After selling our beloved Haas lathe late last year, we were quickly on the hunt for a replacement. Since many of our bits and pieces (i.e. pens, swivels, etc.) are turned parts a lathe is essential for the shop. As of the end of the year we had narrowed our search down to three finalists: the Haas ST-15SY, the Doosan 220 LSYC and the Mazak QTU-200MSY.
With Haas threatening but never making good on their promise to release the new dual-spindle ST-15SY we weren't able to go with our preferred CNC manufacturer. This left us with a close decision between the Doosan and the Mazak. The Mazak has slightly better specs but also cost more to purchase as well as to tool up, though the biggest strike against it was the control. The Mazatrol Smooth G interface is a 1/3rd keyboard proprietary interface that runs Mazatrol (although it can also run G-Code) and is used only on the lower level Mazak machines. Higher level machines run the Mazak Smooth G full keyboard control which still has some quirks to it and is designed around the proprietary Mazatrol language. The Doosan uses the much more common FANUC control and this newer version has the full keyboard layout. Making the decision a little easier was not just the less expensive machine price of the Doosan but also the lower cost of tooling as well as availability of off-the-shelf post-processors. It was a tight race but we decided to go with the Doosan from Adams Machinery in Tempe Arizona.
This is happy Jack taking delivery of his shiny new Doosan lathe:
Although we purchased the machine in December, it took a good 7 weeks for it to actually show up at the shop. The machine itself was out of Doosan in California with the main holdup being the chip conveyor out of Illinois. The ATS high-pressure coolant was actually delivered earlier and sat in the garage waiting for the machine. As always, the amazing people at C&M Rigging did the delivery and rolled it into the shop for us. They are truly wonderful and I cannot recommend them enough.
Setup and install:
Brian from Adams did the install and he's a fantastic service tech. In fact, his walk-through of the FANUC control was the primary deciding factor in our choosing the Doosan over the Mazak for purchase. Paul, the Adams sales rep., did us a solid and insisted that Steve Allnut, the Applications Engineer from Doosan California, fly out for a week of training. This was a brilliant idea because the Doosan manuals are complete shit. They are some of the worst technical manuals I have ever read in my life. Written in some Google translated nightmare of Krenglish (Korean-English) they are nearly unintelligible and downright infuriating to read.
The Necronomicon - Klaatu barada nikto:
When Steve showed up he let me rant about the manuals for a few minutes before gently taking them from me, nodding his head and handing me a Doosan America made "Cliff's Notes" version written in proper English. He them told me not to worry, that this manual would contain all of the information I was looking for and to his credit.. he's mostly correct. Steve Allnut is not just an amazing Applications Engineer but also quite possibly the finest CNC / Machining instructor I have ever run across. Had I known that this level training would be provided with the purchase of the machine my decision making process would probably have been abbreviated by a few weeks. He adds that much value to the entire process. With 3 days of training as well as Steve's help with creating a few templates and printing out his Doosan and FANUC PDF manuals, we were getting ready to make some parts.
The man, the myth, they legend.. Steve Allnut of Doosan:
Unfortunately, we had our first hiccup at this time. On the first day of training the lathe decided to mark its territory by peeing hydraulic fluid all over the shop floor. This is a new machine and all of the other machines are Haas so it's expected that it might be nervous. I didn't think about it much. Steve also found that one of the tool holders was out of spec (the tool would NOT fit in at all) and needed to be warrantied out. The tool holder was replaced in a few days by Adams and Doosan. Unfortunately, the last day Steve was here the machine leaked fluid once more. Hm...
Not to be dissuaded I started setting up the first job, D22 Large Tritium Carabiner swivels. This would be a part which would take advantage of both the main and sub-spindle allowing us to drop a completed part right off the machine (I get tingly just thinking about it).
Spindles - two is one and one is none:
After installing the Royal QC collet chucks (get some, trust me) we were ready to go, almost. Upon start-up and slow-down the sub-spindle would shriek like a scalded cat. Service came out again and it turned out that the sub-spindle drive belts were not properly tensioned at the factory. This was starting to get a little.. uh, interesting. You see, once they were tightened with the machine up and running it quickly became obvious that the sub-spindle wasn't balanced. In fact, the shimmy was shaking the entire machine so hard you could feel it in the floor across the shop. There was almost no measurable runout (.0002") at the collet face or with a gauge pin and even after removing the chuck the shimmy persisted so the problem had to reside within the spindle.
This time even Brian couldn't get everything running properly so Doosan called out the "big guns". They sent in the service tech the other service techs call, "The Iceman". Ok, maybe not quite but they did fly out a specialist from the east coast to work on the machine. It took a day but by the time Mohhammed and Brian left the machine was running beautifully (smooth, like butter). Doosan even sent the regional Sales Manager, Eugene, to verify that everything was taken care of properly.
To their credit (and primarily due to the efforts of Paul from Adams Machinery) Doosan / Adams not only fixed the machine but also extended the warranty to make sure that any similar issues are covered. I can honestly say that both Paul and Brian are stand-up guys and would absolutely recommend buying a machine from these guys. They're a great team and not only stand behind their products but support their customers and actually do what they say they are going to do.
CNC machines are complex animals. They are intricately designed amalgamations of control systems (FANUC) and iron (Doosan) which can hold amazing tolerances and work tirelessly to make precise, repeatable parts. That said, their complex nature also means that a little setup as well as fine tuning may be necessary along the way.
When buying an expensive machine we've learned that the equipment itself is only half the of the equation, the post-sales support is the other half. Partnering with a solid CNC manufacturer and even more importantly, a solid dealer like Adams Machinery can mean the difference between a smoothly functioning install and a service nightmare. Obviously, we're still just getting up and running on the new lathe and only time will tell how everything shakes out but for right now, we're enjoying that new-lathe-smell of our Doosan and excited about getting all tooled up and dialed in over the next few weeks.
D22 carabiner and newly machined swivel fresh off the Doosan:
-jack
Comments