Reinforcing my taig mill

[destroyer125]

Hello,

I recently purchased a taig mill and I am looking for ways here and there to squeeze every little bit of preformace out of it. I am considering a way to strengthen my Z axis column slightly more. I noticed Taig fills their lathe bases with a concrete like material. Would it help to do the same with the steel tube column in back on the mill and possibly the lower base of the mill also?

I have done several experiments with fly cutting on aluminum with my machine currently and I am not recieving the results I would like to have. The machine has been trammed and is in line with the table and I have tried with all cutting speeds. It seems like a lot of vibration is coming from the area of the back column.

Thanks

[Shibumi]

I have also noticed a lot of vibration, and believe there are two contributors: it is primarily due to the z-axis slide not having a better method of tightening, and the basic machine structure. Certainly, stiffining the tubular components can't hurt.
Mine has needed adjustment many times. At best, there is some slop it it. Make it too tight and the motor has difficulty with + Z movement.
What I did: Keep it well lubricated; make z slider as tight as you can. I clamp it while tightening the screws. I also did the following: changed out the drive to a GeckoDrive G540; changed the motors to Keling KL23H284-35-4B ($49), and; got rid of MACH3 in favor of UBUNTO EMC2 (free Linux-based download).
My mill performs much better than new. The vibration is still there, but is better than before.
Good luck.

[Jeff-Birt]

Generally, vibration is a sign that you are asking too much of the design of the machine. i.e. the feed / speeds / tooling choices are not appropriate. Remember that everything has to work together.

If you have a 1/2 step driver it will sound worse than a 1/10th step driver, like the G540, at lower speeds. I tired to show this difference in a video here:

YouTube- Comparing a 1/2 Step driver to 10x micro-stepping driver

YouTube- Comparing a 1/2 Step driver to 10x micro-stepping driver

.

I've seen a Taig run for hundreds of hours, 15-16 hours a day non-stop, making 0.030" passes with a 3/8 three flute cobalt bit, in 6061 Al with no vibration problems (other than when the spindle bearings seized which was the point of the experiments.) Generally I would have used a 2 flute bit on Al but the 3 flute worked much better in this application.

[Shibumi]

While I agree with Jeff, I still hold that the inability to adequately tighten the z-axis, compounds the vibration issue.

[Zap]

I was having a bit of a problem on my z axis with it being too loose. I used a big pair of channel locks to clamp it when I tightened the screws. I didn't go crazy on it or anything, just enough clamping force to take out any slop. It seemed to help out. I like the idea of filling the column and will give that a shot too.

[japroach]

http://www.engineeringhobbyist.com/p...olumn_support/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taigto...80218/pic/list (requires yahoo login)