Workshop
Taig CNC Lathe Ideas
Thanks to the contribution by George Moorehead of Gig Harbor, Washington, I see an excellent platform for creating a Taig CNC lathe. My vision is to use mostly Taig components. It is a similar basic idea that other creators have embraced (like Tormach Duality Lathe)* when creating a CNC lathe machine. I am not thinking of the entire lathe, just the head as George has done.
*Tormach seems to be phasing this Duality lathe-on-bed (LOB) product out with preference to their new Slant Bed lathe. At least it is no longer prominent in their product offers. But for the Taig, the lathe head design on the mill table seems like a very practical way to achieve CNC lathe operation.
I have often studied the Taig micro lathe trying to imagineer how to make it a CNC lathe. Many folks have accomplished the task. But George and even Tormach with their new slant bed design have raised a good thinking outside of the box point that a CNC lathe doesn’t have to look like a converted conventional lathe. The head-on-bed (HOB) is a superior approach for Taig components. Of course this has been done by many others, so no originality is claimed or credited to anyone. The Taig factory could be doing it.
My point is any home machinist can do this and thanks to George for getting the juices flowing and blowing away my image of a converted Taig micro lathe.
I have all the major spare parts needed. Even an old style Taig CNC mill head (Non ER) and an A/C mill motor. I just need to design a few mounting plates. I can see that this would also make a great 4th axis with the proper stepper motor.
I am only discussing ideas here. As a dealer,… Continue reading
Seeing The Light
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- Taig Micro-lathe improvements
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- Seeing with the light
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- The BIG glass
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- How it looks to the machinist.
I am showing off my personal Taig Micro-lathe and some of the minor improvements I have made. I haven’t done any super detailing but it seems everyone modifies their Taig Micro-lathe to the way they like it.
It is an older version and NOT exactly the same as the one being sold today. I wrote an article when I first obtained this lathe, so I won’t go into detailed coverage here. The biggest change is the carriage on the new lathes are extruded rather than cast, a much nicer looking detail improvement.
I like the motor on the left rather than behind the micro-lathe. I don’t want swarf thrown all over it and there is the carriage clamp screw on the back side of the carriage I have to get to. The compound tool holder (not shown) sometimes has to stick out the back for angle cuts. Also the motor switch is far more accessible in this position.
I also like how easy it is to make accurate motor belt adjustments. Other owners can do it their own way. The motor base is a homemade copy of one shown in Nick Carter’s web site. I used to buy from Nick (including this lathe) until I became a Taig dealer myself. He is a good guy!
The motor is a Dayton 6XJ07. It was supposed to be TEFC (Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled) but the shaft end cover is open in this motor. I have checked… Continue reading
CNC Wax Bell
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- Proof of concept
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- Stem turned on lathe
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- Inside
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- Bell on sprue
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- 201 grams of brass.
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- Web Wax
Yes! It can be done, as if there was any doubt.
I started with a 2″ diameter 3″ long wax cylinder. On the Taig micro lathe I turned half the length down to just over 1″ (not critical) so it could be held in the self centering 4 jaw chuck shown here. Once in this chuck it was never removed until finished.
I machined the inside on the Taig CNC mill as a 3D pocket. Then I switched to the 4 axis setup and ran the outside profile. When finished is shown in the first picture. Note the smooth finish that is possible.
Then I went back to the lathe (still in the original chuck) and turned down the stem and top of the bell. It would have been too weak if I had done this earlier. The big end will be cut off before spruing for the cast.
Not bad for a first try but still a lot of things to tweak.
The next bell I will spend more time on the CNC picture taking. I’ll do some video of the machining action. There was quite a pile of wax chips and turning ribbons. That green wax is a joy to machine. The bottom three pictures shown are more fitting I suppose for the lost wax casting over in “Ramblin’ Dan’s Workshop” than here in the machine shop blog but to get to this point there was a whole heck of a lot of CNC machining and some manual lathe work.
A Familiar Ring
Trial Bell
This has been a very interesting and rewarding weekend for me. I have been involved in some creative effort refreshing long unused skills in 3D CAD drawing (Rhinoceros 5) and 4 axis RhinoCAM generation and then the operation of my 4 axis Taig CNC mill.
All this so I can get to work on my bell making project. What it has done is really perked me up for using the skills I have let set idle for a bit longer than I ever intended. After this long weekend I feel that I am back on track.
My plan is to design small bells in three dimensional computer assisted drafting (CAD). That is one set of skills, learning all the components of a very powerful drawing program. Rhino is one of the top rated software packages for 3D drawing and certainly worthy of high praise.
Once the drawing is made, the designer must then have the knowledge to visualize how it will be milled, in my case from a cylinder of wax. It is definitely NOT a push the button and out pops the tool path for the CNC mill, far from it. The cool part is the cutting can be simulated with graphics before ever taking it to the machine tool.
Once I have simulations that run good, I take the code out to the shop and actually run it on the CNC milling machine. It isn’t loaded for actual cutting but what I call a “dry run” just watching all the moves the machine makes. That is to make sure it will run well on the real machine and where I can see how much room I have on my small machines to make all the moves.
This is where I discovered my first design was too… Continue reading
4 Axis Spruce-up
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- Centering Axis
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- Looks Good
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- Chuck Adapter
I have found a good project for my 4 Axis CNC mill and also my Rhino 5 software. If you have read recent posts I have mentioned I am pursuing carving some small bells from wax for lost wax casting. Here I am re-configuring my original Taig micro mill back into 4 axis operation.
I need the tailpost to be able to slide into any length position I need. The stock Taig slotted table is perfect for that. I don’t need the multi hole set-up table for 4-axis. I set the rotary table up so I can just slide the tailpost against the back of its slot and it is in perfect Y alignment. The height is taken care of by the shims and the small adjustment in the tailpost itself. After this set up it will be a very quick reset for the tailpost.
You can see I have placed a Chuck adapter in the middle of the table. I will use that (with a chuck) to hold the wax cylinder as I mill out the center of the bell.
I have a few seconds of video I made of a dry run of the 4-axis profiling run. It makes some interesting sounds as the X axis is moving very slowly and sometimes “jiggling” a bit. Not sure why, but it is playing that CNC music. You will have to imagine all the missing parts. Hey! Just do it! 🙂