Mike2
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I have had 3 VHF mills. I had a very early K4 which was a 3/4 axis andlimited tipping of units and angulated screw channel milling. The first one had many issues with the tool measuring. The factory powder coated the arms which reduced electric conductivity. That is how the signal went to the control board, so it kept making divots in the touch off. My reseller flew in an engineer after the solution from vhf(star washer under touch off to bite thru powder coat )didn't solve the issue. He grounded the A-axis motor with a wire and then the mill ran very well, but I do not believe they tested this well enough as there were many who experienced the same. Now onto the K5 which started acting up this last month after 5 years. I was told I needed to change the end switches, which was a daunting task as these are German mills and they make everything overcomplicated. I ended up not not able to reconnect the Y-axis switch as the accesss to replace the wire was ridiculous. In addition the connectors they use are the ones where u need three hands to complete and there isn't room for one hand.. Mind you the connector for the wire is 2 time the size of a tic tac and the holes you access the release and push in the wire are .5mm and .75mm respectively. The newer ones come with screw down connector as they must have had enough issues with this before? So now i sit and wait as VHF will not drop ship, has to go through reseller? I was told this wasn't meant to be end user maintenance. WTF, ship a 200lb mill to NY from midwest? Then hope after you spend just shy of 500-1000$ that you get it back inside a week. It is all about support and reliability. I will be asking my reseller to mill some cases in house and ship to me for completion, I cannot just run it to the mill store in town, so make sure you have a reliable reseller. When the sh***t hits the fan, hopefully you have a plan as it is to costly to have a back-up 5 axis mill(30K$)
My 2 cents
My 2 cents