which would you choose? Which is smaller investment initially? Will direct drive 12k rpm spindle cause a noticeable amount of lost rigidity?
Can't say much about the Samsung, as I have no experience there. Looked at the Toyoda Stealth at IMTS, as we are seriously looking at a Cat 50 box way machine. The 1680 is the same frame as the Stealth, but without the options stripped off to make it more affordable. We need the options, and adding them to the Stealth, even part of them, puts the price back up to the 1680 price range, thus our consideration of the 1680.
Getting down to what I saw and what I know about machinery. As I said, the frame is the same on the Stealth and the 1680. This is the heart and soul of a machine tool. If the frame ain't sufficient, all the bells and whistles in the world won't make it do your job. And the Toyoda has one hell of a stout frame. I was extremely impressed by the way it is buttressed, and by the fact that Toyoda uses different cast iron for different parts of the frame. Where it needs super hard for rigidity and wear resistance, they use one type of iron. Where they need to dampen vibration, they use a little different, "softer" type. Still hard as the hinges of hell, but not the same as where the other is called for. This shows a lot of common sense and field feedback were used in the thought processes for the machine.It may not be that they are the only ones to do this, but they're the only ones to tell ME that they do.
The angle in the frame where the chip augers run is another place where a lot of field feedback has been employed. The casting is cast at a steep enough angle that the chips want to fall into the auger. Lots of machines are made so flat that the chips want to lay there, you have to wash or sweep them into the auger. Toyoda has it on such an angle that the operator doesn't have to fight the chips so much. Every little thing helps.
Samsung probably has some features going for them too. Reputation is good for the company. But if the price is the same, that Toyoda is going to be tough to beat.