I have had a Proto Trak lathe for 30 years and still running. Been a great machine! Probably the most reliable cnc we have . Only a handful or so of breakdowns in that time.
Thanks for the update on what’s going on with Trak!!! 2005 I purchased their very basic Bridgeport type mill with two axis cnc control and also their 3 xaxis cnc bed mill. Both mills were wonderfully built machines. The basic two axis mill was my most accurate machine I’d ever operated in my 50+ years as a machinist!!! I had one repeat job every few months that was an aluminum part about 1” long, 5/8” high, and about 3/4” wide. Had a 3mm hole thru its length, 3 steps, and one locating surface which all dimensions had +.0002 -.0000 callouts. The locating surface was held to the same size callouts and also had to be square and perpendicular within .0001 to the 3mm reamed hole.The part also had two M3x0.35 tapped clamping threads.The bigger machine could not produce tight enough tolerances. The little mill would produce the parts sooooo easily it really wasn’t very hard to make perfect parts all day long. Turns out after I had raised the price over the years the customer sent the quotes and jobs to other shops. One and a half months later I received an order for double the quantity and was told they realized the per piece price was acceptable. They also sent me 85 pieces to ask if there was any way I could bring some other shops parts into tolerance, which unfortunately I could not accomplish. To me Trak machines are the tops!!!! First Southwestern Industries product I had ever used was their Travel Dial mounted on my Hardinge Toolroom Lathe. Also had one of their Height Gages. Service was never required on my little mill and the big mill had only one problem with one servo motor after 3 years of making parts.😊
If Trak actually wants to continue to expand the way they portray themselves to they need to adopt a transparent pricing model like Haas, I’m sure they’re plenty good machines but if they won’t even respond for an RFQ for a starting business I’d rather just buy a Haas
This is something I'd like to see broadly across the industry frankly - I think opaque pricing is keeping a lot of people going to the same vendors and sources when better are available.
We recently bought a TRAX DPM RX2 mill. Used a few TRAX/Bridgeport conversions and Bridgeport EZ-traks. Always referred to them as LAZY-traks. For guys that never learned to use a rotary table, Volstro Head, or other attachments to a basic Bridgeport. The first Bridgeports I learned on as an apprentice had linear optics! Then came DROs. Computer automation has replaced learned knowledge & skills. Yeah, I know, time is money in production shops.
there's a year old vmc7 at the shop i work at, it frequently loses offsets and makes for dangerous situations. It also has hardly any power behind it and doesn't seem very rigid. Made me cross off ever buying one for my garage.
Very misleading saying these machines are built from the ground up in Southern California. More like imported from overseas and assembled in the USA using foreign and domestic components.
Depends on what machine and what model you’re talking about - I don’t know about the split but this is the only facility I’ve ever been to in the US that has their own SMT wave machine for their own electronics - that’s pretty “ground up” to me
They're on borrowed time, there costs are skyrocketing where they can't raise there prices fast enough, which means they'll have to raise prices by double digits YOY to keep up with inflation or pack up and move where (Mexico/China) production's cheaper.
To be fair, when you increase productivity with robotics, but don't hire more workers, you have eliminated jobs. Unfortunately, once one company turns to robotics, the others have to follow. It's a race to the bottom, one that results in less jobs.
So, if more jobs is the goal, does that mean that there should be 10 operators making barely a livable wage just loading and unloading machines? Or 3 top tier guys making good money running robots making the same amount of production?
@@richkunze1196 Big time. It's not like there are people exactly banging down the doors to join the trade at the moment - though many are trying to help with that too. Automation is about helping the people you do have do more with their time and do the skilled work they want to do - not loading and unloading machines and slapping that green button a thousand times a day.
Yeah , if I find out practical machinist is just trying to sell us Machines and not doing sincere work, I’ll never watch this channel again. Are these machines truly USA made or not? Is the owner of this company, treating his employees as best as he possibly can? These are the things that I want to know. As a machinist myself, I’m gritty and I’m all USA. I’m sick of China made products. MAKE IT HERE. & don’t ever lie to us about it, or anything else. The TRAK owner, for all we know, is a sick tyrant. I want to know more.
I have had a Proto Trak lathe for 30 years and still running. Been a great machine! Probably the most reliable cnc we have . Only a handful or so of breakdowns in that time.
They’re absolute workhorses from my experience!
Thanks for the update on what’s going on with Trak!!! 2005 I purchased their very basic Bridgeport type mill with two axis cnc control and also their 3 xaxis cnc bed mill. Both mills were wonderfully built machines. The basic two axis mill was my most accurate machine I’d ever operated in my 50+ years as a machinist!!! I had one repeat job every few months that was an aluminum part about 1” long, 5/8” high, and about 3/4” wide. Had a 3mm hole thru its length, 3 steps, and one locating surface which all dimensions had +.0002 -.0000 callouts. The locating surface was held to the same size callouts and also had to be square and perpendicular within .0001 to the 3mm reamed hole.The part also had two M3x0.35 tapped clamping threads.The bigger machine could not produce tight enough tolerances. The little mill would produce the parts sooooo easily it really wasn’t very hard to make perfect parts all day long. Turns out after I had raised the price over the years the customer sent the quotes and jobs to other shops. One and a half months later I received an order for double the quantity and was told they realized the per piece price was acceptable. They also sent me 85 pieces to ask if there was any way I could bring some other shops parts into tolerance, which unfortunately I could not accomplish. To me Trak machines are the tops!!!! First Southwestern Industries product I had ever used was their Travel Dial mounted on my Hardinge Toolroom Lathe. Also had one of their Height Gages. Service was never required on my little mill and the big mill had only one problem with one servo motor after 3 years of making parts.😊
Did you like it ?
I'll be checking all of these machines out in person next month at IMTS in Chicago!
Excellent plan!
This was amazing! I just wish the video was a little longer and cover more of the machines that they are making and selling.
Thank you very much! Most definitely - and we’ll be covering more of it live at IMTS so stay tuned!
If Trak actually wants to continue to expand the way they portray themselves to they need to adopt a transparent pricing model like Haas, I’m sure they’re plenty good machines but if they won’t even respond for an RFQ for a starting business I’d rather just buy a Haas
This is something I'd like to see broadly across the industry frankly - I think opaque pricing is keeping a lot of people going to the same vendors and sources when better are available.
We recently bought a TRAX DPM RX2 mill. Used a few TRAX/Bridgeport conversions and Bridgeport EZ-traks. Always referred to them as LAZY-traks. For guys that never learned to use a rotary table, Volstro Head, or other attachments to a basic Bridgeport. The first Bridgeports I learned on as an apprentice had linear optics! Then came DROs. Computer automation has replaced learned knowledge & skills. Yeah, I know, time is money in production shops.
Great tour.
Thank you very much!
Seems like they picked up wear Spindle Wizard / Allen Bradley stoped and really ran a home run 🏃 🎉
wonderful.
good video ian
Thank you very much!
What robots are they using for the semi automation?
I believe they’re Universal Robots if I remember correctly - I could be wrong though!
there's a year old vmc7 at the shop i work at, it frequently loses offsets and makes for dangerous situations. It also has hardly any power behind it and doesn't seem very rigid. Made me cross off ever buying one for my garage.
Beutiful!
Very misleading saying these machines are built from the ground up in Southern California. More like imported from overseas and assembled in the USA using foreign and domestic components.
Depends on what machine and what model you’re talking about - I don’t know about the split but this is the only facility I’ve ever been to in the US that has their own SMT wave machine for their own electronics - that’s pretty “ground up” to me
Is this legit info?? Very interesting
Would absolutely hate to work their sounds like you would never stop and to round it having a spy in the camp as well
Eh, everyone is out of the shop by like 2:30 PM and everyone seemed extremely happy who worked there - so to each their own
They're on borrowed time, there costs are skyrocketing where they can't raise there prices fast enough, which means they'll have to raise prices by double digits YOY to keep up with inflation or pack up and move where (Mexico/China) production's cheaper.
Source? Sounds like you’re just making it up - extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
So post it.
To be fair, when you increase productivity with robotics, but don't hire more workers, you have eliminated jobs. Unfortunately, once one company turns to robotics, the others have to follow. It's a race to the bottom, one that results in less jobs.
So, if more jobs is the goal, does that mean that there should be 10 operators making barely a livable wage just loading and unloading machines? Or 3 top tier guys making good money running robots making the same amount of production?
Good. Send unskilled immigrants back home and create highly skilled employees that are paid well.
Just try finding skilled help today.
@@richkunze1196 Big time. It's not like there are people exactly banging down the doors to join the trade at the moment - though many are trying to help with that too. Automation is about helping the people you do have do more with their time and do the skilled work they want to do - not loading and unloading machines and slapping that green button a thousand times a day.
Yeah , if I find out practical machinist is just trying to sell us Machines and not doing sincere work, I’ll never watch this channel again. Are these machines truly USA made or not? Is the owner of this company, treating his employees as best as he possibly can? These are the things that I want to know. As a machinist myself, I’m gritty and I’m all USA. I’m sick of China made products. MAKE IT HERE. & don’t ever lie to us about it, or anything else. The TRAK owner, for all we know, is a sick tyrant. I want to know more.
What American-made machines did you buy for your shop that you prefer?