Total newb, Looking to mill copper.

[YellowGT0]

LoL aight 4th times the charm!

First I would like to say, I'm sorry mods lol, I seem to be posting stuff in the wrong place.

Hi guys. I just spent hours reading a wood working thread then a G0704 thread lol.

I'm looking at making some heatsinks. The parts would look something like this.



The biggest one would be about 4in wide and 11 inch long. So I like the idea of making a manual mill into a CNC. I would like to keep the cost around 1,500 dollars. If anyone could point me in the right direction of the Mill and some kits or any other usefully info, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Thanks for the help.

[YellowGT0]

Would the deepgroove1 be able to do this? It seems to cheap to be true.

[amramsey]

12 inches would be pushing it... the mill has that much travel but getting everything positioned to make use of every bit of it it can be tricky.

[YellowGT0]

Ops sorry, its 11in long, the part I need to make.

[amramsey]

In that case, the Taig will work great for you. Depending on the copper you get, it can be pretty abrasive and hard on your bits (ie- they will wear out fairly fast) but that's true no matter what machine you get. You might also want to consider a flood cooling system.

[YellowGT0]

In that case, the Taig will work great for you. Depending on the copper you get, it can be pretty abrasive and hard on your bits (ie- they will wear out fairly fast) but that's true no matter what machine you get. You might also want to consider a flood cooling system.

Is flood cooling, with the little nozzle that sprays? I also like the 4th Axis but it seems like to loose milling area when using the deepgroove one, or am I mistaken?
P.S. Yay I found the right machine for Copper, lol

[amramsey]

That's right. Flood cooling basically just sprays coolant onto the work area. Everything will be much happier.

Here is a Taig with it installed : [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u4vcOQKvu8"]YouTube - taig cnc mill now with flood cooling[/nomedia]

I bought my Taig from Deepgroove about 3 years ago or so. Transaction was seamless and I was happy with the whole process. Keep in mind that he basically is just working as a reseller for Taig and everything typically drop ships from Taig anyhow. Some people have had problems with Deepgroove so you may want to keep that in mind. I think the biggest issue is that he sells the machine for so cheap that you don't want to expect much in the way of after-sales hand holding. Most people don't need that, so it may not be an issue.

Nick Carter is also a place to pick up the Taig from. The Taig Milling Machine, Manual and CNC Comparable prices and much better service. You'd have to order the Gecko drive directly from Gecko though and do a little more in the way of putting it all together perhaps.

You'll lose z-axis (height) no matter what machine you go with.

[YellowGT0]

That's right. Flood cooling basically just sprays coolant onto the work area. Everything will be much happier.

Here is a Taig with it installed :

I bought my Taig from Deepgroove about 3 years ago or so. Transaction was seamless and I was happy with the whole process. Keep in mind that he basically is just working as a reseller for Taig and everything typically drop ships from Taig anyhow. Some people have had problems with Deepgroove so you may want to keep that in mind. I think the biggest issue is that he sells the machine for so cheap that you don't want to expect much in the way of after-sales hand holding. Most people don't need that, so it may not be an issue.

Nick Carter is also a place to pick up the Taig from. The Taig Milling Machine, Manual and CNC Comparable prices and much better service. You'd have to order the Gecko drive directly from Gecko though and do a little more in the way of putting it all together perhaps.

You'll lose z-axis (height) no matter what machine you go with.

So is there a place to look at kits for flood cooling, or do you build it out of fish tank pumps or something?

[rowbare]

You can look at Little Machine Shop LittleMachineShop.com - tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists. If you search for coolant, you will see several options.

Jeff Birt at Soigeneris (google them) makes a very nice controller package for a Taig mill based on the G540. He recommends smaller motors than most people sell but gets excellent results from them.

bob

[YellowGT0]

You can look at Little Machine Shop LittleMachineShop.com - tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists. If you search for coolant, you will see several options.

Jeff Birt at Soigeneris (google them) makes a very nice controller package for a Taig mill based on the G540. He recommends smaller motors than most people sell but gets excellent results from them.

bob

Great, thanks. I am definitely going with flood cooling. Anything else I should add to my build? Maybe that corner finding thing. I don't know what its called :-(

[Jeff-Birt]

One thing that has not been mentioned yet but is very important for the state application. Ever try to drill a hole in copper with a hand drill? It will almost pull the drill out of your hand if you use a regular bit.

Copper is a PITA to machine!

You might not think so at first because it is a soft, malleable material. But, because it is soooo freaking soft it has the tendency to pull tools into it and smear as much as actually cut. The proper tooling is essential or you'll be in for hours of grief.

As for flood cooling, it can help in some cases as much for washing chips away as for cooling/lubrication. I've seen a few folks go a bit overboard in this area on a Taig sized machine though. Remember it only has a 1/4 HP spindle motor, so you can only generate a given amount of heat (power in = power out). I have a Midget cool mister that does a great job of cooling/lubricating without as much mess as flood cooling, but it does not do as good a job as washing chips away.

[strohkirchw]

Ordering the mill from carter and the controller/stepper setup from deepgrove total shipped price was $1640 for me.