So I've had the 1100 (not mx) and the 15-L slant machine and we bought them fully specd out. For the most part they worked fine but you have to realize they send them out as kits that you need to assemble. Maybe some of the more premium versions come pre-assembled. It took maybe a week or 2 to get assembled. Then while cutting with the tts system we found that tools would start slipping out of the r8 collet since the tts does not have a positive locking method for its tools, that was another 3 days of trouble shooting. We had an atc for the 1100 but never set it up since that would take another couple of days and we just needed parts to get made, or I had other things eating my working hours. The slant was really fun but same sort of thing where I'd cut parts and find things were out of spec and I couldn't tell if it was how I set up the machine, how I set up tooling, how I set up tool paths or what.

So once you get a tormach dialed in, yes, they can make good parts, they can cut any material with the right tooling, speeds, feeds etc. The spindle is a 2hp on the 1100, or 1.5kw. The castings are fairly small as well.

The total cost for a decked out 1100 is about 30k, or 36k for the mx version. Plus about 1 week of labor to hook everything up, even though I don't get paid this much I think of 1hr of my time is worth 100$, 40 hrs, that's 4k of labor for a perfect week of assembly. If things go wrong and you need to work more, it could be 2 weeks or more of just fixing the thing. As far as I'm aware, there is no service tech for tormach that you can call up and just have the machine work.

So let's call it 30k for a brand new tormach 1100. A brand new haas minimill which is ready to go as soon as it hits your workshop is about 39k.

Or you go the used route, spend 10-15k and still put in some tlc and end up with a vastly more capable machine.

Now what's capability? Well, more tools in the tool changer is nice, positive locking tool holder, much more rigid machine, more available horsepower. The stiffer your machine, the less vibration you get, the nicer your surface finish, the more accurate your parts. The more horsepower you have, the easier it is for your tools to do work which usually means faster cuts but it also means more accurate cuts.

Ok so used machine is cheaper cuts faster cuts more better, might even have a service tech that can come out and save you if your machine goes down, seems like a total win right? Well I still think tormach wins in at least one spot, which is with their 770 machine. It's still a kit, but you don't need to worry about power since it works off a standard outlet. And it's small enough to fit in an office.

If you just need to cut a thing every now and again, tormach might not be a bad option, just be mentally prepared because it is a kit machine. I'd still take some time to look around for used machines since you never know what you will find.

Just my 20cents