I have some questions

Hi Guys,

I have some questions about some random stuff and am hoping to get some response to point me in the right direction.

Some background;

I manufacture wood splitters. I started doing this a little over a year ago and have experienced growth drastically beyond what I ever had expected. Most of the stuff we do is fairly rough in comparison to the machining world that most are use to. If we can keep a .005" tolerance we are easily in spec for most stuff (bolt patterns, wedges ect).

I am currently spending 20-30k a month in the local machine shop to plasma cut, bend and machine my parts. I am considering buying a plasma table, brake and machining center and doing it in house. I don't have a lot of experience in this stuff, however I do have a good understanding and the ability to learn quickly.

The biggest most time consuming job for a mill is machining the edge on the knife blades. We also do a couple of bolt patterns and open some holes up after plasma cutting to push bushings into.

the blades are 1" MS (seems to work as good as anything else with much less screwing around). The edge is 15 degrees for a total of 30 overall. I think they typically do it with a face mill with 5 or 6 cutters in it (no coolant). the total length of the cut is 18".

I am wondering what the best mill would be to do this? I need something that is incredibly reliable (as I don't have the knowledge of mills or the time to fix something all the time), fast and preferably easy to program. I am thinking along the lines of a HAAS VF3 or VF4. But am wondering if there is another brand that may be better or another option for me.

thanks in advance for any and all feedback

Millwise...

What's your budget ? I guess you are going for new machines, but second hand might be worth considering.

If your application and process is focused on "Get'er done" and you don't want to spend many months learning the in's and outs of this and that, then maybe consider Hurco VMX 42i? Depending on your budget. You can program very easily at the control and have reasonable confidence that what you see is what you get. No monkeying about and by osmosis you can learn more about G-code and other types of programming schemes as you go, and perhaps prepare for more advanced machines when and if your company expands. The VMX series is very robust. In terms of "absolute" reliability that's a tough question. Matsuura vertical? A lot of people will probably chime in with Okuma M-560V (for reliability and support), and alternatively for less $$$$ Hardinge/Bridgeport V1000.
The Okuma, and Matsuura and Hardinge will require more knowledge/ time to master. BTW the NEW Haas control seems to be more fully featured for a newcomer to CNC, but does not have the graphics that the Hurco will/does. Whatever you do get a good machinist to get you up and running quickly and show you the ropes for the process you need to implement (if you are not familiar with the core theory and practice of machining/milling.)

You need to edit your thread title to be more descriptive (and probably add an OT) before this gets locked.

Have you considered getting a manual mill with power feed just to get you started, rather than jump into CNC with both feet?

It might ease the learning curve a bit.

When you get a plasma table, you turn into a material handling operation, because those plates are heavy and clumsy to handle without a big overhead crane, and a bay that a semi can back into for unloading. Are you ready?

Also consider laser for stuff thinner than 3/4" because the accuracy is better, and you can finish most holes with a reamer and/or tap directly.

I also think a old manual vertical mill might be worth consideration. You need to build a fixture to hold those blades handily at that angle, cnc isn't going to do that magic for you. Once the fixture is built, it is pretty much a gravy job to take a few facing cuts.

1 inch thick material seems a bit much for the blades (extra machining time!!) If you press a 1/2" thick blade 12 inches into a log, won't it still split it? If you use thinner material, you could get something a little harder, like AR100 (abrasion resistant plate) or higher and get a better quality blade,

I don't know about where you are, but here the plasma guys buy matl by the rail car, about 50 tons at a time direct from the steel mills.

They get it so cheap that they'll cut my stuff and deliver it cheaper than I can buy the material.

I don't think it would make sense to get a plasma table. The consumables, space etc don't make it worth it.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I am not completely new to this. I am a licensed mill wright and have run a couple of lillians with the 3 axis accurite on it. It wasn't complicated to learn at all. G code and cam software may be a little more complicated (or maybe not?) I really need something robust enough to take away the meat fast, it also needs to be easily repeatable. The way I have seen it done before is with an angle plate. Seemed to work well and set up was relatively easy.

Budget is of a concern, but downtime is also. Everyday I need to spend screwing around with a mill is one day that I'm not making product.

I have run into that with the plasma cutting, material needs to be bought in bulk for sure. but I think I may be starting to buy enough plate and have enough capital to make it worth my while. I have a lot of parts that are from 1" MS so it would have to be a pretty heavy plasma.

@eastonmade: I lived in SW France (ancient farmhouse + land): These hydraulic wood splitters are essential to life out there. The French have had those for a really long time. One winter I was being particularly stubborn and cheap and split all my wood by hand with axe (all oak); but if I didn't we would literally freeze to death (archaic central heating system that is built into a medi-evil fire place) so pretty much splitting wood non stop for about ten weeks. After nearly a whole winter of that my shoulders and neck looked like "Arnold"... It seems these hydraulic wood splitters have taken longer to become popular in the USA and Canada perhaps? Given the kind of numbers you are talking about it sounds like you are really going "Gang busters" with your product and perhaps you can really scale up your business/really go for it! :-) Sounds like you can afford to really dominate that sector of the market. In other words don't leave it to someone else to take that space, so maybe thinking "Big" might put your company in a stronger more stable position for the long term (providing you don't over spend like crazy, there are a lot of financing options for equipment that are not too predatory and give you some degree of control and flexibility).