My first Speedio (R450 with high torque and dual contact) was delivered December of 2016. Yamazen communication, technical knowledge, and all-around professionalism made everything easy. They did find something wrong during setup and test, overnighted the part, and were back the next day to finish. The machine has been great. There was some learning curve, mostly due to the control being different than anything I'd previously run. We started off with just tool length setting devices. Cycle times went way down. The 450 was so fast and problem free I was ready for another as soon as possible. A few months later Frank let me know there was a deal available on a 700 machine, with high torque and dual contact spindle. I had a couple of jobs that I though would be a good fit, and told Frank I'd take it. Cycle times again went down. I did change my machining strategy on a couple of jobs, going from old-school with larger tools to smaller with high-speed machining. It was a good change.
Not too long after this I was diagnosed with stage 4 triple hit lymphoma and bone marrow cancer. I went ahead and bought another 450, and a 500, both standard spindle 10k. Part of the reason was my plan to get through this, stay determined and focused on moving forward. The chemo was pretty tough, but due to the increased throughput of the Speedios I was able to keep with with what I needed to do, even though I was able to work less than half the hours I'd worked before. I'm still dealing with significant neuropathy caused by the chemo, and working less than full time. I'm able to do pretty well thank to the efficiency and accuracy of the Speedio machines.
I just added a 4th to the 700 and Renishaw spindle probing to all machines. As with everything involving Yamazen, they came in and did the job efficiently. I never felt like they had sent a guy that wasn't ready to do the job, or was lacking in training. The local Yamazen crew have been very supportive and responsive. I could not hope for better.
My next step in the process is adding in-process probing to my work. If anyone has a reference to an easy way to set up probing partial circles quickly and easily I'd sure appreciate it. Right now I'm not seeing an easy way to automate this. I still have occasional chemo brain, and difficulty focusing.
The machines I replaced the last few years with Speedios were Haas VF2, Super MiniMill, Minimill2, and RoboDrill. I often had concerns about support and continued function.(I also replaced a couple of Haas lathes with Takisawa)
Synopsis: the experience has been 100 percent positive. I'll be 65 in a few weeks. My guess is I'll work another 5 years if I'm physically capable, and no worries about the machines I have to use. Not wondering whether stuff will work is a good feeling.
ETA: stuff like changing batteries on the Speedio machine is nice-n-easy. Much easier than my experience with prior machines. They seem designed for easy maintenance.
Not too long after this I was diagnosed with stage 4 triple hit lymphoma and bone marrow cancer. I went ahead and bought another 450, and a 500, both standard spindle 10k. Part of the reason was my plan to get through this, stay determined and focused on moving forward. The chemo was pretty tough, but due to the increased throughput of the Speedios I was able to keep with with what I needed to do, even though I was able to work less than half the hours I'd worked before. I'm still dealing with significant neuropathy caused by the chemo, and working less than full time. I'm able to do pretty well thank to the efficiency and accuracy of the Speedio machines.
I just added a 4th to the 700 and Renishaw spindle probing to all machines. As with everything involving Yamazen, they came in and did the job efficiently. I never felt like they had sent a guy that wasn't ready to do the job, or was lacking in training. The local Yamazen crew have been very supportive and responsive. I could not hope for better.
My next step in the process is adding in-process probing to my work. If anyone has a reference to an easy way to set up probing partial circles quickly and easily I'd sure appreciate it. Right now I'm not seeing an easy way to automate this. I still have occasional chemo brain, and difficulty focusing.
The machines I replaced the last few years with Speedios were Haas VF2, Super MiniMill, Minimill2, and RoboDrill. I often had concerns about support and continued function.(I also replaced a couple of Haas lathes with Takisawa)
Synopsis: the experience has been 100 percent positive. I'll be 65 in a few weeks. My guess is I'll work another 5 years if I'm physically capable, and no worries about the machines I have to use. Not wondering whether stuff will work is a good feeling.
ETA: stuff like changing batteries on the Speedio machine is nice-n-easy. Much easier than my experience with prior machines. They seem designed for easy maintenance.
