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Hello everyone, I have been doing research on the topic for about two weeks or so. I'm looking for an afforable milling machine, doing small jobs.
With that said, I was going to go with the Harbor Freight, Grizzzly, Micr-Mark Mini Mills. But I also came across the Taig Micro Mill.
I have heard about both but have heard that the quality of Taig is better and the Micro Mill is built better.
Any insight?
-Jason
I'm assuming that since your on a cnc forum. Your planning on cnc'ing the mill?
So your comparing the x2 to the taig?
I have a mini mill and a x3.
The mini mill is pretty solid. I haven't been 100% impressed with the fit and finish from the factory. It's a decent lil mill.
The taig appears to be alot cleaner and I know that Nick Carter has been one of the best people to answer my emails. ((Even though, I didn't go with the taig))
I can say that in my recent purchase. I had in narrowed to the taig or the x3.
If your really comparing the taig to the x2. I'd go with the taig.
It's not as solid as the x2, but I think you could augment that. Whether it involved filling the columns with type of expoxy/cement etc.
I made my choice for the x3 based on it's over all bulk and it's z axis travel.
I'll sell my x2 after I complete my conversion. Which is delayed again.
The downside is that the x3 will require me to retro fit it.
I actually was about to buy a TAIG for 505.00 when the guy screwed me over....:(
I never knew getting a Mini Mill could be so hard.
-Jason
Having owned them all, If you can affoard it, the x-3 is the way to go because it offers so much more machining capability as both a conventional mill with a DRO and as a cnc converted machine. The R-8 spindle allows easy use of a boring head, large dia. surface mill, or individual tool holders. Precision quick change R-8 systems are available also. The X-3 rigidness is many orders of magnitude greater than the TAG or mini. It will also have a much greater resale value if you decide to move on to another machine in the future.
You can make small parts on a bigger machine, the opposite is not true !!
Isn't that the truth!Quote:
Originally Posted by dcprecision
Taig 2000LE owner here. It was my first experience with CNC, and taught me a lot.
This mill has made many parts (all small, plastic auto interior pieces) for my small business. An example of the work it produces is here: www.speedofsoundllc.com/limitededitionparts.html
My partner and I are headed to pick up a new, full-size mill this weekend. The Taig will stay in the shop, and likely be used for small scale projects and R&D.
No real gripes with the mill, other than it has a tendency to loose steps from time to time, ruining the part. This occurs most often on rapids to clearance (Z axis).
Alan
Speedofsound,
Nice work, what mill are you picking up?
Speedscustom,
Tend to agree with DCPRECISION, the X3 looks like a good choice. I think that you could use economical drivers and steppers and not have too much invested in a pretty versitile mill. (but it is double the price of the X2) Jason, I guess the big question would be what type of projects are you planning, and what is the minimum travel that you would need. I see some of the smaller machines and the guys are doing some pretty neat work like sound of speed, and I'm impressed.
Ron
We're adding a Milltronics MB18 to the shop. It's a pretty big step up for us, but the Taig taught a lot of important lessons which will carry over. That's the hope, anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron111
Alan
The work I can do, has been done a crap converted drill press. I'm aasuming though the quality of my cuts should be probobaly better on a Mini Mill.
I don't even think i'm going with Taig or Grizzly, rather a Precise 9550 Vetical Mill.
-Speed
Not famular with a 9550 Vertical Mill, if you can post a pic or a link to a site. This is a new one to me.
Ron
Speedofsound,
That's quite a jump from a Taig. I hope you will be cutting heavier stuff than your panels with a 5 HP monster!!!!!
Infact, are you getting the a toolchanger with it? It's a nice looking machine.
Ron
We definitely have plans of doing more than our simple parts with the new mill. Up to now, we've been limited to the work area of the Taig, but have so many ideas that require a bigger working area.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron111
No auto tool changer, but we will add a quick change setup to it.
This is pretty much like everyone else, except I can do a local Pick-Up, which is a big +++!
http://www.emachinetool.com/new/cata...?ProductID=953
-Speed
I am also trying to decide between a taig micro mill or the grizzly mini mill. Any help deciding would be much appreciated.
I'm a Taig dealer, so my comments may be biased but...
First let me related why I became a Taig dealer. My 'full-time' job is as a research engineer for a university. We were looking for a low cost bench top CNC mill for a research project we are doing with Boeing and Rockwell Automation. The project involves thrashing bearings and we chose the Taig for it simple repairable spindle design, availability of parts, and good price. Taig was also very nice to deal with and offered lots of advice.
My initial thoughts were that it would do 'OK', but having two labs of big industrial size machine tools to use (both US and import) at my disposal, I was not suspecting to be impressed. We got the mill in and it was quite easy to set up. We rand some test projects and I was impressed with how well it worked and how well it was built.
Before the project got into the full swing of thrashing the spindle bearings I needed to whip up a few signal conditioning circuit boards for the project. I typically use a little (old) Dyna 2400 for this but decided to try it on the Taig. Wow did it work great. The increased table travel and speed over the old Dyna won me over. It was at that time I inquired about becoming a dealer. Taig makes quality American made tools and are going to be there to stand behind them.
Objectively, I would choose the Taig over the Mini-Mill hands down. The Taig machines are just tighter and made better. If you get up into the X3 size mill, it is quite a bit bigger than either the mini-mill or the Taig but still suffers from relatively 'loose' Chinese construction. Nothing wrong with a lot of Chinese made stuff but a lot of the machine tools are made to a price point more than to a quality standard. The same is true comparing the Enco equipment I have in one lab to the Bridgeport and Clausing tools in the other.
So, no matter who you purchase it from I would recommend the Taig. But, drop me a line or visit my website: www.soigeneris.com if you decide to go Taig. (Note: I just got the Taig stuff online last night, but have not activated the shopping cart yet.)
I'll make this short...
I chose a Taig mill over a Grizzly SuperX3. The biggest reasons were the price, ease of setup, and expected quality. I think I hit the nail on the head with all 3.
Price - The Taig is ~$1050 "CNC ready" - the SX3 is ~$1400 for just a manual mill, to make it "CNC ready" would be at least $350 more. The $350 CNC Fusion kit doesn't come with new screws/nuts though - see "Expected Quality" below.
Ease of Setup - Not many mills come from the factory ready to have stepper motors bolted on. As a newbie I didn't want to have to do a bunch of disassembly/reassembly just to get it up and running. I like to think of myself as pretty mechanical, but it amazes me that I CNC-milled a piece of aluminum the very same day that I got my computer/drivers/motors set up!
Expected Quality - Taigs are "made" in the USA. I'm not sure what that means exactly (check out Leatherman tools for more info), but it does suggest that Americans (read: higher paid therefor higher skilled people) had a fair amount of involvement in the manufacturing of their mills/lathes. I don't have anything against Chinese goods, but the main reason a business would produce something in China is cheap labor. Grizzly has a good reputation for quality control, but I didn't want to worry about getting a "good one" or a "lemon" with my first mill purchase.
i own a tiag and it has served me will but has limitations that compels me to design a cnc mill that has more power in the spindle the 1/8 v belt is not an issue. it will stop the motor on heavy lodes. so i will be building a new mill with a 1/2 hp motor , but all and all i think the taig is the only way to go if you want a small cnc mill