Take Your Best Shot

There is a HUGE amount of BS on the internet forums about proper size CNC hobbyist machines. Internet opinion forums and blogs, because they are unregulated, have become impossible for a newbie to determine fact from reading someone’s personal agenda. Don’t trust anything you read including what I have to say. Just take what you read for what it may be worth to you.

Every brand, design, size and cost of a machine has it reasons. Unfortunately, what amounts to urban legend has driven the uninformed hobbyist to believe there is always better quality available for a lower cost; the best for the less. This is while some bloggers preach that only bigger is better.

There are products designed primarily for a low cost reason. There are products that are produced primarily for a quality reason. Then there are products produced that look at both those factors and are made and sized to do a particular job and do it without failure with the correct level of quality.

Many hobbyists are restrained by budget. Therein lays the problem. There are poorly designed machines sold at very low hobbyist prices because it is a well defined market with newbie’s that have limited money to spend.  I have written about it for many years. Some hobbyist choose price over quality and undersize the machine capabilities (because of price) for the purpose (work) they want the machine to perform.

First step is to clearly understand your intentions of use.

I personally own several sizes of hobby grade machines. They are excellent for my purpose and how I use them. I know their limitations and don’t kid myself into thinking those limitations don’t exist.

I have (and sell) Taig machine tools. I have many-many hundreds of hours of operation on my Taig CNC milling machine. It runs flawlessly at over 10000 rpm’s for two to sometimes six hours continuously without ever skipping a beat. It’s accuracy even without anti-backlash bearings and ways is better than I can see or measure. I go for months without adjustments. Belt life is excellent.

The reason is I always use my Taig CNC mill within its design capabilities. It is a MICRO-mill and has to be used as one. I have bigger, heavier machines when I need them.

Slapping oversized accessories on small machines is a big mistake. It doesn’t make them more capable, it just lets the operator overload the machine’s capabilities. The ER16 collet size was chosen for the Taig mill because there is no good reason to go bigger. The Taig is light duty no matter what you can bolt to it.

Limitations are not faults unless you are trying to exceed them. They are literally the rules of engagement.

Failure to stop a raging bear charging at you 25 yards away by using your perfectly functional .22 (short) cal derringer pistol doesn’t  make the gun defective (as a gun). It just wasn’t the right tool for the job. Changing the ammo from short rounds to longs would make no difference. It would probably just enrage the bear a bit more.