CNC Life Expentency

[mikelaw]

What is a realistic life expectency of a CNC in a shop before it becomes technologically obsolete. I've read alot that tooling is where the gains in technology are bound to happen in the near future. So what is the life cycle of a CNC, 5 years, 10 years.

I am afraid to buy one and then miss out on the next big "thing". But I cant sit on the fence forever.

[mikedean]

My Intermac is 10 years old. This year it has become the 'used car you put money into to keep going.'

I expect at least another 5-10 out of it. However, the technology on it is already outdated, to the point support for it is gone, unless I spend 20k+ to upgrade it all.

I think 10-15 is a good number REALISTICALLY.

However, there are still older ones running out there. A lot older.

[Matt Lansing]

My Maxima is 10 years old this year and still running very well.

I expect it to go another 10 or so as long as the Fanuc controller holds out. It should. They are built like tanks.

No real rust on the machine itself. Some body panels and other parts have been sanded and repainted this year. We also replaced all of the bellows on the machine this winter. They were ripped and coming apart.

It runs EasyStone so that's all good to.

[Ger Vanderbas]

Excellent Question Mike.

Technological obsolesence of a CNC machine for the stone business only occurs when the speed of the machinery and control technology cannot keep up with the nominal speeds that the tooling can run.

At this point I'd guess that motion control wise most of the major builders have purchased cnc technology that has surplus motion controlability beyond the foreseeable limitations of the cnc tooling.

However, until that margin of faster speeds can make actual deliverable (and $ receivable product) within the course of a day, even a slower machine in the right hands can be more productive than the alternative. Anyone with an older early 90's cnc bridgesaw from us can attest to that for sure.

You would do well not only to examine technology, but that the overall mechanical construction and design of the machine is built with adequate consideration for the stone environment over the long term, and that features of the machine won't lead to a point at which the increased required repair investment becomes more costly than to upgrade.
An important calculation not to ignore is the cost of downtime when examining this and also the residual resale value of the machine. Machines are also business assets that have valuation (to financial institutions and buyers) past the payment cycle.

A machine post payment cycle becomes a much stronger earner, the more viable to your operation it stays.

A key reason maintenance matters.

Okay enough bloviating but there's my nickel.

G

[VThartzog]

One of my bavellonis is 10 years young with over 10k hours on it and it still runs like a champ day in and day out. Main thing I can say is knowing how to maintain and fix the typical repairs is key(belts,bearings,sensors). We save tons by not outsourcing those things and reduces wait time for a tech to come out, troubleshoot and fix. Now if I only could find aftermarket parts to save money hah

[GbD]

What I have seen is growth in size. If ten years ago you did one top at a time and today you can load up 5 tops on the same cycle, you have to look at the productivity from that. I bought the big one from Park, now they have a bigger one. lol.

I'm new to cnc (about 18 months) so I don't have real insite. The two things I liked with the Park Titan over another machine I looked at was the laser light and the low deck height (you can walk pieces on and off). The other guys could get me a laser light if I really really wanted it. That didn't give me confidence down the line for services issues.

I also heard horror stories from european manufacturers. Silly work ethic stuff like spending two weeks to install, then going home and coming back in a month to finish. May or may not be true, but having the tech and parts here was important to me. Its a BIG investment.