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Looking at a Brother TC-S2A-0, opinions..

shocwav3

Plastic
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Location
Yorktown, Va
I am looking at a brother TC-S2A-0, year 2000. How many of you guys have or are using them? Any input when looking at a used one? How many hours on the spindle are considered a lot for these? Are there resources for the controller or just hit the manuals?

Sorry for the elementary questions, but I am not familiar with them and I am looking for some first hand input.

Thanks in advance

Anthony
 
I bought the exact same model two years ago for about $15k. The only thing I had to do was replace the lights for the display but other than that it serves its purpose (drilling, tapping, and deburring.). I would say 3,000 hrs/yr would be a pretty good workout. I am not as thorough as other guys here but I just bring an indicator along to check spindle runout, axis backlash, etc and then run the spindle throughout its range to see if it starts sounding goofy. I needed some proprietary program transfer program (BroComm I think?) to load programs via RS232, but it works fine. Good luck!
 
I bought the exact same model two years ago for about $15k. The only thing I had to do was replace the lights for the display but other than that it serves its purpose (drilling, tapping, and deburring.). I would say 3,000 hrs/yr would be a pretty good workout. I am not as thorough as other guys here but I just bring an indicator along to check spindle runout, axis backlash, etc and then run the spindle throughout its range to see if it starts sounding goofy. I needed some proprietary program transfer program (BroComm I think?) to load programs via RS232, but it works fine. Good luck!

I appreciate the input. What year is yours?
 
I appreciate the input. What year is yours?

I think circa 2002. Since I bought it used I didn't get it from Yamazen but the Yamazen guy said it was in a Honda plant because it's painted a funny color that only Honda uses. I'm not doing anything hard core with it but so far so good, holding +\- .0015" circular interpolating a .5" hole, tapping them 1/2-20 and deburring the edges.
 
I have the same machine also. Mine is a year 2000 and i thas the A00 control. I bought it very well used. I have had to replace the Y axis thrust bearing and the Y axis servo motor. Also put new seals on the way covers and cleaned up the linear slides. I have inquired into a new spindle and the price is about $2500. Mine is the 10k rpm spindle. Also mine has thread (helical) milling which I think may have been an option. Mine has a 4th axis and I paid the same price as Nerlinger did.
 
I have the same machine also. Mine is a year 2000 and i thas the A00 control. I bought it very well used. I have had to replace the Y axis thrust bearing and the Y axis servo motor. Also put new seals on the way covers and cleaned up the linear slides. I have inquired into a new spindle and the price is about $2500. Mine is the 10k rpm spindle. Also mine has thread (helical) milling which I think may have been an option. Mine has a 4th axis and I paid the same price as Nerlinger did.

The one I am looking at is a 10k as well. What were the hours on it? I assume you knew it needed the y axis work when you purchased?

Thanks guys.
 
The two issues with A00 series machines is memory and surfacing. Memory is fairly limited in the standard config; some are technically capable of some board changes and upgrades, but it's just not an economical route. Surfacing ability is two fold; limited memory quickly makes surfacing an issue, but it's also not well prepared to make high quality surfaces due to limited lookahead and control.

Both of these got significantly better in the B00 control. The market seems to be aware of this, and machines are priced accordingly.
 
I agree with rlockwood. If you need 2.5 d machine for smallish parts it is a great choice. Parts for the machine are relatively cheap and Yamazen is good to work with. If you need a fancier control then you need to get a newer machine and the prices go up quite a bit.
 
Apologies that I'm a little late to this thread but I thought I might add a little info.
Can you confirm is it an S2A-O? Like big plus? I think those have 16k spindles, no?

Brothers are great machines. We use them in my contract mfg business tc227, s2a, s2d, r2b are all on my floor. For the larger programs, try to find a program that can drip feed the machine (we use eNetDNC). We have done profiling on our s2a with this method. Also, if you want to just upload/download, you only need terminal software. I used teraterm for a long time before we moved to the DNC software.

If you need spindle repair, I visited a repair shop near us (Precision Spindle - Ferndale, MI) and they had about 20 that they were reworking the tapers on to bring them true. I'm weary of $2500 for a new spindle... Yamazen will charge you about 6k-8k. It's about 2500 to refurb them (I've bought a few).

As for runout, etc. If your spindle sounds ok at 10k, then try the draw bar. Draw bars are less expensive to replace (~500) and can usually remove runout issues - they're a wearable part on the machine and can go bad in any milling operation after enough work.

Our 227's are from 91 and still running strong. We have had to replace some ball screws, etc. which are to be expected, but the spindle motors and the electronics are still running well.

Good luck!
 








 
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