Taig cnc milling machine

the main thing is to develop and interest and even better to have an idea of the direction or parts you'd like to produce !
I know i mentioned " bridgeport ", but that is more or less because most people have no idea what a knee mill is, however they do identify with the name bridgeport.

theres some cool stuff on the MIT site
http://web.mit.edu/2.670/www/Tutorials/Machining/mill/Description.html

http://techtv.mit.edu/genres/24-how-to/videos?order=popular&view=list

look into measuring equipment (mic,calipers, surface plate, etc ) you'll have to develop an interest in accuracy ( wink wink )

good luck
 
Alright. Total newb, looking for info to get started...

I'll still suggest downloading the Mach3 program, and having a look at it. I don't use it, but I do know a few that do, and they are pretty happy with it. One of my friends in Edmonton bought a Shizoku CNC mill (ebay), he and another friend retrofitted it and made some pretty good money with it making among other things, glass bead molds, lots of compound curves and the like, in various materials, running Mach3 as the control software and CAM.
The Mach3 site has a good forum, lots of user base, and has lots of different stuff to add to the basic program if you so desire. Well worth a look.

There are several companies that make sets of equipment that are pretty much square aimed at the entry level guy, or the hobbyist that wants to tinker with the stuff. There are several companies making conversion kits for the Seig X2/X3/X4 seris mills, too, so buying one of them as a manual machine does not exclude the possibility of getting in to CNC later.

Lots of very good condition iron out there to retrofit, if you want that as a hobby, but it does help to understand how to tell the difference between a good candidate and a poor one.
Dig around the web for 3 Axis retrofit kits and you will see that there are a lot of choices, ranging from essentially a regular computer with a set of very small stepper motors, right up to complete honest-to-god full capability industrial grade retrofit kits that will quite happily eat that $10K plus a bunch more.

If you want to see what is near you, use SearchTempest and see what there is in a radius around you on craigslist. You can search whole provinces at a time on Kijiji. Look at what actually sold, on ebay, rather than the prices the stuff is listed at.

There are some deals to be had on industrial machinery, but you need to be lucky, persistent, and willing to deal with all manner of possible problems, not the least of which, is getting the iron home and powered up. If you are just looking for a machine to make the odd gun part on, maybe stick to manual machinery at first.

Oh. It's as bad a hobby as any, for sucking the wallet dry. As you gain experience, you will start banging your head against the limitations of your machine, and usually, you will want/need a bigger/faster/more reliable etc.one. Keep an open mind and be willing to trade up if you gotta.

Lots of cool projects have been made on Sherline and Taig machinery. Some quite huge for the size of the machines. But they really are lightweights, and like as not, they will not perform near the way you might think the should.
One guy I know in Edmonton has been building model turbine engines with his Taig (IIRC) CNC, and he used to bring parts in that were amazing, but the run times for them were incredibly long, some in multiple days length. They can do it, but it ain't gonna be fast.

Cheers
Trev
 
I just want to second the recomendation for the books mentioned above by Trev. Even if all you ever buy is the books and that is enough to convince you that you don't want to go further at least the cost was minimal. And if they do encourage you then the lessons in those books are invaluable and will form a great foundation to build upon.

Check your local library before rushing to buy them. Better libraries with a good technical section will often have a lot of those titles.
 
As an owner of a Taiwan 12x36 lathe and an X4 Grizzly clone I would say that the manual machines will do most of what is required for the average home machinist. Others have it right on the CNC, lots of parts in a hurry with proper programming. When they crash, they expend lots of cash also. I'll stick to my old fashioned tools, slow and steady. I do stuff because I like it, no pressure, not like commercial shops where max metal removal is money in the bank. Good luck on your search.
 
Well, if nothing else, I have been convinced that the taig is not for me and I don't want or need CNC.

So the search has already narrowed. Now I need for conestogo to offer that machine course again.
 
Most of the above is good advice, but appears to be from people who have never used a Taig mill.

I have a Taig CNC mill and a homebuilt CNC mill that uses the head from a Taig. Both use Mach3 control software.

The Taig mills are very capable and accurate machines if used within their design parameters. They are much slower than big iron machines and can't take big hogging cuts in hard steel, but they are also inexpensive and aren't going to cause damage if you crash one while learning machining skills. There are many inexpensive accessories made for Taig mills that can be purchased once your ability progresses.

The biggest advantage to buying a Taig or similar sized machine is the small footprint and easy-to-move weight. Not to mention the 120v electrical requirement.

There are companies running banks of Taig mills in a production environment for producing small parts.
 
Goto auctions, I bought a okuma cnc lathe for $4000 at a GM plant that closed in windsor ontario, cost $4000 to move it home, payed it off in one week on the first job I did, I'm a machinist but never ran a cnc lathe before, just read info online. Now I want to have its babies, lol
 
TAC PRO said:
Most of the above is good advice, but appears to be from people who have never used a Taig mill.

I have a Taig CNC mill and a homebuilt CNC mill that uses the head from a Taig. Both use Mach3 control software.

The Taig mills are very capable and accurate machines if used within their design parameters. They are much slower than big iron machines and can't take big hogging cuts in hard steel, but they are also inexpensive and aren't going to cause damage if you crash one while learning machining skills. There are many inexpensive accessories made for Taig mills that can be purchased once your ability progresses.

The biggest advantage to buying a Taig or similar sized machine is the small footprint and easy-to-move weight. Not to mention the 120v electrical requirement.

There are companies running banks of Taig mills in a production environment for producing small parts.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind.
 
TAC PRO said:
Most of the above is good advice, but appears to be from people who have never used a Taig mill.

I have a Taig CNC mill and a homebuilt CNC mill that uses the head from a Taig. Both use Mach3 control software.

The Taig mills are very capable and accurate machines if used within their design parameters. They are much slower than big iron machines and can't take big hogging cuts in hard steel, but they are also inexpensive and aren't going to cause damage if you crash one while learning machining skills. There are many inexpensive accessories made for Taig mills that can be purchased once your ability progresses.

The biggest advantage to buying a Taig or similar sized machine is the small footprint and easy-to-move weight. Not to mention the 120v electrical requirement.

There are companies running banks of Taig mills in a production environment for producing small parts.
Click to expand...

I would love to see a bunch of these machines run in production. I doubt there is anyone doing it. They are for novelty.

I have machines that are made for running small parts. The fixtures on the table weigh more than the Taig machine.

I agree it's good for the hobbiest or someone looking to learn, but not much more.

Suggesting they can be used for something serious is a stretch.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck to the OP his quest!
 
gagreflex said:
I would love to see a bunch of these machines run in production. I doubt there is anyone doing it. They are for novelty.

I have machines that are made for running small parts. The fixtures on the table weigh more than the Taig machine.

I agree it's good for the hobbiest or someone looking to learn, but not much more.

Suggesting they can be used for something serious is a stretch.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck to the OP his quest!
Click to expand...

I don't doubt that there are folks making money with them, Sherline CNC, or Seig X-whatevers. But I also do not for an instant figure that the guys doing so are happy.Like as not they are running the machines doing it as fast as they can go, aka "not very", and wishing they had better ones.
Not a solution for a job shop, rather, a solution that fits a very specific need, maybe.

Gotta decide at some point what the hobby is going to be, whether it be rebuilding machine tools on the cheap (the "old american iron" route), retrofitting CNC to a manual machine, or learning to run the one you may have in front of you.

Cheers
Trev
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom