Just finished a cnc programming school and am now looking for a cnc desktop mill to stay fresh.....planing on cutting plastics to mild steel....I don't want to retrofit a manual mill...so can anyone steer me in the right direction...are the stepper motors that come stock good enough for a good finish on mild steel or is that the reason people retrofit...I will be using Mach2 software...Thank you for your responses....

I have a taig mill and love it! here is a link to my webpage.
my Taig mill page (http://users.adelphia.net/%7Ewjdupont/my_taig_cnc_mill.htm)
good luck on your decision. either way i think you will be happy. :cheers:

on retro fitting...did it just bolt right up or did you have to modify some things..the price difference might just sway me to go your way as long as you didn't have to many problems assembling....hey does it run on 110 or 220

I ordered the mill cnc ready. all i had to do was screw my steppers to it. It runs on 110. you can buy the mill all ready to go for around $2500. I have about $1500 in mine and am very pleased with it. Someday i'll get a bigger mill. But for right now it does what I am doing with it.

Woodknack, what version of TurboCNC is that on your site(screenshots)?

question about turbocam....does it support G41 G42 and G40 cutter comp? also G90 and G91 or Canned cycles.....? :banana:

Hey WoodKnack
Have you ever done 5/16" cast iron?

I am thinking about a Taig package for doing 5/16 thick cast iron discs on a 4th rotary pos.

Does your have the nuts to mill a pc of that in like 2 to 3 passes to cut through?

I woudl say the minitech mills look like very high quality machines, fast and look rather rigid. I do not know for sure on the rigidity, but I hear good things about thk LM slides. They appear to be made out of aluminum though(appear, the machine minus the rails). The only thing is that it sounds like they are really expencive machines.

Jon

I have the Taig mill 2019, I added 187 oz/in steppers and a xylotex and I love it. The machine is built very strong and is very accurate. I also use TurboCNC to control it.
A year ago when I bought it, I was very green on the CNC front, but using the mill for the last year has broadened my knowledge quite a bit. Right now I've been bitten with the cnc bug and will use the mill to build a gantry mill after the new year.

here are a few of the items I've made with my mill, all are F-16 simulator items cut from acrylic and engraved. The text on the panels are backlightable. You can see from text on the panel of the accuracy of the mill.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/napalm1/pit/icpa4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/napalm1/pit/finguard2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/napalm1/pit/finguard1.jpg

this center console was entirely milled on the taig, then assembled.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/napalm1/pit/cc11.jpg