[Aussie Mike]

I got home from working in the UK on Sunday night and popped down to the showroom where the mill currently is on Monday afternoon. Paid the balance and had a play with the machine.

The machine is in even better shape than I hoped. It's equipped with ball screws on both X and Y axis and everything just works. It's been really well looked after.

Had a good chance to play with the machine and I have to say I'm impressed with the old Proto TRAK MX2 controller. The interface is easy to use and program for different shapes etc. I think it'll be great for me and the type of work I do. I reckon I'll get by with just the two axis for quite some time. Its simplicity will be a bonus for me as the learning curve won't be so steep.

The other thing I really like is that the mill can still be used as a regular manual mill like I currently have but with the addition of a sophisticated power feed and DRO setup. The current machine only has power feed on the X axis and the quill. To set travel limits you have to manually adjust the end stops. With the new one you can just quickly set the distance and speed and direction you want the power feed to run and press go. I also gain power feed on the Y axis.

You can probably tell from all the jargon I just babbled that I'm still pretty excited about it. I'm picking it up this Friday so you can imagine what this weekend holds for me.

Cheers