A few months ago I decided to bite the bullet and put a more serious VMC in my garage. I had an older Prolight 2000 that I completely rebuilt with Mach4 and some nice Teknic servos, but it just wan't cutting it any more. I had also been using a Haas VF2 SS at a local maker space for awhile so I got to know my way around a "real" machine with a Cat40 ATC, probe, etc.
After lurking around on this forum and doing alot of research, I decided to go with a Hurco VM10i Plus. The Plus isn't even on Hurco's website - but its a VM10 that includes alot of options as standard (chip auger, dual screen, spindle chiller, etc plus a 12k Big+ spindle from their VMX machines and some upgraded ballscrews.
The other machines I looked at were Haas Mini Mill and Brother X700, and even a DMG Mori 700 MillTap. I know my way around the Haas control (although I can't say I like it) but the SMini has a much smaller bed in the same footprint machine (20x12 vs Hurco 26x16). The Hurco is really very compact for its travel sizes - Only 6' x 5' and 80ish inches tall. It was an easy fit under my garage door. The riggers drove it right in (hopefully before any of my nosy neighbors could see!) With the holiday it will be another week or so before I can get it powered up and have my dealer back out to finish setting it up, so its going to painful, but at least its in the door!
Thanks to all the other machinist that have posted threads about machines in their garages - helpful to know that I wasn't (completely) crazy to try and do this..
After lurking around on this forum and doing alot of research, I decided to go with a Hurco VM10i Plus. The Plus isn't even on Hurco's website - but its a VM10 that includes alot of options as standard (chip auger, dual screen, spindle chiller, etc plus a 12k Big+ spindle from their VMX machines and some upgraded ballscrews.
The other machines I looked at were Haas Mini Mill and Brother X700, and even a DMG Mori 700 MillTap. I know my way around the Haas control (although I can't say I like it) but the SMini has a much smaller bed in the same footprint machine (20x12 vs Hurco 26x16). The Hurco is really very compact for its travel sizes - Only 6' x 5' and 80ish inches tall. It was an easy fit under my garage door. The riggers drove it right in (hopefully before any of my nosy neighbors could see!) With the holiday it will be another week or so before I can get it powered up and have my dealer back out to finish setting it up, so its going to painful, but at least its in the door!
Thanks to all the other machinist that have posted threads about machines in their garages - helpful to know that I wasn't (completely) crazy to try and do this..