Importing a Tormach mill

Hi

For those with experience importing a Tormach pcnc mill, any recommended does and don'ts, any rough idea what freight cost I could expect?

Thanks

Nigel

From where to where ?

Hi Roy

From Quingdao Port, China to Aberdeenshire.

Tormach website says they can arrange freight or I can arrange myself. I've not made any enquiries yet, I'm interested in what others experiences are and what they would recommend.

Thanks

Nigel

Edited By tractionengine42 on 02/11/2015 15:04:53

Was reading the other day on the beeb that Maersk had lost money with the drop in global trade and the current cost of a 20ft container from china to europe was $233 a pop

Presumably that's the price if you're a big importer, but it's a starter number

Edited By Ady1 on 02/11/2015 15:23:50

Nigel if you have a search I think Andrew Johnson mentioned about the shipping agent he used and Bob Rogerson used the same one more recently.

Or there is one for sale in the classifieds down the right of the page at the moment

Edited By JasonB on 02/11/2015 15:56:54

Thanks Jason

Andrew did pm me with some details.

I have contacted the advertiser on here with an offer but as I am working in Singapore for the next few weeks I can't collect any purchase until December

Much appreciated

Nigel

Incredible - compare that to the cost of sending a 10Kg parcel to China: £130 using global economy...

Neil

Nigel,

I think you will find that the mill will come from Tormach in the USA, at least mine did and I know that they stock everything at their facility in Wisconsin importing it to the USA from Quingdao in China. If you can afford the extra I would recommend attending their workshop before buying or when ordered so that you get some hands on with it. Especially if you have no previous experience of CNC like me.

I am writing an article for the magazine about my first 18 months with my mill and it will be ready soon. I saw the second hand advert on this site and I can't help feeling that the seller underpriced his machine by a good £2k.

I used the same shipping agent that Andrew Johnson did and it was relatively painless for me other than some issues with my VAT exemption. (I imported it through my company as it is intended to use it for production work once I get fully up to speed with it)

Bob.

If you need any further help regarding import, or regards the mill itself, let me know via member messages.

I know its not importing but for reference, I sent a 20 ft (half) container and it cost 1200 quid to India a few months ago.

Mark

I have also been looking at the Tormach mill and also discussing it with a fellow model engineer I have recently been lucky enough to meet who has been kind enough to spare his time advising and also teaching me aspects of CAD / CAM / CNC etc

Would it be beneficial if others were considering buying to somehow club together as a bulk order and shipment in order to reduce shipping costs or is that not how it works. I have no experience in the matter,

Possibly a better package deal could also be arranged with Tormach if more than one machine was ordered ????

Regards to all

Dave

So, the machine tool co-op then?

Mark

Why not ?

It may be a worthwhile way of doing things even if it doesn't involve shipping.

If bulk orders brings in a better deal then surely thats better for all.

Dave

I wonder what the requirement for CE marking etc would be in that situation. You would not be selling them to an end user, just buying them with a co-op for your own use? That would help with the price, not having to be compliant.

Mark

Im not sure but as you say we would not be selling them on just buying as a cooperative for our own individual private use which would I suspect be no different than buying a single machine.

I have no experience or knowledge of such a method but purely thought it would make sense as the machines would no doubt end up in the same container and on the same ship in any case. ( With us all paying the full price )

Perhaps one of our trade sellers / importers on here could advise if it wouldn't be treading on their toes.

Dave

After all there are no Tormach agents in the UK so we would not be trying to short cut anybody. Just helping each other.

Edited By Dave C on 03/11/2015 14:06:05

Dave C,

It is a tricky question which you pose. The answer depends on which kind of importer you ask the question to. All I would say is that one should avoid contemplating a group purchase, as legal implication are high.

Ketan at ARC.

Thanks Ketan

I won't pretend to understand why but appreciate the warning.

Dave

If I recall, when I was attending the Workshop last week I did hear mention that Tormach do not give discount for bulk purchases. I also believe they are working on getting CE approval but when this will happen I don't know.

If you give me a call, I might be able to explain.

Ketan at ARC.

Bob, would that be the European ce or the "Chinese export" ce mark!

Ketan, As a group purchase of individual machines and using the "co-op" as a cheap group courier to transport the individually purchased machines then once HMRC had finished with the transaction there would be no further need for CE approval as long as they were sold as secondhand thereafter. Looks like there would be no point in Tormach's case though as they will not do group negotiation according to Bob.

Mark

Funny. I've just asked Tormach if they have UL (for US market), CSA (for Canada) or CE (for EU). The guy who replied may not be very knowledgeable about safety approvals but he told me they don't have any of these. Given that they sell directly to customers in the N American markets and sort of directly to customers elsewhere, he's either misinformed or they are flying very close to the wind there.

My suspicion is that for electrical safety they may be relying on the components within their products already having approvals so that their system then doesn't require approval at the system level. Again, I'm not convinced that is the authorised approach although doubtless those components are reasonably well designed so you may argue they are following best practice.

I don't have a Tormach myself although I'd love one. I'd also be perfectly happy to own one even without safety approvals. But the approvals situation seems rather surprising. I guessed that they use Leadshine PSUs as they appear to use Leadshine stepper drives, so I looked closely at the Leadshine PSUs I recently bought from the US-based distributor. Interestingly, they are completely devoid of approvals marking too. I'd be interested to know if anyone has a PCNC mill and is able to find any UL/CSA/CE markings on the system or the main components within (PSU and VFD).

I've taken many electrical products through the various global approvals processes, often at great effort. Hopefully Tormach will find their way through this business and continue to produce exciting feature-rich products - I wish them well.

Murray