Workshop
Tight Squeeze
Texas weather has finally relented from the high temperatures and we are now into an El Niño wet spell. But it does mean that it is very comfortable for working in my unconditioned garage workshop.
I do have heaters for the winter but no air conditioning for the hot weather. So Fall is the season for me to spend more hours in the shop.
I am presently considering an addition to my Taig X3 Small Mill. I just made a repair to the DROPROS digital scales I have on the machine. Unfortunately, I haven’t been using it enough to keep the memory backup battery charged. It is a 3Volt rechargeable Ni-Cad rather than a large button cell. I killed it once a few years ago and it died on me again just a few weeks ago.
I sent it back to DroPros the first time (free repair) but I did it myself this time. I found the exact same replacement battery on-line. What happens is the Ni-CAD discharges so low and for so long that it reverses one of the cells. Then it will not take a full charge. New battery and the scales are working perfectly again.
How I discovered it was I had a project that I wanted to use the manual mill and the digital scales. I finished the project with the manual scales and ordered the battery.
The project went well but I decided I really needed a heavier and larger vice on the X3. I have been using a 3” screwless vice for years. Now I am looking for a 4” lockdown style vise. It may or may not look like the picture shown. It should weigh about 35 pounds.
The larger jaws, heavier weight and especially the screw action should make my set-ups much easier. I should also… Continue reading
MACH4 Thoughts
I am interested in giving the new MACH4 a spin. (Pun intended.) Not that I am so excited about plunking down $200 for a single computer license. The days of the MACH3 single license but multiple copies for a single hobby user are still here but it doesn’t work that way for MACH4.
I currently have three CNC machines in my single shop and a computer for each of them. It’s perfectly “legal” for me to load MACH3 on each computer under one MACH3 license.
I have purchased three very nice refurbished PCs from Newegg for $80.00 (yes eighty) each and dedicated each to their own CNC controller.
The same setup with MACH4 would cost me $600.00 just for the licenses. As I have told my friend José, “No way!”
MACH3 has been ripped-off so many times, I completely understand the reasons. Also most hobbyist don’t have three PC’s and three controllers in their shop. One solution could be to put the MACH4 computer on a cart and just wheel it to each controller. A serious alternative for a hobby user. I only run one machine at a time anyway.
I am willing to pick one machine and controller to be a test system with MACH4. In reality I don’t believe I will see any real earth shattering improvement in my CNC operations. However, there is a very good chance that MACH3 may go into a totally unavailable and unsupported hibernation. Probably never to awake again. I think it has already entered into the sleeping den.
MACH3 retirement is a matter of economics and competition to MACH4 growth.
MACH4
MACH4 will really need to interface to an external pulse generator for best performance. There is a parallel port plug in (+$25.00) but MACH4 will then perform no better than MACH3.
One… Continue reading
CNC Controller Shelf
I added a shelf to my old high back machine tool bench for my CNC controller and a PC. This is the bench I built for my original Grizzly mini-lathe and mini-mill. It is also where my first CNC machines came to life. More information is published in The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop. Follow the link.
Tormach PCNC 440
I didn’t go to the Maker’s Fair in New York but I have seen the new Tormach 440 mill. Nothing I can say about it here except share the link. Tormach hasn’t put much into print at this time. Here is the link to the website page.
If I were a rich man, I would be on the advance order list. 🙂
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- Tormach 440 in action
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- Tormach 440 in action
Tiny Taig Sleeper CNC Mill
I just called the Taig CNC Micro Mill a “sleeper”. I do that because I think there are probably a lot of people who don’t realize what is “under the hood” of this little machine. It doesn’t have all the catch word components of larger CNC mills. Especially the anti-backlash ball nuts and screws. It also uses good old fashioned manual oiled guide ways. Very non high-tech components. I consider it the KISS principal of machine design.
The truth is it doesn’t need the balls when used within it’s design parameters. It is a MICO mill. A well designed micro-mill.
I have been running one in hobby type CNC operation for nearly a decade. Nothing is worn out our causing reduced repeatability or accuracy. Note I said HOBBY USE. I figure I have at least 1000 hours of (moving) operation on the mill. Perhaps up to 1200 hours. I often run 3D carvings with a continuous run time of two hours or more.
Twenty five weekends a year with 5 hours of actual run time (a lot) is only 125 hours a year. That time ten years is 1250 run hours. If someone is doing more run hours than that with a Taig, they should probably look towards a midi mill like the Tormach 770 with auto oiling and forced (flood) cooling.*
I have milled all types of hobbyist metal such as Iron, steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminium and many other materials like Corian(r), wood, plastic and wax.
I have involved myself with lost wax casting and for several years have pressed my ageing Taig CNC mill into micro fine 3D wax carving. The spindle is constantly at top speed and runs from two to four hours continuous. The Taig mill doesn’t miss a single bit.
My favourite wax… Continue reading