Toolroom cnc lathe alternatives UK ??

Hi everyone

Just wondering what alternatives there are for the New Haas TL1 or is it the best bang for buck in the UK??

Already have a TM1 mill which has been great for the last 15 years for the general subcon work we do and only have an old myford for the turning side so anything cnc is going to be an upgrade

Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers Kev

Kev h said:

Hi everyone

Just wondering what alternatives there are for the New Haas TL1 or is it the best bang for buck in the UK??

Already have a TM1 mill which has been great for the last 15 years for the general subcon work we do and only have an old myford for the turning side so anything cnc is going to be an upgrade

Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers Kev

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I worked on a TL1 for a number of years & found it ok, tail stock is manually operated [or was?]have a look at the XYZ offerings.I have a Myford in my garage & obviously it's not an industrial m/c.

Tony

We have a prototrak TRL 1840, which I think is xyz in uk mentioned above? Its not a bad machine if used for very small quantity parts. It was our only CNC lathe for 10 years and I've made parts that were in the hundreds on it, not the best for that.

If your familiar with Haas and G code, you might feel the control is limited, I would get frustrated with something that could be done with a simple G code that you just cant do on a Trak.

Romi is another interesting one, I've never seen one in person but they look like a nice machine.

Harrison Alpha, probably among the most expensive of the bunch but good quality iron, and a Fanuc control that can be used like a normal fanuc control if you want to, or with Harrison's conversational/teach system as you prefer.

If buying used, be wary of the some older models that cannot be used in standard Fanuc mode.

Thanks Guys will have a look at Romi and XYZ

Cheers Kev

There is also Emco, but not cheap.

Just had Haas brochure through and says TL1 from £29K and ST10 £30 … I,m sure the rep said TL1 was just over £20k but 1k difference why would you get the TL1??

Also are tailstocks an optional extra ??

Cheers Kev

^ Sure there both bottom of the range as it were, but if you compare the specs, the TL1 is firmly the next size up machine wise a2-6 spindle instead of a2-5 etc. Now if everything you do was on the myford, you may well find them both plenty spacious enough.

I believe several years ago when the TL1 first came out tail stock was optional, not sure now, ask your sales guy.

"I presume that includes the tail stock " is the way to start the conversation

gregormarwick said:

Harrison Alpha, probably among the most expensive of the bunch but good quality iron, and a Fanuc control that can be used like a normal fanuc control if you want to, or with Harrison's conversational/teach system as you prefer.

If buying used, be wary of the some older models that cannot be used in standard Fanuc mode.

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Yeah, I agree. The Harrison Alpha's are decent iron but their Alpha features seem really backwards to me. Draw offline, then import to control so that it can generate a cycle for you. Fagor had that on board many many years ago already.

That's the only suggestion I have Kev, see if you can find a teach style lathe with a Fagor control. I have a bit heavier than the general run of mill Taiwanese Teach lathe with a Fagor 8055. It is an incredible control to use on that style lathe.

barbter said:

Comparing to the Haas, by far the easiest control and nicer machine is the XYZ SLX1630.
But you already know Haas...

The best one out there that I know about is a Weiler with a Siemens conversational on it.
But it's B I G bucks!

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XYZ often sell of ex showroom stock, they have a sale this month, March 2019.

Used and Ex-Demo Machines | XYZ Machine Tools

That SLX 425 has similar specs to mine, control looks interesting. I'd love to hear what others have experienced opposed to the Fagor. I have an older TNC 530 (seems they don't make them anymore but mine has a 80mm spindle bore) Tech-in - TNC-460N / 540N / 630N made by CNC-TAKANG CO., LTD. - Heavy Duty Lathes Manufacturer in Taiwan and that machine paid itself off after about a year (bought it to do in house work), after currently having it for roughly 15 years, paid off 2 machining centres and gave me the confidence to buy my first full cnc lathe about 6 years ago.It is the reason that I could start my sideline business originally. Now sitting with 3 full cnc lathes, 3 machining centres and that Takang.

It is so damn flexible and easy to use that It opened up loads of work opportunities for me. Not sure if you have an agent over there but I have abused mine and it is still going strong. Manual toolpost that I bought extra holders for (have 20 but have kept about 10 "standard" tools in place and the rest for specials). Main issues I have had is a memory battery drop after about 10 years, a belt replacement twice in about 5 year intervals, a side tach bearing that gave in (was an off the shelf R200 bearing, do the conversion) and the operator (after I was it's ONLY operator for about 3 years) being too slow to keep up with it. We looked at the haas tool room style lathes before we bought it and it is a toy compared to it. Those XYZ's look impressive though.

On a side note, Kev... I thought you were a Wire/EDM guy? Still running a mill with One CNC?

Weiler with Siemens control is slick and quick to program. I ran one for 5 years so 1-10 pc and repair jobber work.
Same goes for a fagor control. Very happy with my 8040 and 8055 controls
For 2 axis jobber work these 2 controls are quick to get cutting.

I find half the battle is the control for profitable jobbing on a cnc.
I have a haas tl-1 2005 and hardly turn it on bexouse it's slower to program than the fagor beside it

Yep wire guy but after wire machine out of action have been milling a lot more (with XR5 ) and keep turning down lathe work so thought it might be worth investing in a cnc lathe.

Stirling said:

I find half the battle is the control for profitable jobbing on a cnc.
I have a haas tl-1 2005 and hardly turn it on bexouse it's slower to program than the fagor beside it

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I have TM1 and always use Onecnc to program even if drilling a couple holes and I assume TL1 would be the same.

Check out Style cnc lathe's now being imported into UK by Chester tools loads of vids on YouTube and the control looks very user friendly and quick to get going.
KB

Kev h said:

I have TM1 and always use Onecnc to program even if drilling a couple holes and I assume TL1 would be the same.

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Ya my tm is always programmed with fusion 360 unless it's a simple bolt hole circle (2007)

The newer tl lathes have an ok conversational control. Used it in school. Bought this 2005 and it did not have the same features as the 2778 I ran. I was bummed, but easy to program with fusion. I make drawings of everything anyways