Small Turning Center?

I'm looking for a small turning center for a few products I make, all under 8" long and can be made with <2" bar stock. I make to order and maybe stock one or two complete assemblies, so no bar feeder (don't have room anyways!). I'd like a turret since it would make high mix low volume sense (in my mind, I'm open to suggestion there) for outside work (which is the main focus of what I do). Mostly aluminum so higher spindle speed (up to 6k) would be nice.

I'm looking at an older Takisawa TC-10 with a 21i-T which seems about perfect, but I have to go inspect it and see what they'll do on price. Otherwise I've seen the Mazak QT6 and QT200 of around the same vintage.

Any other suggestions for something in the 1995-2005 vintage I should start watching for?

Bobw will tell you to go with the Mazak.

I have an old Cincinnati Talon 208 that we've had since before it was called 'old'. 8" chuck A6 5K rpm 20/25 hp.would be fine for that. We do 1/2" Bar pulled parts to 8.5" Dia.parts on it and it's been lead pipe reliable. Not sophisticated but I've seen some screaming deals on some low hour machines on ebay, like $8K for one with paint still left on the inside, almost bought it for a spare.

Google performance alloys in germantown. I just got my hardinge cobra 42 from them. They have a second they are trying to sell cheap with a tail stock and chip conveyor.

1996 ish era and fanuc 21 controller.
Hardinge Cobra 42 CNC Turning Center - Fanuc 21-TB | eBay

Yeah I saw them list that one and it is actually what got me thinking about this, but those machines are several thousand pounds too heavy (I already have a 6k pound machine on this 4" garage slab don't wanna push it LOL). I meant to say I'm trying to limit it to a 10hp or so spindle as well since I'm not quite ready to get 200A service installed to the house.

I noticed the Mazaks are around 6k pounds.

Rick Finsta said:

Yeah I saw them list that one and it is actually what got me thinking about this, but those machines are several thousand pounds too heavy (I already have a 6k pound machine on this 4" garage slab don't wanna push it LOL). I meant to say I'm trying to limit it to a 10hp or so spindle as well since I'm not quite ready to get 200A service installed to the house.

I noticed the Mazaks are around 6k pounds.

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6k lbs too much? A 3/4 ton pickup weighs that much. If you have good soil under that 4" slab, you could put 50k lbs on it with no issues..........................

Man I thought auto racing forums were full of know-it-alls with poor reading comprehension but some days around here, I tell ya'.

alphonso said:

Bobw will tell you to go with the Mazak.

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I won't say "Go with the Mazak" but go with the Mazak.

Parts and support. Whatever you look at.. Can you get parts and support?? Did
they make 10,000 machines just like the one you are looking at, or are there only
15 of them in the US.. That is my #1 thing when looking at a used CNC machine,
especially if its more than a few years old..

Considerations on an older machine.
#1) Can I get the parts and support to keep it running.
#2) Is it economical/can I afford the parts and support to keep it running.
#3) Everything else you look at in a machine tool.

That is my opinion only.

As for the weight, and concern of the slab thickness.. Just drop it on some FAT plates.

A 6000lb machine just sitting on its feet on your floor... Could be as high as several
thousand pounds per square inch..

Drop that same machine (4 feet) on some 12" square plates, and your pressures are reduced
by a massive amount, if the plates thick and taking a full weight all around, you could
be as low as 10lbs per square inch.

It is not that heavy. My 4500LB clark picked it with fork extensions on it. They are willing to deal I got the dark gray and tan one for cheaper than list.

It doesn't even draw a full 30 amps, and I have it on a phase converter with only 60 amps going into the panel. I will run my haas the hardinge cnc lathe, a manual lathe and the Bridgeport and compressor all on that 60 amps. Doesn't pop breaker but will pull the frost from the ground in winter on the feed in.

I would seriously give them a call (pm me for his number) , they want it gone! There is the vdi tooling and a chuck with them as well. They are the original owners of the lathe.

A 4" slab is the min required for a 9000lbs two post car lift and that is spread out of 6ish square feet so weight is not a issue on that slab. I have a good 20,000lbs on 1200 square feet of 6 inch concrete. No issues at all.

If you plan on running fusion 360 for cam there is a bit of learning curve to it. That controller does not take the cycles that the generic post produces. I had to hand edit/create my own post.

I think that a Haas of that vintage would be a bit more user friendly towards the programming and file transfer portion.

You will have local support for the Takisawa. Old school box way, hand scrapped and still made today as the TCC-1100. Parts are out of Schaumburg, Illinois.