Feeler Machines

GBI Lamb sent me some info on Feeler CNC machining centers so im going to the experts.

anybody run/use these?

seems they are more capable than Fadal/Haas the feedrates are the same as Mazak and less expensive than either Mazak or Fadal.

so what say ye?...jim

I never saw them in use. Don't know anyone using them. I just took a better look at their specs. They do seem to put decent motors on their turning centers. I do know that the place I bought my last manual toolroom lathe from sells Feeler machines so there must be a market and someone using them somewhere. How do their prices actually compare?

One thing I notice on their lathes is that they do have much slower RPM's. Like a Nexus250 says top of 4000rpm(10"chuck) while a 10"chuck feeler tops at around 2500. Likely plenty fast anyway. Maybe they have a back gear??? At least their 8" lathe has a real 20hp continuous rating, unlike the Haas. The Cincinnati/Lamb HTC models seems like a closer match to the other top brands when checking the specs. They must be more popular in Europe are they?

One of my friends has a Feeler FV-1600. He has had some problems with the coolant washdown, and odds and ends. They have been trying to get thing fixed and are making progress, but the one thing that is killing him, is when surfacing he gets crappy result to say the least. They have been trying to get this right, it is getting better but still not what you would expect from a band new machine. He is using Gibbscam to program with, and he is very good with it. The code works great in their other machines.

here's the comparison.

machine *aa* X40 Y20 Z25 10K spindle 15 HP 24 tools 1000 IPM feedrate 12500 LBS weight $72080.

machine *aza* X41 Y20 Z20 12K spindle 15 HP 30 tools 1417 IPM feedrate 15000 LBS weight $95100.

machine Feeler X40 Y20.5 Z20 10K spindle 25 HP 24 tools 1417 IPM feedrate 14000 LBS weight $71900.

RickyT is that machine linear ways or box ways?

i guess no one else has any input?...jim

What machine model is that? seems to me many of their mills have somewhat slow rapids, although lots of boxways.

Pretty hard to get much feedback on them. I really wonder who buys them, along with so many other odd looking brands.

feeler VM-40SA

It has boxway Z-axis, linear on X and Y.

Website seems to only say 10HP continuous for the VM-40SA. Unless they sent you info in paper on new machines and they never updated the websites? that seems to happen quite a bit.


Putting the extra 25K on the Mazak would probably be worth it just as an "insurance". More peace of mind with a well known brand that is selling a lot.

I have a used FV-800 I've been working on getting up to speed. It has tons of hours on it cutting cast iron in it's former life. So it's taken considerable time to get into running condition. The things wrong with this machine are...

Really badly worn spindle taper :: not sure how this got so bad, but is is lousy. Still holds tools tight but it appears that the tools weren't being positioned correctly to pick them up and smacking against the taper pretty hard. Either that or they flew out a bunch of times under power. I think i've got 50% contact at the top of the taper...

Super Noisy Z-axis ballscrew :: No backlash that I can measure, but the thing sounds like it's full of gravel. I'm probably going to take it apart and put new balls in to see if it helps.

Misc. electrical problems from a WELL used machine.

Other than that everything is really tight and in awesome shape for such a POS looking machine. The spindle sounds great when I spool her up, but I don't know Fanuc controls very well and have yet to make a part (I use Mach3 on my old hurco KMB-1)

The construction of the machine is very nice and is comparable to any of the other lower end machines that I've seen. If it means anything, the machine uses THK linear rails and other name brand components.