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Redcam Vertical Mill

ryanbcnc

Plastic
Joined
Aug 11, 2017
Has anyone come across one of these mills before? From what I understand the company which i assume is long gone, would buy offshore vertical mills, and fit them with ball screws. They also apparently only sold to schools. I will attach a picture, the one I am looking at although old had very little use and the scraped ways, table, etc still look new. Its also includes a 4th axis. Any insight on the Redcam mills or similar would be helpful. The seller is saying bottom line 4k. Which in comparison to the manual offshore mills available in Canada this size looks not bad due to how much better built it looks to be and the CNC control factor... obviously.

redcam1.jpgredcam2.jpg
 
Looks like a CNCed plain old semi-useless drill/mill to me. You can not make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Have the seller run a program on it,see how accurate/usuable it is/ain't.
 
Hi ryanbcnc:
I have had only one encounter with this brand and it was not a close encounter.
A friend of mine bought one way back when on the advice of another friend and they tried to make it work.
This was well before the days of Tormach; I'm going to guess and say late 1990's.

As I recall it was an unmitigated disaster; threats of lawsuits, nasty recriminations flying back and forth and ultimately, re-crating and shipping it back to where it came from.

I know it was never able to cut an acceptable part, but sadly I cannot tell you why.
I vaguely recollect way underpowered steppers and chronically missed steps, but that's a recollection from 20 years ago and I was never involved with it anyway...I only heard the bitchin'.

Based purely on that sour recollection, I would be highly suspicious of it and I wouldn't touch it for any price.
There are so many safer ways to spend your money.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining
 
Hi ryanbcnc:
I have had only one encounter with this brand and it was not a close encounter.
A friend of mine bought one way back when on the advice of another friend and they tried to make it work.
This was well before the days of Tormach; I'm going to guess and say late 1990's.

As I recall it was an unmitigated disaster; threats of lawsuits, nasty recriminations flying back and forth and ultimately, re-crating and shipping it back to where it came from.

I know it was never able to cut an acceptable part, but sadly I cannot tell you why.
I vaguely recollect way underpowered steppers and chronically missed steps, but that's a recollection from 20 years ago and I was never involved with it anyway...I only heard the bitchin'.

Based purely on that sour recollection, I would be highly suspicious of it and I wouldn't touch it for any price.
There are so many safer ways to spend your money.

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining


Thanks for the info. Of course it is not over my head that a knee mill would be a better use of money but due to the fact that I cannot accommodate anything that size (more factors then just foot print) I have been looking to find a decent benchtop set up. The current owner had some stamps that he had made that showed signs of vibration (I assume lack of knowledge on his part caused this) but the letters were accurate and to size.

That said I have heard more story's like yours about machines like this then anything else so I am skeptical.
 
Thanks for the info. Of course it is not over my head that a knee mill would be a better use of money but due to the fact that I cannot accommodate anything that size (more factors then just foot print) I have been looking to find a decent benchtop set up. The current owner had some stamps that he had made that showed signs of vibration (I assume lack of knowledge on his part caused this) but the letters were accurate and to size.

That said I have heard more story's like yours about machines like this then anything else so I am skeptical.

You really, really need to go ask over at "the zone".
 
The end zone?? :stirthepot:

Want to let me in on the joke?

I’m assuming he means ******* because it seems clear to me that the Mill-Shaped-Object is a Rong-Fu hobbyist mill that is converted to CNC.

No joke.

Your topic might just get locked. Read the sticky up top.

cnc zone .com
please remove the obvious spaces.

Policy here (stoopid I tink) will not allow anyone to post the above link.
 
Last edited:
No joke.

Your topic might just get locked. Read the sticky up top.

cnc zone .com
please remove the obvious spaces.

Policy here (stoopid I tink) will not allow anyone to post the above link.

Ahh I understand what you mean now. Thought this would be ok still since redcam is American and the conversion was done State side.

Obviously based on its size I would have been better off asking elsewhere.

Thanks for the info.
 
If I were to buy that machine it would be with the intention of throwing away the control and steppers, and putting Clearpaths on it with a new Mach3/4 control. Probably not worth it.
 
Whys that?

1. Steppers are unsuitable for a metal cutting machine, as they easily lose steps, and don't even throw an error when they do. They also have a low torque to input power ratio.

2. That control computer is ancient, and finding compatible replacement parts will be increasingly difficult.

3. The company is out of business, and getting support will be impossible.

I have an old MaxNC sitting here collecting dust. I was able to make back it's purchase price and then some in the late 90's, but keeping it running isn't worth it these days.
 
1. Steppers are unsuitable for a metal cutting machine, as they easily lose steps, and don't even throw an error when they do. They also have a low torque to input power ratio.

2. That control computer is ancient, and finding compatible replacement parts will be increasingly difficult.

3. The company is out of business, and getting support will be impossible.

I have an old MaxNC sitting here collecting dust. I was able to make back it's purchase price and then some in the late 90's, but keeping it running isn't worth it these days.

I cant say I fully agree as far as steppers go but yes obviously Servos would be advantageous. As far as the computer goes, the owner has the software floppy and it can be used on computers with windows XP.. I ended up with a pile (literally) of laptops running xp so I am covered there. I do agree with the concern about the lack of support due to the company being gone.

Although I don't fully agree with it being useless, I do mostly agree with what you are saying and after getting some input and doing some research I cant say I believe it to be a the great deal that I once thought it was .. not really a deal at all.

Thanks for the input.
 
No idea of what money they're asking for this thing. IMO, you would be better off looking at a real machine a few years old if you actually expect it to make anything. And from what I can see it's a knee mill which comes with its own set of limitations.

And can you imagine bonking your knees on that silly Y axis servo cover every time you got close to the table?
 
No idea of what money they're asking for this thing. IMO, you would be better off looking at a real machine a few years old if you actually expect it to make anything. And from what I can see it's a knee mill which comes with its own set of limitations.

And can you imagine bonking your knees on that silly Y axis servo cover every time you got close to the table?

I was planing on using that unit of a cover as a seat for setups haha. The only reason I was considering it is because as of now my work space is either my shed or basement ... to get to the shed its a trip through the bush so getting a truck and trailer near it is not happening. Either way I have decided to just hold off till i build my garage next spring to buy some machines worth having.
 
If I were to buy that machine it would be with the intention of throwing away the control and steppers, and putting Clearpaths on it with a new Mach3/4 control. Probably not worth it.

What part of "not to be discussed here" doo you not understand ?
 








 
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