazing. Plenty of beans, even though a 30 taper. Dual contact spindle, high torque setups work. I don't have any of the standard spindles of any speed to compare. RX450, S700X1. These are top notch machines.
Robodrill is quite solid, and fast. Quite accurate, no HSM on this machine yet. Not looking for much other than light milling, drilling and tapping from this machine. It does have the big plus spindle. 16mb control, 20K spindle. Methods and Fanuc are solid, but can be pricey.
Still have my Haas Super Mini, my VF-2 for now. The Haas people were solid and reliable for a while. I still think they are a good choice at times. Some of the support people are still great. IMO a fair bit of that depends on your HFO. My local tech support guys are solid. My 1998 VF-2 still runs well, and makes good parts every day, not as fast as some other machines. Easy to run. I don't have anything with the next gen control. The older version were plenty good. I have a couple of older Haas lathes, they work well (fingers crossed).
I know some people like heavier iron. Get what works for you. Sometimes I've had to make do with what I've had available. Having started in a shop with lineshafts for some of the equipment, I've seen a few changes in the trade.
Support with tech and parts is super important to me. If I have a question to Yamazen, I either get an answer right away, or conformation the question is moving up the chain, and result by the next day.
No compensation or association with any of the various companies. Got a few Haas hats in the past, and a couple of Brother hats. Need some more hats.......
ETA: the Brother machines are very efficient, power-wise. I'm running on 30 amp breakers. They are also efficient with floor space, as is the Robo.
I'm sure others here have, or have had all three. I now have a mix of these three. I thought I would share my impressions. They are necessarily subjective. I'm sure someone might suggest I'm under-capitalized, or need to do more research.
After 40 years in the trade, and wearing various hats, I think I have a little clue as to what works for me. (although sometimes I wish I had a bigger clue, haha)Brother is supported by Yamazen. So far my experience has been super positive. I can't think of a way which they could be any better at this point. Another local shop I visited (has a RX450) before buying said they could not remember a service call once the machine was set up. That's pretty cool. The control is easier than Fanuc to learn. Acceleration to full rapid is incredible. Accuracy so far is amazing. Plenty of beans, even though a 30 taper. Dual contact spindle, high torque setups work. I don't have any of the standard spindles of any speed to compare. RX450, S700X1. These are top notch machines.
Robodrill is quite solid, and fast. Quite accurate, no HSM on this machine yet. Not looking for much other than light milling, drilling and tapping from this machine. It does have the big plus spindle. 16mb control, 20K spindle. Methods and Fanuc are solid, but can be pricey.
Still have my Haas Super Mini, my VF-2 for now. The Haas people were solid and reliable for a while. I still think they are a good choice at times. Some of the support people are still great. IMO a fair bit of that depends on your HFO. My local tech support guys are solid. My 1998 VF-2 still runs well, and makes good parts every day, not as fast as some other machines. Easy to run. I don't have anything with the next gen control. The older version were plenty good. I have a couple of older Haas lathes, they work well (fingers crossed).
I know some people like heavier iron. Get what works for you. Sometimes I've had to make do with what I've had available. Having started in a shop with lineshafts for some of the equipment, I've seen a few changes in the trade.
Support with tech and parts is super important to me. If I have a question to Yamazen, I either get an answer right away, or conformation the question is moving up the chain, and result by the next day.
No compensation or association with any of the various companies. Got a few Haas hats in the past, and a couple of Brother hats. Need some more hats.......
ETA: the Brother machines are very efficient, power-wise. I'm running on 30 amp breakers. They are also efficient with floor space, as is the Robo.
