Re: Taig CNC conversion

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "rainnea" <rainnea@b...> wrote:

> Very nice John,
>
> what spindle have you ended up using with the Taig ?
> what control software ?
>
> Rab

Spindle is next after the limit switches.
I have two ideas for this. I obviously have the original spindle
assembly but it only takes imperial collets which for us in the UK is
a PITA. Quantum do a 6mm one but that it. J&L do a parallel shaft
ER16 Collet chuck # ERI-48350H with a shank dia of 3/4".
The standard Taig bearings are 17mm so it could be precision ground
down to fit the original bearings. Using this idea it means that 10
standard ER16 collets can go from 1/32" to 3/8" or 0.5mm to 10mm with
no gaps. This is ideal as so much of the new tooling is ground from
blank stock. By this I mean a 3mm cutter has a 3mm shank, 4mm cutter
4mm shank etc, whereas before they were all ground down from a 6mm
shank.

I also have a high speed Perske 400 hz motor with integral ER11
collet chuck which is physically the same size as the Taig spindle
assembly. This can run up to 24,000 rpm virtually silent with a VFD.
I have thought about using the pair and swapping them between jobs.
Small milling with the Taig spindle amd engraving with the Perske.

Software I'm uncertain of. I have registered Turbo CNC and Master5.
I have registered Master5 but I am waiting for Mach1.
I also have a spare AHHA card from a CNC drill I recently scrapped.
I'm loath to put a 1K card on a 500 pound machine but it's paid for
and at the moment it's spare. It would be one less thing to learn as
I'm proficiant with this controller and Dolphin writes perfect code
for it. So it looks as if I'll start off with Ahha and then change to
mach1 when the bugs are all out or I need the Ahha card for a bigger
machine.

John S.