Chance to buy a mill

[32rules]

Ive been offered the follwoing mill and I dont have any idea about it



It is a a Tri-onics Handyman Mill and appears to be a 4 axis CNC

The tag says made in Ohio.

It is like new. A hobbyist had it in his garage for personal use and has
recently upgraded to a CNC station and doesnt use this anymore.

Was purchased new by him about 10 years ago.

It is a 3 HP but I forgot to see if it was 220 or 440 3 phase.

It comes with a set of NT30 collets.

Oh yea it has a manual and he is asking $2,000.

It is in extrremely good shape.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I would almost bet it is 220 3ph, but yeah best check to be sure.

For $2k I would buy it! Usually in that price range a regular knee mill has been all used to hell and are very sloppy. If it's been an individual owned and looks that good then you know it's been taken care of and is tight.

From a quick google search I read that Tri-onics has been out of business a long time so replacement parts are non-existant (at least for the CNC add-on's). The programming is some custom non-G code and is kind of slow (but who can complain for the price?)...

I would buy it and be happy using it as a manual mill, the CNC add-on is just a bonus.

I would still check it out fully before deciding to purchase, and make sure you have at least the programming manual, the more manuals the better!

 

[Jim Johnstone]

If the mill itself is tight then you cant lose. Even if the cnc is proprietary and parts dont exist it would be an extremely easy machine to retrofit to a mach3 or emc2 controller since all the hardware is already there.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

 

[bobadame]

If you intend to use it as a CNC mill figure on upgrading the electronics. There are kits available or you could assemble your own components. Or you could use it as a manual mill. Just put a little drag on the table and saddle with the locks to keep your work from running away when you climb cut. Not a big deal. The machine is probably Asian, with the conversion done here. Also not a big deal. A one owner, I bet it's in very good shape and worth every penny he's asking. I'd give the asking price if the owner will agree to guide you through the programing if the cnc function still works. Either way it looks like a good deal.

 

[32rules]

There is a programing guide with it.
It was working when it was disconnected.
Im going to ask to see it run.
What about the mill itself? Can you get parts for it?
It looks like a brigeport head would fit, but its hard to tell.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I'm sure it's an import, just had the CNC retro in the US.

You can probably find parts for it if something breaks, you will just have to measure the part and do a little searching among various vendors. The head looks a lot like the Enco Turn-Pro models....