ATT: AO Machinists. I Need Your Opinions. (Granite 1324 by Smithy)

[luke]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to follow your lead on the Taig machines, I've got a Mill in mind, but all info is still welcomed because I'm still shopping.

Are you a machinist by trade or a hobbyist at this point? How did you get started?

Originally posted by J-LYTE
I'm just doing things a little different and am not going to post pic's until these are available for shipment.

That was my plan also...

[J-LYTE]

Hobbyist, targeting my main hobby, paintball. Posts will be out soon on my product line.

[luke]

Where did you pick up your CNC/CAD knowledge? Also, where did you learn your machinist skills?

[J-LYTE]

CAD knowledge comes from I do it for a living, structural steel detailer. CAM knowledge comes from trial and error and a bunch of scrap aluminum. CAM is the easy part. Not sure of where the machinist abilities came from I just kinda have a knack for it.

[luke]

Originally posted by J-LYTE
Not sure of where the machinist abilities came from I just kinda have a knack for it.

Yea I'm the "fly by the seat of my pants" sort of guy too.

[J-LYTE]

lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it tends to make things interesting.

[Statik7]

I take machining as one of my classes at school. I have a friend who works at a machine shop.
and i read alot. :o

you should just buy seperate machines. lathe, mill, etc.
im sure you could pick up used working machines for a decent price. CNC on the otherhand.... takes a while. Running the machine is no biggie but writing the code for it will be the issue.

We have:
2 Bridgeport Mills
1 Clausing-kondia mill
4 lathes
1 fadal CNC mill
2 CNC lathes
2 small cnc engraving mills.

and a vareity of other common shop tools

[Statik7]

http://www.mscdirect.com

for cool industrial supplies

www.grainger.com too

[Russ]

My question to the TAIG buyers is how do you program this thing?

Will you need to purchase software?

[J-LYTE]

If you purchase the Taig mill in the CNC version, everything you need comes with it. Personally, I use Autocad 2000 for modeling, which I then DXF into Gcode2000, it does the programming for me.

[luke]

Statik7,

I have decided not to get the Smithy. I will likely go with A Grizzly or an Enco floor model.

[J-LYTE]

Luke,
Just to be on the safe side, run a few checks on availability of "reworked" machines by US or Canadian companies as both of these, along with the Harbor Freight and Jet versions of the same mill are manufactured in China. My experience with both the Enco and Harbor Freight vesions left dissatifying results. Accurate repeatability was virtually non-existent. Nothing compares to a Bridgeport, but few small shops can afford them. Still a firm believer in the Taig for paintball work. If in disbelief of it's capabilities, check out www.whitewolfairsmithing.com, He does some of the fanciest work I've seen and guess what He uses? I'm not really trying to "sway" your decision in any direction, just as you stated before, I don't want you to spend now only to find out later, been there, done that. John

[luke]

Actually I'm leaning more towards a Grizzly than an Enco, but I'm not ruling out anything (still shopping)...

Here is the one I was considering > (G4027)
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item...8&site=grizzly


What do you think?

[luke]

Originally posted by J-LYTE
Luke,
I'm not really trying to "sway" your decision in any direction, just as you stated before, I don't want you to spend now only to find out later, been there, done that. John

Give it too me straight! I do value your advice and experience. I REALLY don't want to make a mistake and have to buy another machine as my skills improve.

[J-LYTE]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. This is mainly going to depend on what you intend to do in the future. A mill by design is a fairly simple concept. They all do basically the same thing. Capacity (how big of stuff you can mill) was the first thing I looked at. Accuracy was next. I wanted portability. I wont tell you not to buy the Grizzly, I own several Grizzly woodworking tools (my first love). I just dont feel the accuracy you are going to want is going to be there. Look at it this way, $3k for a floor model machine, or $20k for one the same size, versus $200 for a benchtop or the same $3k you would've spent on a bottom end floor model. Which one do you think is going to be better made, more accurate, more dependable? Tooling is still yet another consideration. Bigger machine = bigger tooling = more cost. I personally dont care for the imports; Jet, Grizzly, Enco, or Harbor Freight. Even though two of these are US companies, in the case of their mills and lathes, they're all made in China.