[laserlotus]

I need to put 80 lbs on my Taig mill (it's the larger "2019" version). It's either that or buy a bigger machine. Frankly, I'm not sure I can afford to buy a bigger machine. Has anyone loaded up more than 50 lbs on their Taig mill, if so, how did it go?

[awerby]

That sounds a bit excessive, frankly. But I suppose you could try it and see how it goes. I don't think the mill would collapse or anything, but you might have trouble making it move without faulting. So do a test run without cutting, and see if the machine goes back to zero afterwards. Let us know how it went, okay?

[laserlotus]

Well, I tried it. Used a buddy to put my thing down on the table really gently. No obvious signs of breakage or deformation. The motors seemed to jog this weight around without problems. I don't have DRO or encoders but I certainly didn't hear anything that sounded like missed steps. I do have my machine acceleration set pretty low in LinuxCNC, I've always had it that way.

Then, as I was starting to get down to the actual machining, it turned out I don't have the throat depth to perform the operations I need to do in that setup. So I guess the moral of the story is measure dimensions carefully before worrying that weight might be the bottleneck on a Taig ...

[awerby]

That's interesting news. But don't give up yet. Is the Z axis assembly in its highest position? As shipped, the spindle is in a middle postion on the column, but you can remove some screws and shift it upwards. This comes in handy when using the 4th axis, which uses up a lot of headroom. Be careful when removing the screws, though. If the heads impinge on the leadscrew when you remove them, they can damage the threads. If that seems like it might be happening, remove the leadscrew assembly before proceeding further. If you're just missing by a tiny bit, you can also loosen the screw that holds the spindle on its dovetail mount and slide it up a little; that can get you up to a half-inch or so.

[Eldon_Joh]

I would be concerned about the table binding when the 80 pounds is slid off the end of the table. but if the gibs are tight and the machine is new then you might not even notice it.

one problem that i haven't had in a long time, since bolting a half inch thick by 6 inch wide piece of aluminum to the top of the table, is when you clamp something down to the table you can bend the table enough to lock it in the y axis casting.

with the stock machine if i recall correctly you only have 5.5 inches from the center of the spindle to the column.
i have a thread in this subforum about some modifications you can make to get 7 inches of travel in the y axis and you can move the spacer out a couple inches as well.. however, stiffness will be very low.

also check this out.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/taig-m...-4-inches.html

I have since moved on from the machine as it was in that photo^ and if you want, I can ship you that black bracket, and the vertical portion of the blue 2.5 inch square beam-- you will need to do a couple minor machine operations on the black bracket because i never did care that it wasn't exactly square, also, when welding the vertical column, i never did get it flat enough.. however, if you have a surface plate and a file you can finish it, and the 12 inches of x axis travel you have should be enough to just machine it flat.. however, you won't get better than .001" per foot for the squareness as assembled.

oh, and you will need to modify the Z axis with two screws as i detailed in another forum post.. and it will wear out quickly as this modification about doubles the amout of forces exerted on the system. oh, and fill the tube with sand.
--but you'll end up with usable volume nearly double what you had before.
anyhow, i have no interest in these parts you can have them for like 10$ or something, plus shipping

[laserlotus]

Nah, the problem isn't the Z travel headroom, it's the throat depth -- how far the spindle center is from the Z axis leadscrew. This doesn't change during operation. The throat depth could in theory be increased by adding a thick plate behind the spindle. But there seems to be a better solution - I've placed an order for a Grizzly H2992 2-piece vise that will allow the workpiece to sit directly on the milling table and that should allow one side of the workpiece to slip under the Z axis leadscrew. This gains just enough throat depth to do my stuff. As an added bonus, I'm expecting the 2 piece vise to be a bit lighter than the vise I've been using up to now. Of course, the workpiece will probably lift like mad compared to a normal vise, but accuracy isn't that critical for me right now.

(editing to add: was replying to awerby. Awesome mods there Eldon_Joh, but the cost benefit analysis just doesn't work out for me, I'll upgrade to a Tormach when I really can't live with my stock Taig anymore).

[Eldon_Joh]

Nah, the problem isn't the Z travel headroom, it's the throat depth -- how far the spindle center is from the Z axis leadscrew.

Once you are two inches off the table the throat depth is 4 inches....