WTB - Looking to Buy a Haas Mini Mill or Possibly TM-1P (2008 or newer).

[AmericanMaker]

I'm looking to buy a Haas Mini Mill or Possibly TM-1P (2008 and newer). My budget is in the $28K range.
I will request that the seller allow a technician (that I will hire) to inspect the machine under power.
The machine will be for my home garage and I'm limited by an 82.5" opening height, thus my machine choices.
I live in the Nashville, TN area, just in case someone nearby would like to sell their Haas.

 

[Garwood]

I have stuffed 9 foot tall VMC's under 7 foot doors. Door height is a really poor excuse for wanting such a low end machine.

You have the budget for something 10 times better than a micro Haas.

 

[TwinSpool]

A small haas can do well with the right work. If it gets him going and makes money why does it matter that a heavier machine could be shoe horned in? Resale value on a small, easily moved machine is really good. If he spends $28k on a machine then in 2 years he's ready for another machine he'll sell it for $28k give or take. If the last couple years are any indication he'd sell that 28k machine for 35k.

 

[FamilyTradition]

I have stuffed 9 foot tall VMC's under 7 foot doors. Door height is a really poor excuse for wanting such a low end machine.

You have the budget for something 10 times better than a micro Haas.

The Haas is a huge improvement over the machine he was originally thinking of purchasing.

It seems that many folks who own them are generally happy with them. I worked in a shop that had one - that was a workhorse for the right parts. From rumors I heard, one of the guys that ran it, crashed it hard a few times, and it kept chugging along.

 

[AmericanMaker]

I have stuffed 9 foot tall VMC's under 7 foot doors. Door height is a really poor excuse for wanting such a low end machine.

You have the budget for something 10 times better than a micro Haas.

@Garwood I decided on a Haas for many reasons, the most important to me being, good support from the company (lots of documentation and video support), a huge community, it's more machine than I need with my current skill set, it holds it's value well.

I did look into used Fanucs, Fadals, Brothers, etc. I'd love to own one of those beasts! But most of the machines I found within my budget are huge, much older, and very well used (to be kind). Am I'm looking for used machines in all the wrong places? Possibly.

What I do know is I don't want to deal with large, old machines. I don't want to waste anymore time trying figure out what will fit in my garage, which machines and models are still supported by the mfg, and if replacement parts and logic boards are easily and readily available. And I don't want to deal with antiquated controllers. I want to work with a more modern interface.

As I'm getting started I need to keep things simple. A Haas seems to meet that need and is the best move for me at this point in time. Hopefully one day there's a Brother Speedio in my future.

 

[AmericanMaker]

I will say this ... the more searching I do, the more mind opens to other ideas. If I can save money and put that savings towards tooling, and still get a good, trustworthy machine that fits in my garage, I'll seriously consider other options.

While doing some searching yesterday, I learned about the Sharp SV-2412 Series. I found this one on eBay
Looks and like a great machine that is still supported. I'll do more research today.

 

[BT Fabrication]

there is a guy i know locally selling a fairly new tm-1P here in ontario canada.