Thanks for these, very helpful! With the 12" travel on the X, roughly how much of this is taken up by the ATC?

I am looking at a prolight 2000 with ATC and original controller and pendant. I wanted to ask if you are in still in love with the prolight 2000... and if you think it is worth £4,000+ for one with the original setup in very good condition.

I've seen your videos and know that you have upgraded your whole motion control system... did you find that the original system was inadequate? I wonder if the original system would be able to handler large gcode files containing adaptive toolpaths... were there any other components that you found hard to find replacements for?

If I don't get the prolight 2000 I would opt for a similarly spec'ed (and priced) Denford Triac which has a 300mm X axis, but has other limitations. I currently have a denford novamill and love it to bits, but am frequently annoyed by the limitation in travels (9" on the X) and spindle power (it's only 1/2HP 5000rpm).

Thanks!!

Hi babiels,

ATC is located at the very end of travel but it takes an additional 1.0" for fork clearance. Also you can't machine on the table close to the ATC.

If you are using vise, I would say it takes 1.5" of usable space and if you are machining on the table, I would say it takes 3" off your available travel.

Overall ATC is a nice addition, but the tradeoff is debatable.

You will not be able to find the original tool holders, so I had to purchase Tormach ones which are largeer, so I had to 3D-print a new set of forks.

Also the R8 spindle clamping is not adequate and sometimes the toolholders pull out. It happens when there is chatter, so you might not be able to use all of the available power.

The PLM2000 comes with DOS-based software, which I couldn't get to work. Perhaps controller was broken.

So I had to retrofit all electronics with the exception of the spindle controller. Plus now the new controller works with Windows 10 so I can transfer NC files using OneDrive. Very convenient.

I personally probably wouldn't buy it for $5000.

I got mine from an auction for $900 and spend about as much getting it shipped from US to Canada. But I didn't mind putting some (quite a few hours trying to get everything to work exactly as I want) work into it. You might want to get a solution that already works and matches your requirements.

Thanks so much for the quick response. I guess I will pass on it. I was impressed by its 10,000 RPM speed and the ATC given its size, but as I mill off the table that is going to be inadequate on the X. It's a shame that they didn't just make the tables longer on these guys - the novamill has the same issue. The table is plenty long but the enclosure limits the travel of the table to 9" and that's just a little too short. Anyway I appreciate you getting back to me and thanks in general for FSWizard - I use it all the time!

The ATC rack is removable.

You can just unbolt it and put it aside (completely disconnecting it from the machine is a hassle)

The air-assisted quick tool change is a very nice option to have even if you don't use the ATC.

But again I don't know your situation with machines of this class in the UK.

There is nothing in Canada.

In the US prices have gone up and one like mine could probably go for $5000