Upgrading Taig Mill


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Thread: Upgrading Taig Mill

  1. #1

    Default Upgrading Taig Mill

    I purchased a used Taig mill about a year back. It was a manual mill that had been upgraded to CNC. I thought it was a great way to get into the machining world. That being said, my knowledge and terminology is very limited in the machining world. I am looking to upgrade my machine, but first current specs:

    1/5 HP motor @ 1725 RPM
    Short X Table
    3/4-16 spindle
    1/4-20 Lead Screws

    Now to upgrade all of these parts individually would cost roughly $1700 from Taig. Or I could purchase a new "CNC Ready" machine for ~$2000 and swap my steppers. I'm pretty well convinced on just buying the whole thing since the cost difference is small and the down time would be a lot less. However, I wanted to make sure I understand the implications before I commit to buying a new machine.

    - I own 6 a2z tool holders in various diameters. Will these tool holders work with the new er16 headstock?
    - I run LinuxCNC. Since I purchased this machine used, I have never gone through the setup process. I am assuming moving to ball screws, a new setup file will be required? I have watched some videos on youtube and the setup seems fairly straight forward. Is this a safe assumption?


    Bonus question: The whole purpose for me upgrading is to increase productivity. I currently can only run my machine at 11 in/min due to lost steps on the Z axis (weight of the motor seems to be the problem). Moving to ball screws should reduce the friction load drastically allowing me to increase my speed without losing steps. I am hoping this will make my controller or PC the limiting factor. If I am not happy with the rates, what would be the next thing to upgrade on the controller or PC?

    Current setup:
    Gigabyte GA-D525TUD Mobo
    Intel ATOM @ 1.8 GHz
    Standard HDD
    2 GB of RAM
    I use onboard video & parallel port. There is one PCI slot available.

    Applied motion HT23-299 stepper motors (not sure how they are wired)
    3x Applied Motion 2035 controller cards
    CR10R10 Parallel Input Card? (Input is Parallel port from PC, output is to the steppers)


    PS. I understand moving while cutting is based on the material being cut, tool being used, etc., but 11in/min while in air is painful. If I can move around 50 in/min in air my program lengths can be cut anywhere from 30-50%.

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  2. #2
    Member awerby's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upgrading Taig Mill

    Actually, it seems that the main problem you're having is due to those motors, which have extremely high inductance and low current: https://www.applied-motion.com/produ...otors/ht23-399 . I'd be happy to sell you a new CNC-ready Taig, but it wouldn't make your problems go away if you just put those motors and that same motion-control system on it. Your money would be much better spent in buying different motors (like these, for instance: 23HS7430 1.8 Degree 3A 2.4V 2.3mH 150N.cm Brushless Stepping Motor for CNC - Free Shipping - ThanksBuyer ), another controller, like the Geckodrives G-540 and a 48v 10 amp power supply. Altogether, this will cost a lot less than you're planning to spend, and you'll be amazed at the difference; it should go at least 3 times faster without losing steps.

    If your mill is really a Taig, then it has 1/2" diameter screws, not 1/4". The weight of the motor isn't the issue; your machine has a lighter motor than the one that comes standard on the CNC version (you could think about upgrading to that one), and the mechanical advantage of those 20-pitch screws is eminently capable of raising it without losing steps. Just get rid of those crappy steppers and don't look back...

    [FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
    [URL="http://www.computersculpture.com/"]Website[/URL]


  3. #3

    Default Re: Upgrading Taig Mill

    Quote Originally Posted by awerby View Post
    Actually, it seems that the main problem you're having is due to those motors, which have extremely high inductance and low current: https://www.applied-motion.com/produ...otors/ht23-399 . I'd be happy to sell you a new CNC-ready Taig, but it wouldn't make your problems go away if you just put those motors and that same motion-control system on it. Your money would be much better spent in buying different motors (like these, for instance: 23HS7430 1.8 Degree 3A 2.4V 2.3mH 150N.cm Brushless Stepping Motor for CNC - Free Shipping - ThanksBuyer ), another controller, like the Geckodrives G-540 and a 48v 10 amp power supply. Altogether, this will cost a lot less than you're planning to spend, and you'll be amazed at the difference; it should go at least 3 times faster without losing steps.

    If your mill is really a Taig, then it has 1/2" diameter screws, not 1/4". The weight of the motor isn't the issue; your machine has a lighter motor than the one that comes standard on the CNC version (you could think about upgrading to that one), and the mechanical advantage of those 20-pitch screws is eminently capable of raising it without losing steps. Just get rid of those crappy steppers and don't look back...
    It is a Taig 2018. You are correct, the lead screws are 1/2". So if I pick up this:

    Deepgroove1 Gecko control box

    I should get some of the speed I am looking for?



  4. #4
    Member awerby's Avatar
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    Default Re: Upgrading Taig Mill

    Not unless you change out the motors too. Other companies make control boxes based on the G-540 and offer support with them as well.

    [FONT=Verdana]Andrew Werby[/FONT]
    [URL="http://www.computersculpture.com/"]Website[/URL]


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