Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Hello Dave
You are correct, a rocker head does not have the rigidity to handle heavy cutting. You have to understand, it was not designed to do that. It is designed to port heads and do block work. Any 3 + 2 machine does not do simultaneous machining. You must program with a Cam program. It is not a complete necessity to use a cam on 3+2 but I most surely would as it is faster and easier. I love the Centroid for what it does especially at its cost. I have 2 CNC machines and one is the TnS you spoke of with 39" Z axis. For a 4th axis I have a 12 inch table for rigidity and I had looked at a 5th axis but the software is not there yet but will be soon. There are a number of programs that will handle full 5 axis machining but they "aint" cheap. Several will do 3+2 also but you give up finish and speed and use of tooling becomes a huge factor. If you want to see how they do full 5 axis, look at a Mazak or a Matsurra or maybe a Hurco but dont be upset with sticker shock. I set up a 8 axis machine a few years back and hell I couldnt even afford to look at it.
reed

Reed,
What post/system does Tim use on his machine? Don't think I ever saw it mentioned in his ads.

Not sure T&S is an option. One was on order for over 3 mounts and now it is in the shop and has been
set Up for 4 weeks and it still has not turned out any blocks.

More details Jed. 3 months delivery doesn't sound all that bad. I have had the same thing happen with old school manual equipment.
Not being used after delivery? What is the reason?