2014 Sharp Industries SVL-2416SE-M is this a good machine?

[guest]

They said they had a whole stack of manuals and paper work for it. The engineer that demonstrated the machine said he wanted to buy it but did not have the funds I am going to ask him if he wants to make some side money giving me some training on it to get started. I am also getting all the tool holders and collets it has a 20 place tool changer full of holders, drill chucks, collet chucks etc. They are also giving me the coolant they use with it. They prototyped with it plastic and aluminum parts for gauges I don't think it ever cut steel. All the chips in the enclosure were plastic and aluminum. It also has a nice cart on wheels that the chips dump into.

Wow! You did good. That tooling is several thousand bucks on it's own. Plus coolant and the chip hopper, you got a turn-key setup if there ever was one.

Bet you're excited to get on that baby!

 

[gundog]

That's a sweet setup if it's lived that easy of a life and comes with tools. Can I ask how much you got it for since this is a private sale?

When I have it in my possession I will post that.

 

[aarongough]

Nice! Glad you got a machine that is a good deal!

As an aside: I have used Vectric pretty extensively (both Cut2D and Vcarve Pro) as well as solidworks + HSMWorks, and Fusion 360... I would definitely advise you to keep learning Fusion. Modelling parts in 3D makes a lot more sense as soon as you start dealing with any kind of assembly, and Fusion is a lot more suited to the type of work you can do with a CNC mill. Hand-coding all your tapping cycles and mixing it with code from Vectric is going to be a total pain, not to mention if you end up needing anything slightly more exotic like boring cycles or 3D contouring. You've bought a lot of machine with the new Sharp, make sure you can get the full use out of it with the right CAD/CAM!

 

[Insert]

Congrats on the machine.

When you find out if you need the PT-330 or PT-335 Phase COnverter, could you please post back. I am currently looking at purchasing the same machine, Phase Perfect needed some additional information, and I have not heard back from Sharp/Siemens yet.

Thanks

 

[gundog]

Congrats on the machine.

When you find out if you need the PT-330 or PT-335 Phase COnverter, could you please post back. I am currently looking at purchasing the same machine, Phase Perfect needed some additional information, and I have not heard back from Sharp/Siemens yet.

Thanks

If I go strictly by the specs I need the larger PT-335 max load is right at the top of the PT-330 but reading the comments in here unless I plan to hog out some tough material it will run fine from the PT-330 and since there is about $2000 difference I was planning to buy the PT-330 I hope that is not a mistake. The guy that showed me the machine said when they first got it they had some issues with the spindle at the higher RPM so they upgraded the spindle motor to a larger size but told me that wasn't the problem it was a setting or parameter that needed to be changed. With that all being said I think this one has a 12KW spindle motor now.

 

[Orange Vise]

Sharp machines have generally been pretty solid.

Their website lists the electrical requirements for that machine at 20KVA, which is a bit over 50 amps at 220v 3-phase. Nameplate ratings are often inflated, so you could likely run the machine on the smaller Phase Perfect, but if you get additional 3-phase equipment down the road, like a compressor, it'll be nice having the larger capacity.

 

[DethloffMfg]

Congrats on the machine.

When you find out if you need the PT-330 or PT-335 Phase COnverter, could you please post back. I am currently looking at purchasing the same machine, Phase Perfect needed some additional information, and I have not heard back from Sharp/Siemens yet.

Thanks

Even for a VF-1 I was looking at the PT330, and that is a "30hp" machine. I will not run it at max load and know someone who is running his VF2SS on a PT330 no problem. Max amp draw is based on max output of all axes and spindle at the same time, with the spindle being the primary draw.

Like Orange Vise mentioned though, if you plan to get any 3-phase equipment down the road a bigger converter will be useful.

 

[gundog]

Moving the new to me machine is starting to look like it is becoming an issue I planned to move it myself but I am having a hard time finding a forklift big enough that is not so huge I can't get it through my shop door. I should have budgeted a little more to have a rigging company do it and I still might. The machine weighs #7300 according to the Sharp web site. I found a n #8000 reach all type I thought would work but after talking to a rigger he recommended against it.

 

[Vancbiker]

If you decide to go with a rigger, have these guys quote it....

Integrity Machinery Moving – We will strive to insure the safest most cost effective solution for your machinery moving needs.

When my son moved his 12k lb VMC into his shop they had the best price and did a great job on a difficult move-in.

 

[gundog]

If you decide to go with a rigger, have these guys quote it....

Integrity Machinery Moving – We will strive to insure the safest most cost effective solution for your machinery moving needs.

When my son moved his 12k lb VMC into his shop they had the best price and did a great job on a difficult move-in.

I will give them a call Friday or Monday. The guy I talked to told me it would cost $325 an hour and would probably take 5 to 7 hours. The machine will be disconnected and ready to move and at my place I just want it put in place it is a fairly straight forward move my shop door is 101" high 106" if I remove the door 9' wide. It is all concrete and black top at both ends their door is 14' high my end is the tightest fit but not that bad. It is a 20 minute drive from their shop to mine.

 

[Freds]

gundog,

I'm not acquainted with the economy in your area, but the rate seems a little high. I'm in California - not an area known for low cost services - and our very competent rigger/transporter charges $250.00 an hour. Unless they are coming from some distance away, face serious traffic issues, and/or have to deal with difficult sites at loading/unloading, the time estimate seems a bit much given the 20-30min drive.

Regardless, good luck with the new to you mill; have only heard good things about the Sharps.

Fred

 

[DethloffMfg]

gundog I got the same quote for rigging here in Portland. If you want to move the machine yourself, just get the machine to the door of the shop. Rent some machinery skates from United Rentals, set the machine on the skates, and you can push the machine in place by hand. Might be able to do it yourself but you could buy some beer for buddies and be good to go.

Moving the machine from their shop to yours is probably the larger issue at that point. Being that it is Washington I can say for sure that if I saw a forklift driving down the highway with a Sharp on it, it probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing I saw that day.

 

[gundog]

Right now my estimates to rent a forklift big enough to move it including standby is between $800 to $1100 then another $115 to rent a trailer that is not ideal to haul the machine they are equipment trailers that have fender wells in the way to side load the machine on the trailer. The rigger has insurance should something go wrong and they do it for a living I am going to hire this done but I plan to call around I have a tight time line to move the machine so I may have to do it myself but I won't if I can help it. I got a good deal on the machine so spending another $1000 to move it over a do it myself with the chances of doing damage to this machine doesn't make good sense to me. If I could get a good trailer and spend $500 for a lift which is what I was originally quoted that made sense.

 

[guest]

+1 on using a rigger.

One suggestion- before you prepare the machine for the move, just check the way it behaves on power-up.

When you home it out, does Z go up before the table moves? Can you jog the Z axis before homing out the machine?

You will have the head blocked when you move it. When you hook it back up you will need to raise up the Z to get the cribbing out.

Most machines home out Z before X and Y, others move all 3 simultaneously. Some machines have to be homed out before you can jog an axis.

If you know how it will behave on power up, you will know what you have to do to get the cribbing out when you hook it back up.

 

[specfab]

Regarding Sharp generally:
My company purchased (2) 2414 SE-M machines new, one last year in Dec/Jan, and one the previous year around the same time, from Sharp Industries in Calif. The pricing for the new machines with Siemens controls was less than $40K both times, and I understand from Sharp that they were unloading them at significant discount because of the lack of popularity of Siemens controls among users in western USA. In terms of support, Sharp essentially refers you to Siemens if you have real control issues. The local machine distributors that rep Sharp, and would typically do the initial installation/setup for a new machine, have no expertise to speak of in use of Siemens controls, at least with respect to the Sharp VMC. My mfg guy doing the programming and running the machine spent a couple of days with the Siemens rep onsite for the first machine installation, and we asked the SmartCAM guys to gin up a post for the control as well.

The use of a Phase Perfect is a good idea. Sharp pointed a finger at our rotary converter as a likely source of mysterious problems that we initially saw running the first machine in a temporary location. I'm not so sure that was the issue, but error incidents are significantly reduced with the machines now running native 3-phase. What we have seen mostly now is toolchanging issues, with alignment of changer to spindle. Not a high-frequency issue, but resolution took some time to achieve.

 

[Mickey_D]

I have had two 2412's over the years (just sold the last one) and these guys are easy to move. Our Toyota 6500 pound lift had no problems with them. I did use an 8K skytrak style lift to move the first one and had no problems with it, just made sure that I strapped it to the rack.

 

[gundog]

+1 on using a rigger.

One suggestion- before you prepare the machine for the move, just check the way it behaves on power-up.

When you home it out, does Z go up before the table moves? Can you jog the Z axis before homing out the machine?

You will have the head blocked when you move it. When you hook it back up you will need to raise up the Z to get the cribbing out.

Most machines home out Z before X and Y, others move all 3 simultaneously. Some machines have to be homed out before you can jog an axis.

If you know how it will behave on power up, you will know what you have to do to get the cribbing out when you hook it back up.

I can ask the guy who demonstrated it for me it maybe disconnected from power before I see it again they were working on it getting it ready to go yesterday when I was there they have the original moving brackets for it so they will install those before disconnecting it. I have also asked them to backup the parameters as was suggested.

The story on the machine is this. It was the only VMC they had and was used occasionally by the engineers making prototypes they think it has about 200 hours on it. The company was bought out by a large company that anyone on here would know. I am not sure if they want me to say so I won't they have been very good to work with and I know the guy has read this thread. The new company wants the machine gone despite the pleas from the engineers who want to keep it. There is a dead line of when the machine must be moved they are wanting the space for production it looks like they assemble parts at this location and the individual parts are made somewhere else. I am very excited to get this to my shop.

 

[guest]

I can ask the guy who demonstrated it for me it maybe disconnected from power before I see it again they were working on it getting it ready to go yesterday when I was there they have the original moving brackets for it so they will install those before disconnecting it. I have also asked them to backup the parameters as was suggested.

It's not a huge deal, but it would give you some peace of mind to know what is going to happen when you hit the home button.

You may be able to just jog the Z manually on power up. My Chevalier has absolute encoders, it doesn't have to be homed out on startup. When I hooked it up, I just jogged the head up and removed the cribbing.

I just don't know how the Siemens control works in that regard.

Nice to have those brackets- it makes it safer if you have to home the machine, because there is nothing under the spindle when the brackets are removed.

 

[Freds]

I can ask the guy who demonstrated it for me it maybe disconnected from power before I see it again they were working on it getting it ready to go yesterday when I was there they have the original moving brackets for it so they will install those before disconnecting it. I have also asked them to backup the parameters as was suggested.

The story on the machine is this. It was the only VMC they had and was used occasionally by the engineers making prototypes they think it has about 200 hours on it. The company was bought out by a large company that anyone on here would know. I am not sure if they want me to say so I won't they have been very good to work with and I know the guy has read this thread. The new company wants the machine gone despite the pleas from the engineers who want to keep it. There is a dead line of when the machine must be moved they are wanting the space for production it looks like they assemble parts at this location and the individual parts are made somewhere else. I am very excited to get this to my shop.

gundog,

I would assume, like most machines I've encountered, that you have access to a clock utility in the controller to obtain both the 'ON' time and the 'RUN' time. Based on your description, I'll be interested to know what those numbers are when you get this puppy fired up.

Fred

 

[gundog]

gundog,

I would assume, like most machines I've encountered, that you have access to a clock utility in the controller to obtain both the 'ON' time and the 'RUN' time. Based on your description, I'll be interested to know what those numbers are when you get this puppy fired up.

Fred

They were not sure how to access that info I have been reading the manual online and I think I know how to find it. It is under diagnostics and logs. I will check it when I get it home and powered up.