New Machine Day-Kitamura 4XiD

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 10, 2017

• #1

My new VMC was delivered today, a Kitamura 4XiD.





I had to say goodbye to a old friend today as well.


The move-in was thankfully uneventful. Now I have to get power and air to it so the techs can come in and do their thing.

(I think I may have done this wrong, but I don't have time to drag out a thread for several weeks. I have parts to make. )

*edit--I had more pictures but it won't let me upload anymore on this post or in a reply.

 

Attachments

• 
  20171010_113631.jpg

  87.5 KB · Views: 491
• 
  20171010_113640.jpg

  85.5 KB · Views: 512

T

Tonytn36

Diamond

Joined

Dec 23, 2007

Location

Southeastern US

• Oct 10, 2017

• #2

Congrats.... nice looking machine from what I can tell. May let you upload more after a certain time period.

 

M

machtool

Diamond

Joined

Jun 22, 2004

Location

Melbourne Australia

• Oct 11, 2017

• #3

red beard said:

*edit--I had more pictures but it won't let me upload anymore on this post or in a reply.

Click to expand...

I can help.

This seems to work.

""To be continued"" A month of Sundays from now, the pictures will magically appear.

Congrats on your new machine.

Regards Phil.

(On Edit). There is a 5 picture / post limit. Now that your thread is established, punt them in 5 at a time. You can do that post after post, 5 at a time, to put it multiple pictures.

Personally I like the Fork Lift / rigger pics. So don't miss those.

 

NAST555

Stainless

Joined

May 23, 2008

Location

Gauteng, South Africa

• Oct 11, 2017

• #4

Congrats!
What is that beast that you said goodbye to?

 

C

Cycle1000

Cast Iron

Joined

Mar 6, 2015

• Oct 12, 2017

• #5

Looking good, will definitely need a follow up to see your thoughts on that beast.
Oh..and you suck at new machine day posts
Gary

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 13, 2017

• #6

It's been a busy couple of days. The tech has been here getting it set up and leveled.

He finished up today and it is now ready to run!

I will have to get the hang of the control, but another tech will be here on Monday to show me the basics of the control.

I should be running parts next week. Unfortunately my vises won't be here for a couple of weeks. Orange Vise must be busy. They have a 3-4 week lead time right now. I have a couple of old Kurts that I can put on there in the meantime.

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 14, 2017

• #7

NAST555 said:

Congrats!
What is that beast that you said goodbye to?

Click to expand...

That was an Okuma LS engine lathe, 1970s vintage.


It was sold to a local shop for their tool room.

 

J

Jashley73

Titanium

Joined

Jan 24, 2013

Location

Louisville, KY

• Oct 14, 2017

• #8

Nice machine. Please give us updates, as we don't hear/see much about Kitamura's on here...

On a side note - I know you probably needed to make room for the new machine, but what a shame to part with the old Okuma. Those are sweet lathes...

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 14, 2017

• #9

Jashley73 said:

Nice machine. Please give us updates, as we don't hear/see much about Kitamura's on here...

On a side note - I know you probably needed to make room for the new machine, but what a shame to part with the old Okuma. Those are sweet lathes...

Click to expand...

We had two engine lathes, that Okuma and a Mori Seiki. We didn't really need two anymore. I like the Mori better, so we kept that one.

 

M

mbraddock

Hot Rolled

Joined

Jul 17, 2008

Location

Gainesville, FL

• Oct 14, 2017

• #10

Nice old iron ... and nice new iron . I look forward to hearing details on your Kity once you start making chips!

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 15, 2017

• #11

A few more pictures from move in day.

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 15, 2017

• #12

Some more pictures I took yesterday.

 

NAST555

Stainless

Joined

May 23, 2008

Location

Gauteng, South Africa

• Oct 16, 2017

• #13

Are those Mitsubishi or Fanuc based controls? Never had the opportunity to mess around with a Kitamura but from what I remember they used to come with yasnak as well?

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 17, 2017

• #14

This machine has a Mitsubishi control with Kitamura's UI over top of it. They tried to make the interface as much like Fanuc as they could. So far everything on the control seems to be pretty straightforward.

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 18, 2017

• #15

We ran some parts on the machine yesterday. I will see if I can post the video here.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1829510623745560

The parts aren't anything special. They'er just some t-slot nuts for my new vises.
First impressions: It's much faster than any of my other machines (all are about 20 years old). I'm definitely going to be able to make more $/hr with this machine.

I'm not really taking a heavy cut with the end mill (1/2" HTC variable flute, .400 DOC, .100WOC, 2800 RPM, 64IPM), but it does seem quite rigid. The machine doesn't seem to notice that it's cutting anything at all.


Edit: It looks like my video won't embed here, but you can follow the link.

 

red beard

Cast Iron

Joined

Apr 1, 2006

Location

Grand Rapids, MI USA

• Oct 29, 2017

• #16

Here's another video milling 316 Stainless with a Dapra 1" indexable end mill. This machine seems every bit as rigid as my old, heavy box way Supermax (if not more), which is what I used to run this job on.