well got a diablo kami in a trade.

[cagelavey]

so as I stated above received a diablo kami 4.5mm cam in trade yesterday. ran it today for lining and color today after removing the stay up spring/lubing/and tightening it all down I got to say I dig the hell out of it with my t-techs.it did everything I asked of it, quite efficiently. I never used the maxon I had with carts because I had the machine previous to my conversion to carts. in any event, it ran awesomely. with the diablo there isn't much adjustment in the give knob, there is significant change that can be achieved in the give it is just done in short turns you don't have to turn the give knob much to achieve desired give, completely different than my halos as to where you have to make many turns for the desired give. not better or necessarily worse, just different.
way less vibration/sound in the kami than the maxon version (by the same name) because of the less powerful motor, but still packs a hell of a wallop! definitely not going to replace my halos by any means but very effective and enjoyable machine to use. I also like the fact that you can move the armature pin up or down with just a twist of a hex screw which is accessible through the give knob. this feature made it to where I could line it up just how I needed it to be for the use with my rpg grip and carts. one thing I did notice is there is a minute side to side play in the armature pin, nothing significant and completely non inhibiting when using carts anyhow. another thing that is kind of daunting is the disassembly of the machine many more parts to keep track of when maintaining your machine (screws/springs/etc.) but kinda fun if you like taking apart and putting things back together in that case, its an absolute joy, lol.
all in all it functions just as well if not better than a lot of machines out there thus far. I never had any issues with my maxon diablo and suspect I wont have many issues with the kami either. for 250 you get a completely cnc aircraft aluminum machine, with mainly metal parts which I believe will stand the test of time. the machine is well anodized and very aesthetically pleasing to the eye (especially attached to an rpg grip). also the tube vice is amazing. the all metal triangle shaped vice screw is amazingly easy to tighten/untighten with a very secure locking of the tube stem with absolutely no movement of the stem or grip what so ever. not much else I can say about it.
I know many have reservations about this machine and that's fine. there is nothing new or original about this machine, the design is very familiar. to me its taken a design that has proven to be very effective and somehow has managed to make it its own in a lot of ways. the use of quality metal parts is a + to me. they have managed to build a machine that functions well, looks nice, and doesn't have a gouging 650.00 price tag attached to it. all of this ive just written are just my opinions. I have posted this for no other reason than to let people know my experience thus far with this machine. I know there are strong views about this machine and its design, and all of those views have been addressed many times over on many other threads so please just use this thread as a informational posting not an argument of its origins but a discussion of its functions, benefits and flaws, as a matter of a fact you could just read it if you like and don't even have to post anything if you like. I just wanted to share my findings. do however feel free to post your personal experiences or questions on its build if it will help or benefit anyone in anyway when considering the purchase of this product, thank you for listening RTF forever