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

[J-LYTE]

Oops, forgot something. Is the Grizzly you're looking at CNC capable (for reasonable cost)? Cutting staight lines on a manual machine, no problem, just turn the crank. Now try to put a nice smooth curve on the end of that straight line.

[luke]

I found Taigs site, it's at: http://www.taigtools.com/

BTW, The White Wolf link didn't work. (?)

[luke]

My original thoughts were to stay away from the imports, but didn't think I had much of a choice. I would have never "guessed" that these (Taig) smaller machines were of high quality...

Can the CNC (Taig) machines be operated in manual mode also? The reason I ask, is because it will be awhile until I'm ready to use the CNC mode. I'm not sure weather I should upgrade later, or just get the CNC now?

[J-LYTE]

Check out www.cartertools.com . His site is actually more informative than Taig's. If you decide to go with the taig, order from him, 15% discount. You can get the mill in a cnc ready version for around $750 (I think) and use it that way until you're ready for CNC which is what I did. The stepper motors I'm using (from Stepperworld) are dual shaft, which means I can mount the handcranks to the back of the motors to allow for use in a manual or CNC mode. Nick Carter is a super nice guy and is probably the foremost Taig expert.

[J-LYTE]

Try this one; www.whitewolfairsmithing.com

[luke]

Thanks for the links, lots of good stuff there.

The work that White Wolf does is pretty amazing. I've seen his stuff posted here on AO. I'm impressed with the Taigs ability to do that type of work.

The idea of being able to get setup at a fraction of the cost that I originally thought is great. The difference in cost will pay for a lot of tooling. It's odd that you can actually spend less money for a better product! The more I think about it the better it sounds!

Looks like Shartly had it pegged from the start........

[J-LYTE]

Shartly has been around a while and as usual he's right. Big is not always impressive and the Taig is of extremely high quality. Dont forget, white wolf as well as myself also have the 4th axis setup (allows for rotation along the x axis).

[luke]

Originally posted by J-LYTE
Shartly has been around a while and as usual he's right.

SHHHHHHH, he might be listening.

J-LYTE, Thanks for all the help, It's much appreciated!

[shartley]

[Trench]

Originally posted by J-LYTE
Shartly has been around a while and as usual he's right.

Since when?!?

Lol... In most cases, he is right...

[steveg]

Hey this thread has been busy since i've last been here!
moved from an apartment in town to my new house in the country.
(and away from a 2Mbs ADSL connection to a 44Kbs
dialup aaaaaarg!)

First the defensive bit I was never slagging the taig
just passing on second hand opinions from someone who's
opinion I trust, that the spindles are not as good as the
sherline's (I have a sherline so there is ABSOLUTELY NO
BIAS honest )
The taig mills are larger than the sherlines.

here is a link that I posted a while ago and PM'ed to Shartley
http://www.rainnea.com/cnc.htm look at the 5 axis
video. remember this is all hobby stuff!

that machine is based on taig hardware using a Bosch (I think)
laminate trimmer as a spindle.

J any machine can be converted to CNC, I ordered my sherline mill that way.
I wish that I had dual shaft motors, but the one's I have are only single shaft. the
sherline came with cute little red handwheels.
I'll use one for a manual pulse-coder
Reasonable cost is relative. a desktop will cost a lot less
than a benchtop or floor model, but it depends on the
size of part you want to make. if the part doesn't fit
your small inexpense cnc, that is not very usefull.or reasonable costing either.
for example the bolt from my matrix just fits between centers on my
mini lathe and will not fit the spindle hole at all
so you need to choose wisely

FESTUS you are right about used machines, but you with several
years as a machinist and I with several years as a CNC service engineer
have a somewhat better idea of what we are looking at. some one with no experience at all "might"
be better off with new hobby market machines.
Some used stuff is still good but some is throw-away.

the smallest machine(mill)my former employer sold had a 36"
bed, the largest has a 180 foot long bed

[luke]

I just went back and read the entire thread again, now I'm really confused.

[shartley]

LOL I think what I pull from all this is that if you get EITHER systems, you will be okay.

[steveg]

Happy to do my part Luke

This is why waaaay up there I suggested looking into some
machining courses or maybe a club around your city.

there really are a lot of choices and decisions to make which can be a lot of fun too.

did I post this before http://www.homeshopmachinist.net/
these mags are easy to find up here in Canada so you should have no problems finding them.

and remember whatever size of machine you get, the first
job you want to work on is too big!

[steveg]

here is a picture of my "work in progress" cnc sherline,
power supply to the left, the 3 circuit boards are the
gecko stepper drives capable of 7amp output although I'm
only using 1amp