I saw some info on Yahoo, that Taig is going to offer power feed. it will be avail as an option in 2 months or so. Anyone know of this ?

Thanks Tony

Tony, have a look on Nick Carters site:

http://www.mechanicalphilosopher.com/taigpower.html

and from Taigs own site:

http://www.taigmachines.com/Boss_s_Corner.php

hope that helps-
Dave

Ok Thanks Dave, Never saw that on Nicks site or the Taig site. I saw it on yahoo as i said in passing. Doesn't look to hot to me. I guess it coule be retro fitted anyway.

Tony

Agreed, the rubber band gave me quite a chuckle. Even if it works perfectly, just something strange about using a rubber band (that small) on a pulley.

Dave

I don't think the rubber band is part of the drive. The way I understand it by holding onto the rubber banded wheel you force the motion to be transferred to the carriage. It is kind of like applying a brake to the free (spinning) wheel in a car with an open differential. By locking up the free side you force the motion to be sent to the other side.

I am more concerned with whether or not there will be an upgrade kit avialable for existing lathes. Mine is just a few months old, so I am not sure that I will be willing to replace it for this.

Has anyone any word on this?

Rick Kernell

Ah OK! I suspect that that will be replaced with the same type of belt used for the spindle.

Yep I have belts in stock (btw your wrench and stuff shipped out Friday.) I try to keep most of the Taig accessories in stock too.

yeah the pink rubber band ! ! I can see it being replaced by a belt like the drive belt. I have the same concern as Rick, if I buy my lathe in the next month or so will I be able to retro fit the drive to it at a later date ?

Tony

I wrote Taig about the power feed yesterday, asking if it would retrofit to earlier lathes. Soon as I get an answer, I'll post here.

I couldn't see a reason why it wouldn't fit current production units until yesterday when looking closely at the pics on Nick's site. It appears that the groove that the current rack fits into has been milled away. I can't tell if there's enough clearance between where that groove lies and where the new feed block mounts to the carriage to clear the groove if it was left on the older lathes.

Guess we'll just have to wait to see what Taig says.

Good morning, folks!

Taig got back to me about my power feed question that I sent them on Friday.
Here is my email to Taig:

"Hello;
When you have the lathe power feed ready for production, will I be able to
use it on my current Taig lathe? My lathe is a few years old.

Do you have a price in mind yet, and an idea of when the power feed will
be ready for customer sales?"


Here's the exact quote in their emai reply:

"Cost is going to be approx $125.00 since we will have to supply a new bed.
It will be ready for sale around November or December."

So, apparently, it won't work with the stock lathe bed, but the entire up grade including a new bed will be available.
This will leave you with a perfectly good lathe bed just laying around... Might be time to give some thought to a trunnion bed for the mill. Hmmm....

That didn't take long, I like that quick service from Taig. 125.00 then have a lathe bed left over, hmmmmmm, gotta think about this one now. better to just buy the entire package, but then again "do I need it" is the question.

Tony

Dean,

Thank you for doing this for us. I think that I will pick your brain on the bed since I would like to explore the mill extension.

Rick Kernell

Hello, I'm a first time poster, I have had my Taig CNC mill for about three years now and though its been a slow process I am learning a great deal. What I am wondering is if any one can comment on this e bay item "CNC mill 3 axis NEMA23 micro stepper motor mach 3 PC kit" item # 390098330139. Is this item worth buying or should I go another route to upgrade my system for more torque, right now I have 166oz/in torque motors, bi-polar, 2.8 amp/phase, 1.8 deg (full step)

I suspect the problem is not with your motors. It's more likely that your suffering from stepper drivers and/or power supply that are not quite op to snuff.

I sell the same size motors with my Taig kits with a Gecko G540 driver and a MeanWell 48V power supply: http://soigeneris.com/CNCPartsPage4.aspx. Take a look at the next to last post here: http://taigownersclub.forumotion.net/taig-cnc-mill-f1/taig-mill-at-250-ipm-t303.htm , for some videos of my Taig mill doing up to 250 IPM. Please understand that 250 IPM is not practical but there is plenty of power to do 100 IPM rapids and cut at the capacity of the machine.

What type of drives are you currently using? What type of power supply.