[CROSSHATCH]

Hello Everybody, My name is Jason Pasierski and I'm a college student attending New Jersey Institute Of Technology of Newark. I own a small business that I started a few years ago. My work involves milling paintball "parts" and designing new products. I have been struggling with a "so-called" mill being a Drill press with a x/y table, you know that sad story.

The work I do is on a small basis, The largest thing I would ever mill would be no more then 6x6x1 aluminum (I only work with aluminum), everything else I mill out is just pockets, holes and I would mill out custom made valves.

I have been looking at the Taig mill for over year now, never bought it last year Like I wanted to to. Something has to change and I need to upgrade (starting small) for my business to grow. The Taig Mill is the perfect size for what I need, I don't need anything bigger right now. In later years ok, sure, but now...it's perfect.

I was referred to Cartertools for the Taig and have seen the page when I was interested last year.

So What I have and Access too:
- I'm in a controversy if I go ahead and get the basic "Manual" model with spindle, Yadada or do I go ahead and get the CNC "Ready".

-At the moment I'm only looking to spend no more then 1200. With that said, I have no problem upgrading the machine next spring/summer to full CNC (My job allows me to make more then enough money to upgrade)

-So it's obvious I don't want to spend all my money at once, I would like to use the machine and then upgrade it for CNC (It may cost more money in the end, but over time, it's easier to do)

-When upgrading later on, getting motor and what not, are the motors already wired to plug into the controller? Just asking.

So help me out, What do you think is a good move. Right now I can't just spend 2,000 dollar or 1,500 it's just too much.


-Jason@SpeedsCustom

[rowbare]

Why don't you get the cnc ready version 2019CR-ER and a set of hand cranks. This will get you the motor mounts, adjustable leadscrew nuts etc... Then when you can afford it you can get a controller and some motors.

You would end up at pretty much the same cost as buying it all now. The only redundant parts you would end up with are the handcranks.

[CROSSHATCH]

Yes that is exactly what I was thinking, I want to get the CNC ready and the hand-cranks, I can use the mill with the hand cranks and like you said get the motors later and controller.

Besides the Motors/Controller, All I would need is a Computer with the right software to get me running in full CNC.

Granted I have stuff to learn, but doesn't everybody.

But do you know if the motor come ready to plug in or are they loose leads.

This looks like what I need:

2018 converted to CNC ready with Nema 23 motor mounts, adjustable bronze leadscrew nuts, and upgraded 1/4 horse power motor . Does not include stepper motors or control system. = 1000.00 dollars.


-Jason

[rowbare]

I bought a CNC setup from Deepgroove1 on eBay (have only had it a week or so!). The motors were wired to connectors that plug into the control box. I guess it depends where you get your motor/controller setup. I wanted to get going quickly so I went for a package. If you are going to use the mill manually for a while then you have a lot of options.

I suggest you do a bit of reading on controllers and breakout boards etc... For instance my setup uses the Xylotek controller. The controller works well but I will likely add a breakout board of some kind that provides more input options and the charge pump feature etc...

[Greg McFadden]

I built my own setup from the xylotex "kit" plus the extended length CNC ready mill. I highly suggest that whatever you get, get the ER collet spindle, it is glorious.

I bought my stuff though cartertools.com, and I would be happy to help you (if you want to do it yourself as far as the CNC conversion is concerned)

-Greg

[CROSSHATCH]

Well here is what I thought was a very good option. I'm going to purchase the Taig Mill from Cartertools.com. At the moment i'm going to go with the "CNC Ready" version. That way, for the time being I can use the mill manually and start to learn programs, then by this spring/summer, the mill will be converted into full CNC, and I'm willing to drop another 1500 (Well it all depends on where and for how much I can get the conversion for)


My biggest concern is that I feel like the programming is so hard, but I have never worked any real Auto-Cads or anything like that.

Oh and I plane to get it with the Er16 Spindle! (nuts)


-Jason

[cartertool]

That's why it's good to start out manually, that way you'll get up to speed with machining first, see how things should be done, etc.
CAD/CAM does have a learning cuurve, but there are some good programs and many good forums for support. The hardest part is deciding how to spend your money...but for 2-1/2 axis parts you can use Lazycam in mach and any cheap 2D CAD program.

My biggest concern is that I feel like the programming is so hard, but I have never worked any real Auto-Cads or anything like that.
-Jason

[CROSSHATCH]

Hey Nick, I e-mailed you back. Thank you so much for the help, you'll find information about what i said in my e-mail.

Thanks!

-Jason

[Greg McFadden]

just for your reference, when I built my setup, it ran me ~1600$ for the mill, the xylotex kit, mach 3 license, and some misc. stuff (case for controller, cabling, cart that the mill is mounted to, etc)


-Greg

[CROSSHATCH]

Well Yea, I plane to buy the Kit for a decent price and find some G-coding software.

-Jason