CAD CAM EDM DRO - Yahoo Group Archive

Help: CNC mini-mill comparison

Posted by mnels@p...
on 2000-05-01 12:59:30 UTC
I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I'd really appreciate
any advice on a CNC mini-mill purchase. I primarily want the mill
for machining plastics, PCB drilling/machining and some light metal
machining. Some of the plastic work will be for semi-production use
(so speed is important). The three obvious choices are:

The MaxNC mills... probably the 10-2. It's the cheapest turn-key
solution but I've not heard good things about the mill or the
company. I've heard the spindle/motor mount has problems and the
motor speed and CNC control electronics are very substandard. The
rest of the mill looks pretty solid.

A Sherline 5400 retrofit (probably Progressive Logic or do it
myself). The wide variety of accessories for the Sherlines are great
but the mill itself seems less rigid and durable than the others?
Another downside is a low 2800 rpm max spindle speed. This mill also
has only a 2.25" throat depth.

The Taig Micromill. Using the MicroProto CNC package, it seems to be
the fastest (30 in/min rated and they claim up to 60 in/min). It
weighs over twice as much as the Sherline and is supposedly much more
rigid. The CNC version has a max spindle speed of 8500 rpm which is
better suited to our needs. It has a 3 5/8" throat which is a big
improvement over the Sherline. It also has 1/2" leadscrews versus
1/4" on the Sherline.

Does anyone have anything to add to the above? Specifically, does
anyone have anything bad to say about the Taig Micromill?

Thanks!

Mike

Discussion Thread

mnels@p... 2000-05-01 12:59:30 UTC Help: CNC mini-mill comparison fogassa@p... 2000-05-01 19:38:03 UTC Re: Help: CNC mini-mill comparison Eugene Neigoff 2000-05-02 21:32:29 UTC Re: Help: CNC mini-mill comparison Mike 2000-05-02 22:55:43 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Help: CNC mini-mill comparison Darrell 2000-05-03 09:46:31 UTC Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Help: CNC mini-mill comparison