Dropped $600 on a tool presetter for my Haas, and I want my money back
Six months ago I bought a used tool presetter off a guy on Craigslist for $600. I run a small job shop out of my garage in Akron with two older Haas mills, and I figured a presetter would save me setup time on the 40 or so jobs I run each month. Big mistake. The thing was off by almost .008 on the Z every time I checked it against my granite plate, and I couldn't repeat the same number twice in a row. I spent three weekends tearing it apart and trying to rezero it, which is time I could have spent actually making parts and getting paid. The seller stopped answering my calls after the second week, and I only found out later that these old units drift after a hard bump. If you run a small shop, just touch off with an edge finder and a gauge block like I did for 8 years before this. Save the 600 bucks and put it toward carbide. Has anyone actually found a used presetter that holds tolerance, or is this just how it always goes with the cheap ones?