On Fri, 21 May 2010 18:51:42 -0400, Wes
wrote:
Ned Simmons wrote:
A screw driving a wedge. I like the looks of that.
My next buy is going to be a new computer in the near future since I'm sure the next
upgrade to Alibre isn't going to run on my w2k box. I upgraded my license so I have
motion now. Kinda slow on my current machine.
I'm in the same boat. The switch from Inventor to Solidworks has put a
strain on this box.
You must be doing large assemblies. At work we have Solidworks 2007 and it seems to work
okay on limited platforms. I don't do much with it other than look at models of machines I
work on. The company runs some software called smart team which seems to limit how quick
we upgrade our solidworks software.
It's the delays in loading commands, opening dialogs, etc., more than
the time it takes to update big assy's that's annoying me. Inventor
was very snappy on this machine. I get the feeling that SW has lot
more going on in the background.
I am figuring the tool post to be a end of year purchase unless I work a lot of OT which I
try not to.
You had a 10EE and sold it? What did you replace it with? The guy I bought my Clausing
from was really into Monarch lathes. Seriously nice lathes.
A Taiwanese Feeler HLVH clone.
http://www.suscom-maine.net/~nsimmons/news/Feeler05.JPG
Definitely looks Hardinge like. Is that electric feed? Can you thread with it?
It's a very faithful copy. The only apparent difference is that the
fasteners are metric. Threading is the same auto-reverse arrangement
as an HLVH.
Not long after I finished fixing up the 10EE the Feeler fell into my
lap. They were too close in capability to give up the space for both.
I'd love to have a big Monarch, American Pacemaker, or Okuma, but
I'd love to have a lot of things. Like a big house and a Cessna 172 in the back yard
hanger facing my private air strip. A BXA wedge type tool post is far more likely, maybe
even an Aloris. 
But the frustrating thing is there are nice big lathes available for
less than what I got for the 10EE, if only I had the space. If there
were similar bargains around on sal****er farms I'd have one of them
instead. g
--
Ned Simmons