Looking to buy CNC taig mill

[surrealism]

Hello guys,
I am new to the site, and this is a great resource thus far. I am looking at buying a CNC mill and the Taig mill (deepgroove1.com) came up as the cheapest
most viable option.

I run a small design firm and I have mostly used 3d plastic printing machines, but I use a Bridgeport manually once in a while to cut small aluminum prototypes when necessary




My questions:
-Has anyone here had any experience with Deepgroove1.com? are they legit, timely and supportive?

-When I buy the Taig CNC baseline kit with the controller and steppers, all I will need is a computer to get it all running. But how much time does it tale to get the mill, and the software to be happy with each other.. I assume there is some orientation needed before I just start running g code.

-Are there other products or company that sell similar CNC mills in that price range? ($1,700 USD) if so, how to they compare to the deepgroove Taig set up?

Thanks for any advice, I am extremely excited to start making chips, learning and sharing with you guys!


-Tyler
SurrealSolutions.net

[BodaciousBrian]

My deepgroove mill is running great so far. Legit and timely for sure, but I have read that his support is not that great. I haven't needed any support, but he is quick to answer e-mails. His controller is the gecko 540 in a nicely done box with a good power supply, and the steppers are dual shaft, 4-wire, bipolar motors.

It took a while for me to find out what cad/cam software to use, but Mach3 took less than a day with no experience to get the machine running 2d engraving.

[themedulla]

I have a Taig CNC from deepgroove. I never needed any support, but he was responsive in my interactions with him and even called after a couple of weeks to check and see how everything was going.

The machine is shipped separately from the controller, steppers, etc and will probably arrive first. I would take some time to adjust the machine. First I would make sure everything is square (make sure and get a dial indicator that you can also hook up to your spindle). Then adjust the backlash (good run through on nick carters webiste - cartertools.com) and I would oil the lead screws and ways.

So far the machine has been great.

If you are enterprising you could pick up a BF20 clone (the Grizzly G0704 and others) and do a CNC conversion yourself and come in around the same price but have a bigger stiffer machine. I am really liking the look of that machine. It would take quite a bit more effort, though, as I had the Taig set up and running parts in a few hours.

Mach3 is easy - figuring out which CAD and CAM solution to go with will give you more of a headache.

[surrealism]

Thanks for the replys guys, I agree that the grizzly would be a better machine, but I am not very interested in spending the time and money to get it retrofitted at this point.

So what types of aluminum are you guys cutting on the taig? is there a cutter/alloy combination that you have found to be your preferred?

I downloaded mach3 and it seems a bit overwhelming, but I can see how robust and feature packed it is. Are there any bare basics tutorials on the web you could point me to for the mach3/Taig set up?

Thanks again guys.

[themedulla]

Deepgroove has a tutorial buried in his pages somewhere. I think this is it:

http://www.deepgroove1.com/tutorials.htm

also good information here:

http://www.deepgroove1.com/tutorialvideos.htm

Download the Mach3 manual and it does a good job as well.

Cutting metal on the Taig is all about getting your feeds, speeds and depth of cut right. I had to play with it a while. Get some inexpensive high speed steel bits and play around in aluminum. There are also a few threads on cutting aluminum that are helpful starting points. I would recommend getting a quality US-made carbide bit if you are doing much in aluminum or anything at all in steel. For plastics it doesn't matter.

[awetmore]

You might also check for used ones. They show up on my local Craigslist a few times a year. For $1100 I got a used mill with a working controller, good steppers, and a fair amount of tooling. It took me a couple of hours of cleanup to get it running smoothly, but it is working great for me now.

There is a huge thread on this forum about Deepgroove1. Some of it is out of date and talks about his older controller, but I think it still gives you an idea of what to expect.

I generally use 3/16" 2 flute carbide bits in aluminum.

[ChrisPDX]

So what types of aluminum are you guys cutting on the taig? is there a cutter/alloy combination that you have found to be your preferred?

I downloaded mach3 and it seems a bit overwhelming, but I can see how robust and feature packed it is. Are there any bare basics tutorials on the web you could point me to for the mach3/Taig set up?

The alloy you use depends on the requirements of the finished part, but in general 6061 is a good combination of strength, machinability, availability, and cost. I find myself using a 1/4" 2 flute carbide USA endmill at 10500 rpm and 20 ipm with a .050 depth of cut and max 50% of cutter diameter width of cut in aluminum. Avoid plunge cuts if you can and make sure you understand the difference between conventional and climb milling.

Don't be too intimidated by Mach--it has many capabilities, but you only need to know a few things to be productive. As far as setting up Mach and the Taig, my recommendation would be to use a test indicator--if you look through the Mach manual they show how to use an indicator and 123 blocks (or any other precision known length) to set the steps per rev which gives a more precise value than if you compute it. There is a video of what I am talking about here: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkO5tc-jSxw"]YouTube- Improved Mach 3 Axis Calibration[/nomedia]


Also, try to eliminate backlash mechanically, but if you do end up using backlash comp in Mach, be sure to get a very good reading on the backlash, otherwise you will create more problems than you solve (ask me how I know). Here is another video on backlash comp: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A27nOkTFYDY&feature=related"]YouTube- Mach 3 Backlash Compensation[/nomedia]


I know it seems like a lot but you are starting off on the right foot by buying a machine that is more or less ready to run out of the box.

-Chris

[awetmore]

You should also consider EMC2. It has a simpler and less busy UI and the price is right (free). http://www.linuxcnc.org/index.php

You need to dedicate a PC to it, but Mach more or less requires that anyway. I use CamBam (on Windows) as my CAM software, but run the gCode through EMC.

[SpeedsCustom]

I use EMC2 as my controller and when things are good, things are good. EMC2 is free and is a real nice controller, I don't know aquat about Mach3 because I have been using EMC2 for years.

MY TAIG is now in a real nice enclosure "HAAS" inspired. Will be adding way more to the machine this summer.

For my Gcodes, I use Vectric software for 2-d work and Cut 3-d for 3D work, but there is much better 3D CAM available.




I'll get better pics ASAP.


It's a nice machine, but I plan on upgrading in the future because I would like to make larger parts for myself etc.


-Jason

[surrealism]

Great feedback guys. I think I am going to place an order in the next few weeks. I like Deepgrooves setup, pricing, components, and repoire.

Looking forward to working with you guys on mods, tips and tricks.

SpeedsCustom- That is a sweet enclosure for the mill. So you have any other pics? or maybe even some plans drawn up you might share?

[SpeedsCustom]

Surrealism- That picture was taken when I first did the over-haul on it. I will post pics for you in a bit on what it looks like now and I'll even show the features.

Flood coolant etc. Big changes being added to it in the coming months. I really like having this enclosure, it looks so good in person

All the plans are in my head, I use my mind to come up with things and do things on the fly.



-Jason

[Fixittt]

The taig is a solid little machine. and the Gecko G540 controller, I love them. Its a match made in heaven.

mach 3 while seems daunting at first is actually very simple once you understand a couple fundamentals.

Everything works off of the computers printer port. Each pin from the printer port does something in mach (for the most part) Once you understand that pin 2 and pin 3 from the printer port makes X move 4 and 5 for y ect. you will see that its just a matter of getting the pins correct. As for the motor tuning. mach 3 is a widely used application. not only for taig machines but for many different machines. So you have to tell the machine how many steps the motors need to take to make "YOUR" configuration move a set amount. Once this is done and the motor speeds are dialed in to your config. It acts like any other machine controller. All the same functions are there.

Plus, you have a wealth of talented people at your disposal to answer any questions you may have.

Im going to echo a couple other replies to different posts. the machine will do what you want it to do. You just have to do it within the machines limitations. Finding those limitations is going to be the long fun part. If you consider creating a bald spot on your head fun.