[ssracer]

I am seriously considering buying a taig cnc mill, but want to know if it will do what I want. $3000 is my budget for everything. I know i should buy the biggest that i can afford but this machine seems to be it. I want to make aluminum parts for my R/C cars. The biggest part that i want to make are wheels. They would be 4.75in H by 3in W finished. I don't care how long it takes to machine, I just want to know if this machine would do it. if worse comes to worse i will just buy a manual lathe

Looking for opinions other than salesmen

Thanks

[Neil_J]

I am seriously considering buying a taig cnc mill, but want to know if it will do what I want. $3000 is my budget for everything. I know i should buy the biggest that i can afford but this machine seems to be it. I want to make aluminum parts for my R/C cars. The biggest part that i want to make are wheels. They would be 4.75in H by 3in W finished. I don't care how long it takes to machine, I just want to know if this machine would do it. if worse comes to worse i will just buy a manual lathe

Looking for opinions other than salesmen

I've never owned a Taig but they can be made into great machines. But yes, you should buy the biggest machine you can afford ... And for $3k you can do bigger than a taig

Right now I'm a bit biased towards the Grizzly X3 (I just bought one a month ago).. $950 gets you a heck of a machine, and in your case that would leave $2000 for CNC and tooling. _very_ doable.. I'm spending less than that on mine. You'll find later on that having a huge work envelope comes in handy for those jobs you haven't even thought of yet.

But uh, don't let my bias or anyone else's get in your way. Any of the budget mills can be setup to make decent parts. If you're pretty set on the Taig, than pick one up, you won't be disappointed.

[ataxy]

Yep i go with something bigger if i where you i know those small taig machine are well built but i really dont see the point in buying one unless you are short on space, but to answer your question yes a taig would do what you want.

[Stepper Monkey]

I second all three of those points - First; if you have the space and long-term interest in machining buy the biggest you can afford. Second; the Taig is easily capable if space/size/portability really is an issue. Third; since either would work well for you don't let others bias based on the type of work they do get in the way - they are both nice machines and you have to figure out which best for the work you are doing.
The X3 will take a lot more time and effort on your part to initially outfit/convert than a Taig, but will pay off handsomely saving time and effort in the long run if you intend on running a lot of parts, doing steel, big parts, etc.

[philbur]

With USD 3,000 and a desire to make small wheels in aluminium I would buy a manual X3 mill with rotary table and a manual 9" x 20" lathe, all for a total of USD 1,900. I would then spend the rest on tooling for both.

You don't have to have CNC to be able to make things. In fact trying to learn machining and CNC at the same time can be a hurdle that some don't get over.

Once you have a good handle on the machining side save some more pennies and convert the mill to CNC, if you still have the urge.

Phil

PS: Making "round" wheels on a low end CNC mill (without a rotary table) is not the smartest of ideas.

I am seriously considering buying a taig cnc mill, but want to know if it will do what I want. $3000 is my budget for everything. I know i should buy the biggest that i can afford but this machine seems to be it. I want to make aluminum parts for my R/C cars. The biggest part that i want to make are wheels. They would be 4.75in H by 3in W finished. I don't care how long it takes to machine, I just want to know if this machine would do it. if worse comes to worse i will just buy a manual lathe

Looking for opinions other than salesmen

Thanks

[Stepper Monkey]

Several more good points there. I was thinking for what he needed to do a good rotary table was so obvious it went without saying, but for someone new to machining it probably isn't obvious at all. If you go the CNC route or not you'll need one.

So, what Philbur said...

A manual lathe is almost a necessity regardless of manual or CNC mill. I consider it to be a necessary part of a mills tooling and accessory budget. If budget is tight a stock Taig mill actually is convertible into a halfway passable CNC lathe in a pinch given a few minutes with an allen wrench and a few lathe accessories. Interesting view of that here to give you the idea. There is a reason the headstock is built as it is, it was designed to be dual-purpose, even if it is quite limited and quirky in it's lathe capacity. That being said, I'd definitely still have a dedicated separate lathe if you can at all afford one.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Munq_hXxTs"]YouTube - Taig CNC mill/lathe[/ame]

[ssracer]

I guess i should clarify a little bit more. My basement/workshop is already quite full. I wanted to purchase a cnc complete machine not having to retrofit one. The taig would be the three or four axis version. I wouldn't mind a manual but i need to be able to repeat. The wheels are not that hard to do , it is the a arms and shock towers that get tricky. I worked on manual machines in a shop for a year but that was about ten years ago, so i just have to get up to speed again. I just used the wheels as a reference to the largest parts that I would want to make.

Thank you for all your thoughts

[bilinghm]

Correct me if I am wrong, but milling a wheel is just not a great idea. If you want to make decorative static wheels for models (which I do in 1/24 scale) or if you want to to mill a spoke pattern on a lathe made wheel, that is fine. But a milled wheel is only going to be sorta' round, not functionally round. Wheels made on a milling machine will almost certainly be slightly elliptical in shape, out by one to several thounands in either the X or the Y. A lathe made wheel will be almost perfectly round (each wheel may be a slightly different diameter, but that's a different problem). Round stuff on lathes, square stuff on mills.

Bill

[ssracer]

I am sorry, i really wasn't specific enough. I basically wanted to know if that mill would be able to work on a 5 in round wheel blank. I don't have a problem cutting the blanks on a manual lathe but the drive hex and wheel pattern has to be milled .

Here is a picture of what i would like to do.

http://rc4wdstore.com/product_info.p...roducts_id=253

Also what would be a decent manual lathe "space is an issue" that would hold 5 inch round stock. I only need about 8 -9 inches max of lenth

[philbur]

Some of those outside diameters look like they have concave radii so even a CNC mill is not going to get it, you will need a manual lathe with a form tool or radius/ball turner or a CNC lathe. Can't see anything on there that needs a CNC mill. A manual mill with rotary table can do the "spoke" holes and the nut recess.

Phil

PS: But then I guess you RC guys insist on the word CNC appearing somewhere in the component name.

I am sorry, i really wasn't specific enough. I basically wanted to know if that mill would be able to work on a 5 in round wheel blank. I don't have a problem cutting the blanks on a manual lathe but the drive hex and wheel pattern has to be milled .

Here is a picture of what i would like to do.

http://rc4wdstore.com/product_info.p...roducts_id=253

Also what would be a decent manual lathe "space is an issue" that would hold 5 inch round stock. I only need about 8 -9 inches max of lenth

[ataxy]

yep to do those sort of part you will need a lathe

[Hunter12]

I just bought a Taig CNC mill to do exactly what you are wanting to do. PM me if you have more questions. Don't try and copy the RC4WD stuff, go for the real stuff like RAMTech-RC.

[bilinghm]

That is a beautiful wheel. Did you make it? How much do wheels like that sell for?

I just bought a Taig CNC mill to do exactly what you are wanting to do. PM me if you have more questions. Don't try and copy the RC4WD stuff, go for the real stuff like RAMTech-RC.

[Hunter12]

Yes, those are my rims I sell. Cost is $360 for a set of 4, + 130 for various types of beadlocks. I have them made on full size equipment, but people are always asking for custom work and different styles. That is why I bough the Taig, to do some custom spokes and engraving Race Team names on the rims.

[The Blight]

He wants to make other things then just wheels. So don't just focus on those. He also wants to make parts that are not round, and he probably need to make lots of them. So a CNC mill it is and he has said so a couple times now.

I have never used a Taig, but from what I have heard it's a good enough mill. I would still go with a bigger machine though. I would also buy a lathe to make the round parts of the wheels. I know some of those tiny SIEG lathes can work with quite big stock materials. Might take some time though..

[Hunter12]

If I were him, I would go with a 5 axis lathe with live tooling and a Horizontal milling center with 12 pallets. Wait, I can't afford that, and it won't fit in my garage. Maybe just a mini-mill then.