Re: Gecko + Servos + Taig Mill

Not to be nitpicky, but the Taig mill, in it's current form, is a lot more
robust than that. The screws are 1/2"-20, rather than 1/4" as on the
Sherline (A fine machine as well, this isn't to be taken as criticism of the
Sherline). On the Taig manual mill I can take a 1/2" deep x 3/8" wide cut
with a roughing endmill in Aluminum. Note that I said on the manual mill -
the CNC version has a less powerful spindle motor and that is what limits
depth of cut, not the rigidity of the machine. The current Taig weighs in at
around 60-80 lbs. As to why the CNC mill has a less powerful motor it has to
do with the power required to lift the head/motor combo, even though the
Taig uses 200 oz/in steppers the folks at Taig feel that the "big" motor on
the manual mill is too heavy, and too slow for typical CNC applications.
(They are trying to figure out the best/cost effective motor right now)
Getting back to the screws, on the CNC version they are supported in the
bearing block by ball bearings, not a sleeve bearing.

felice@... is Felice Luftschein and Nicholas Carter. See our web pages
http://www.casco.net/~felice

> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 14:35:07 -0700
> From: Tim Goldstein <timg@...>
> Subject: RE: Re: Gecko + Servos + Taig Mill
>
> Seems like we are comparing apples and oranges here. A Sherline is a tiny
> machine and same with a Taig. A 3/8" mill is a big bit for these machines
> and taking a .100" depth of cut is a lot (don't think I ever cut that much
> in one pass when I had the Sherline). 25 lbs of cutting force would be a
> huge amount for one of these machines and would almost definitely deflect
> the vertical column significantly. If I remember the lead screws are only
> 1/4-20. How much force do you think they would take before deflecting when
> you consider that you can have about 10" unsupported on the X axis if

moved

> all the way to the positive end?
>
> Tim
> [Denver, CO]