Questions about purchasing an Alpha

[Mark Farris]

Hello all,
I am traveling down to Ft. Lauderdale next Friday to inspect and hopefully come home with the 2010 PRS Alpha listed on this forum a few days ago. After I attended McGrew's Aspire camp I must admit I was tempted by what I saw of those yellow machines, but have decided to stay "true to the blue". I am familiar with what to generally look for in the quality and condition of the machine since I have a PRT. There are two questions I have that I'm sure some of you can answer.1) Is there anything on the machine or control box that specifically designates it as an Alpha rather than a Standard? 2) I am not familiar with the HSD 2.2 Spindle besides what I have read here on the forum, obviously we will run the machine, but what else should I know and what should I check to know it is in good condition? I am a very trusting person but this is a major purchase and I want to check it over the best I can. Thank you ahead of time for your responses.

P.S. If this all goes well there will be a 2002 PRT 9648 w/ V4g upgrade in excellent condition listed for sale. Start smooth talking the wives.

Thanks,
Mark

[jerry_stanek]

From the pictures it looks like an Alpha the steppers look like they have the Purple label on them. You can also call Shopbot and ask about it

[steve_g]

Mark

This is what the Alpha control box looks like...

SG

[Ken Sully]

Mark,
I just purchased a 2009 PRS Alpha and missed one thing.
There is a speed control for the spindle that you can run from the shopbot software. This will allow you to do an automatic warmup and it will change the speed of the spindle based on the bits you use. It was a 250.00 upgrade from shopbot. The unit you are looking at may already have the control.

[coryatjohn]

You can tell it has the speed control by looking for a USB (or serial with a USB connector) lead coming out of the VFD.

[Mark Farris]

Thanks guys, the excitement is building.