[Jewelry making - Article 00401] - Re: [Orchid] Taig vs. MaxNC Mills

[Andrew Werby]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>     I have been working under a master craftsman making jewelry with a
>     Premium quality ModelMaster 1250 Mill and ArtCAM/Jewelsmith
>     Software. Want to go out on my own, and my price comfort range
>     brings me to the Taig or MaxNC Mills. Pro's Con's? Each are nice
>     folks to talk with and talk a good story, and have references by
>     jewelry makers. Will etiher do the job of fine 4th axis jewelry? 

    More or less; the spindle speed on either one is a limiting factor,
    since very tiny cutters require high RPMs. 

>     90% of my machining will be in wax, and a little wood. The servo
>     system is appealing to me on the NC. 

    While MaxNC calls it a servo system, their motion-control technique
    uses stepper motors fitted with encoders, not servo motors. While it
    will cut out when it detects errors (or thinks it does) it doesn't
    have a way to compensate for them on the fly like a true servo system
    does.

>     I take it that the structure of the Taig is better built? 

    That's correct; MaxNC has made some design choices with their mills
    which help in producing them quickly and cheaply. Among these are
    mounting the leadscrews directly to the stepper motors with no
    intermediary bearings, using 1/4" leadscrews instead of 1/2", using
    aluminum-on-aluminum slides instead of steel and brass gibs, mounting
    the spindle motor on two posts, and attaching the stepper motors to
    the machine with only two of four lugs. That said, the MaxNC CL
    series machines will run somewhat faster than the stock Taigs
    (although their OL series is slower.) 

>     Could not afford to do so in the begining, but would like to
>     upgrade spindle at some point to a 25K rpm unit. Thanks for the
>     information. 

    That's not too hard to do on either machine, although you may not be
    able to control it in software like the MaxNC does with their spindle
    motor. It won't make any difference with the Taig, though. 

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com
Taig distributor, Taig and MaxNC owner

 
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________