I have been traveling to China for many years and know many of the machine tool factories around the Shanghai area including the one who makes the Tormach machines. I have a long time friend in the machine tool business over there who knows all of the factories and who makes what for who. None of them produce the whole machine - they are all "integrators" using parts produced by other component factories. There are companies who make the castings, companies who make the sheet metal, companies who make all of the other components, and even shopping malls where you can go and buy components. Their are even factories who do nothing but make carousel tool changers. The Chinese domestic market is so large that that type of distributed manufacturing is viable for products like this.
I don't personally have any problem with Chinese products, provided that you find the right factories. Chinese manufacturing has come a long ways in the last 20 years. It may be true that Tormach designed the casting, although I don't see much need to as there are many existing slug designs. They probably did design the sheet metal. But the spindle, belts, pulleys, electronics, motors, ball screws, couplers, linear rails, and bearings - you know all of the components that actually function - are almost certainly all off-the-shelf Chinese components. If they were using brands like IKO or THK - surely they'd brag about that (using Japanese parts instead - LOL). There are actually some really nice Chinese controllers being produced for cheap, so why they are still using Mach3 is beyond me. And here is a fun fact: If the Chinese factories want even better quality, they actually import components from Taiwan, which has about a 40 year lead over Chinese manufacturing technology. Again, I don't have a problem with Chinese components myself. But the question I have is... if you find a quality Chinese integrator and specify the way the machines must be built, tested, and to what tolerances they must meet - does that then make it an American product? I guess if you think the iPhone is an American product because Apple designed the skin around which the Chinese components are housed, then yes. But that would make Mach3 on Windows the equivalent of iTunes on iOS, which may not be that much of a stretch - haha. >Len > I have a PCNC770 in my shop. I can't speak officially for Tormach but > indications are that Tormach creates all of design and specifications > and outsources the manufacture. Their engineering documents on the > website and the offering of training classes shows that the products are > theirs from beginning to end. > > (I am biased) > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WatchGuard Dimension instantly turns raw network data into actionable security intelligence. It gives you real-time visual feedback on key security issues and trends. Skip the complicated setup - simply import a virtual appliance and go from zero to informed in seconds. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=123612991&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
