Pictures of the Taig Lathe, Mill & Other Tools and Accessories

Here are pictures of the Taig Lathe and Taig Milling Machine, pictures of my machines and other Taig users machines, modifications and projects.
I want pictures! Send me your Taig pictures and I will post them. Mods, projects, even your machine just sitting on the bench.
Last Updated June 10th, 2008

Back to the Taig page

You may notice that this page is hosted under another domain, mechanicalphilosopher.com, I decided to increase the amount of available bandwidth for pictures and this was the easiest way to achieve that.

Table of Contents

Sections with new additions in Bold type, new pictures in Bold type.
This page can be a bit unwieldy, but you will find a lot of treasures by poking around.
Use the "find" function of your browser to search for particular words (usually ctrl + "f" )

• Pictures of the Taig Lathe & Accessories (March 30th, 2007)
• Pictures of the Taig Milling Machine (January 26th, 2005)
  
  
• Pictures of Nick Carter's Taig Lathe and Mill , Home Made Accessories and Typical Work Done On It. (October 29th, 2006)
• Truing the Three Jaw Chuck Soft Jaws
• Making Clamps for the Taig Mill. (August 15th, 2001)
• Making the "Crinz Puck" CD hovercraft (July 3rd, 2002)
  
  
• Other Taig Owner Modifications and Projects (June 10th, 2008)
  NEW: Anthony Costello, David Gil, Stephen Campbell
  

  Individual sections for those with a large amount of pictures

• Tracy Presnell's Taig CNC mill making parts (February 15th, 2005)
• Mike Rowe's CNC Taig Mill and Paintgunsmithing (August 8th, 2001)
• Wayne Field's Taig and Model Wagons (October 3rd, 2001)
• Tom Cumming's Extended Base Lathe (May 28th, 2001)
• Geoff Kingma's Lathe and Mill (May 24th, 2005)
• Bob Urso's Miniature Pistols, Made on his Taig Lathe. (October 4th, 2005)
• Laurie Keating's Taig Lathe and Projects
• Ken Jenkins' Taig Lathe
• Bob Pinkus' Taig Lathe
• Robert Sidor's Taig Lathe
• Randy Gordon-Gilmore's Taig Lathe Modifications
• Alex Newman's Taig Lathe and Indicator Mount (September 1st, 2007)
• Hideo Kawa's Taig and Accessories
• Andy Moe's Modifications (January 10th, 2003)
• Steve Bachmann's Taig Projects (January 24th, 2004)
• Keith Shaw's Lathe and Mill projects (April 6th, 2006)
• Dave Gil's Taig of 20 years. (June 10th, 2008)
  
• Mitch Singler's Lathe (January 24th, 2004)
• Forrest Atkinson's Taig (January 26th, 2005)
• Barry Boling's Accessories (April 6th, 2004)
• Michael Gamber's Taig CNC Mill and Enclosure (January 31st, 2006)
• Mark Jenk's Taig CNC Mill Conversion (May 6th, 2004)
• Sylvain Sauve's Taig Lathe with Leadscrew Modification (July 25th, 2004)
• Gene Martin's Quick Change Gearbox, Back Gear Taig Lathe Modifications (August 30th, 2004)
• Terry Taylor's Taig CNC Mill and Projects (July 11th, 2006)
• Bob Burandt's Gap Bed Taig Lathe Modification (January 1st, 2005)
• Tom Benedict's Taig Lathe and Milling Machine (March 9th, 2005)
• Jim Knighton's Taig Lathe (July 27th, 2005)
• Kelly Shamash's Taig Lathe (April 8th, 2005)
• Frankie Flood's Taig Projects (April 29th, 2005)
• Gordon Reithmeier's Projects.(May 24th, 2005)
• Harvey Redmon's Taig Lathe and Milling Machine Project (June 9th, 2005)
• Larry Gitchell's Taig Milling Machine Modifications (July 6th, 2005)
• Michael Dhabolt's Taig Lathe (July 27th, 2005)
• Des Bromilow's Taig lathe and indexing head (August 23rd, 2005)
• Paul Chamberlain's CNC mill enclosure (July 11th, 2006)
• Lynn Livingston's Taig Mill Motor Plate, Speed control, and other projects. (October 4th, 2005)
• Alan Coppen's Taig Lathe accessories, filing rest and other stuff. (January 4th, 2006)
• James Tremel's Taig Mill and Projects (January 4th, 2006)
• Richard Crook's Taig Lathe and Mill Modifications. (April 6th, 2006)
• Asi Combelis Taig Mill and Projects He's working on a flight simulator cockpit (April 28th, 2006)
• George Weightman has an excellent and unique radius turning tool on his lathe (April 28th, 2006)
• Greg Miller does a lot of modifications to his Taig mill. (May 18th, 2006)
• Larry Snyder has a compact shop and has modifed his mill and lathe.(July 11th, 2006)
• Bob Swartzendruber's Taig Lathe, Metal Pens and Pencils (September 1st, 2007)
• Russ Hobgood's Extended bed Taig Lathe and Mill Modifications. (August 27th, 2006)
• Ray Ackley's Taig Mill CNC Setup pictures (October 29th, 2006)
• Russell Waters Homebrew CNC Lathe with Taig Headstock (December 12th, 2006)
• Ed Chesnut's Taig Lathe and Plastic Injection Mold work. (January 24th, 2007)
• Christopher Smith's Taig Lathe (February 19th, 2007)
• Dean Williams Taig Lathe (June 12th, 2007)
• David Jost's Taig Lathe (July 24th, 2007)
• Jim Silkey's Taig Milling Machine Modifications (September 1st, 2007)
• Thomas Burgin's Taig CNC mill and Projects (September 1st, 2007)
• Edward Slatt's Taig Mill Projects (September 1st, 2007)
• Peter Zicha's Modified Taig Lathe (December 30th, 2007)
• Lee Nichols Cue Lathe (December 30th, 2007)
• George Plezia's CNC Mill (December 30th, 2007)
• Stephen Campbell's Projects and CAD drawings (June 10th, 2008)
• Mark Peterse Taig (Grimberg) Lathe (April 22nd, 2008)
• Lou Somers Taig Lathe and home made accessories (March 30th, 2008)
• Rick Voegelin's Modified Taig Lathe and Accessories (April 22nd, 2008)
  
  
• Jose Rodriguez's Taig Lathe and Accessories
  
• Jose Rodriguez's Harbor Freight 7x10 Minilathe and Accessories
• Jose Rodriguez's Home Made Milling Machine
• Jose Rodriguez's Model Steam Engines
  
  
• Nick's 9x20 Jet Lathe Accessories (July 1st, 2001)
• Nick's Drill Press, Bandsaw Accessories, etc.
• Nick's Shop (January 18th, 2003)
  

Pictures of the Taig Lathe & Accessories

Pictures of the Taig Milling Machine

• 2019 Taig Mill with 12" x-axis Travel (First picture with the new camera! Sadly all the others were taken with old camera beforehand...)
• Table Bolted to Bench
• Check to Make sure you have enough space!
• Column mounted approximately vertical
• Adjustment for x-axis gib, not locking screw removed to access the setscrew
• Y-axis gib adjustment
• Y-axis gib-locking-plate adjustment
• Z-axis taper gib adjustment (side play), loosen top screw and tighten bottom to loosen the gib, reverse to tighten.
• Tramming column for perpendicularity to x-axis
• Z-axis gib adjustment (front/back play)
• The dovetail plate that the headstock attaches to setup for vertical use.
• The Mill with the headstock set horizontally
• The dovetail plate setup for horizontal use.
  
  Taig CNC Mill Pictures
  
  
• CNC Mill in action cutting a channel in Aluminum Bar
• Another View
• Drilling 2 #29 holes 3/8" deep .880 apart. Notice nice tornado of swarf around drill bit. I had to make 12 identical parts and the CNC mill really helped!
• Cutting 3/8" deep, 1" x .75" pocket. It took 15 minutes, 8 passes w/ 1/4" endmill. This was on the above part, and I had to do 12 identical parts, very easy with CNC. Notice the nozzle for dripping coolant on the work - the chips really piled up from this operation.
  
• Milling 1/4" slot in 1/8" wall steel tubing on the Taig CNC mill
• Making my lathe index plates on the Taig CNC Mill, milling out the center hole
• Drilling 60 holes around the index plate.
• Trepanning the disc out of the blank.
  
  The Manual Mill in Action
  (most pictures of the older style manual mill)
  
  
• Taig Mill, Milling 1/4" Aluminum Channel in One Pass with 1/4" End Mill.
• Taig Mill, Flycutting Aluminum with 1-3/4" diameter Aftermarket Flycutter.
• Taig Mill, Milling a 1/8" deep 1/4" wide slot in HRS, in one pass
• The Finished Slot.
• Taig and Sherline Mills Side by Side
• Taig Mill, cutting 3/16" Wide Keyway in Taig Arbor
• 60 Tooth, 20 DP Gear Made on Taig Mill, with "Hob" Made on Taig Lathe and Hardened, Mates with Taig Rack
• Taig Mill, milling 1/2" wide, 3/16" deep slot in .050 passes, 304 Stainless Steel (note: use copious quantities of coolant!)
• Electrical enclosure of parts from Radio Shack
• Taig mill with Taig Lathe riser block attached, so that 3/8" wide, 1/2" deep, 4.5" long slot can be milled in a 11"x8" Al plate.
• Gashing teeth in gear (a replacement for a Delta drill press table raising mechanism), using a Taig headstock as an index head.
• The gear blank set up on the (Atlas 7") shaper, for finish forming the teeth.
• Using the 6" rotary table to mill radius on the end of 16" long Al bars
• #2
• #3
• #4
• setup for horizontal work
• #2
  

Truing The 3 Jaw Chuck Soft Jaws

• Washer placed in back of jaws, boring tool in toolpost.
• Carriage depth stop set so boring tool will not touch washer by .005"-.010"
• Taking cuts of about .001"-.002" depth at a time, repeat until jaws are fully turned by boring bar. Do not take off more than necessary, when done take a few passes without feeding tool depth, so as to take out any spring in boring bar.
• Small lip left where washer was in jaws.
• Set boring tool at slight angle to clear jaws. Set depth stop so boring bar will not touch chuck back. Turn away small lip so it is below the new surface of the jaws.
• Cutting away lip
• Finished jaw profile with lip removed.

Making Clamps for the Taig Mill

• 1/2" from the end of a length of 1/2"x1/4" CRS bar mark centers 1" Apart (could be 3/4", or any distance you like).
• Centerpunch the marks for drilling. No great precision is required here.
• Setup the work to drill holes for tapping (#7 drill for 1/4"-20tpi, #21 drill for #10-32tpi)
• All holes drilled along length of bar. Piece was moved along so that vise always clamped and supported the bar where the holes were being drilled.
• Tapping the holes with a Makita cordless drill AKA "poor man's tapping head". Set the clutch so that the taps won't break and lube the tap. Use a "gun" tap.
• Cutting off the nuts to length in the Bandsaw. If you don't have one, give some thought to buying one, they aren't expensive and save a lot of time!
• Big Pile of nuts for not much work. Remember this isn't rocket science, I'm not working to +/- .001"!
• Cutting length of Al bar for strap clamp
• Setup to cut slot. (notice that parallells are missing in this picture, but support the work on parallels or the work will slip)
• Slot cut. I took several .050" deep passes with a 1/4" endmill. (notice the parallels in this picture.)
• 2 clamps, step blocks (USA made from MSC, less than $4.00 a pair), and assortment of 1/4"-20 hardware.
• Clamping work to mill table.
• Closeup of clamp setup. (bonus question: what is wrong with this picture?)

Don't have time to make clamps? You can buy a nice set, or individual components, from LittleMachineShop.com (see a review here) or DeArmond Tool

Making The "Crinz Puck" CD Hovercraft

Chris Hendricks sent me an intruiging drawing for making a little hovercraft out of a CD puck. I have to admit it need tweaking, as the balloon tends to drag along the table, slowing it down, but it does float on a cushion of air!. His drawing and puck can be found in the owner modification and projects section.

• Facing Disc with indicator for depth control
• Facing Disc to shoulder
• Drilling air hole
• Turning Balloon end
• Making Groove with Back toolpost mounted Parting Tool.
• Finished piece
• Disc in action on my surface plate

Pictures of Nick's Own Taig, Home Made Accessories and Typical Work Done On It..

New Pictures Start Here.

• Nick's Taig
• Boring Bar Holder
• Graduated Carriage Handwheel and Spinner Handle
• Foredom Handpiece Holder
• Knurling Tool
• Indexing Plate on Headstock
• Articulated Indicator Mount on Headstock
• 6" Travel Tailstock Ram & Lever Mounted in Tailstock
  
  
• Turning 14ga. SS Wire with Compound Slide, and Back toolpost Mounted Follower Rest
• Typical Work Done on Taig: Flanged Crown Pulley, Bronze Bushing, Knurled Lock Knob, Bearing Housing with Internal Retaining Ring
• Accessories Made from #1132 Blank Arbor, Clockwise from Top: 3/8" Mill Holder, Headstock Tool Steel Center, Flycutter, Slitting Saw Arbor, 1/2" Mill Holder, Boring Head and Albrecht Chuck Arbor, JT1
• Compound Slide Lock Knob
• Knurling Tool Holder
• Disassembled Knurling Tool
• Index Head made from Taig Headstock, Side View
• Index Head, Back View of Mechanism
  
  
• .050 (.010 total removed) deep cut on blank arbor, notice the chip curling off of tool.
• Altering a Murayama String Trimmer (Weed Whacker) Spline Bushing to Accept a Stihl Trimmer Head
• Tightening live center against .016 3003H14 Aluminum Spinning Blank, using homemade screw unit. The form is 1/2" thick mahogany screwed to Sears 4" woodturning faceplate.
• Blank halfway into spinning process. using polished 1/2 round reground screwdriver as spinning tool, beeswax for lubricant.
• Trimming spun form to completed shape with handheld parting tool.
• Two spun halves of prototype birdfeeder parts I prototyped for a local glass artisan.
• 'Emergency' endmill sharpening using a 4" cup wheel, milling attachment and homemade boring bar holder.
• Side view, note Jacobs chuck used as handle for endmill, and depth stop.
• Using back toolpost to turn shoulder on G scale model train wheel. Disc mounted on blank arbor turned down to disc id.
• Drilling six indexed holes in train wheel using shop made drilling block, powered by a Makita cordless drill.
• A home made stop for a grooving operation using the back toolpost.
• Another view of the same setup.
• Carving arbor/Speed lathe made from Taig headstock, I use this for buffing, sanding on metal parts to spare the lathe, and for gemstone carving.
• How a tap (held in a tap handle with a centering hole in the end) is used on the Taig. The headstock is locked, and the tap turned by hand.
  
  
• Picture of FROG x-axis CNC setup on carriage.
• Picture of FROG spindle speed sensor mounted on adjustable arm 1/8" from magnet affixed to index plate.
• Picture of 1/4"-32 tpi thread cut with FROG threading mode on Taig - Look mom, no leadscrew needed!
  
  
• Knurling tool part laid out for drilling
• Drilling first hole in stack
• Drilling second hole
• Drilling through two pieces to produce 5/16" radius
  
  
• Drilling holes in the Steady Rest fingers to accept press fit bearing shafts.
• Slightly fuzzy picture of some bearings I had laying around with shafts already pressed into bores, I love my junk box!
• Bearings installed in the steady rest.
  
  
• Making a jacobs chuck arbor from an 1132 blank arbor. Step 1, drill a spanner hole
• screw arbor to spindle
• set depth stop for threaded section length
• first .050 deep cut taken
• blurry picture of the 2nd .050 cut taken
• filed end to nice radius and chamfered the end to ease the use of a die
• 3/8"-24 die in holder
• threading with die holder, spindle stationary, die holder turning
• completed thread
• chuck mounted, with no runout (use a good chuck!)
  
  Since I needed another hobby, here are some pictures of work on plastic parts of a tank model
• Milling the tubes in the model muffler to the same length
• Spot drilling for tube extensions
• A piece of plastic sprue turned to extent the muffler tubes
• A clear piece of acrylic turned down for making a headlight
• Forming the headlight dome with a form tool
• Parting off the finished headlight
• The finished headlights with the opaque plastic one they replace.
  
  
• A PM models steam engine I made for my dad's birthday, entirely made on the Taig lathe and mill.
• #2
  
  
• Radius Turning Tool #1210 and home made setting tool
• Setting Toolbit for correct radius with home made setting tool and feeler gauges.
• Turning radius on the end of 1/2" Aluminum rod (note projection from chuck face
  
  
• Woodturners tool rest #1038 in action
  
• Flycutter #1224 on the Taig mill
  
• Turning between centers with Taig lathe dog #1034. Center is piece of steel, held in 4 jaw chuck with 60 deg. center turned on it. Note use of KENBO quick change tool holder.
• Cutoff toolpost #1173 finished parting off 3/8" Al rod.
  
  
• A holder for 1/4" screwdriver bits
• Drilling the 3" x 5" UHMW block on the Taig CNC milling machine.
  
  
• My father in law wanted a number plate for his mailbox. Roughly 3" x 6". The "0"s are slightly faceted because I screwed up the polyline conversion. The 2 and 9 are smooth though!
• Filled with several coats of black spraypaint, and the top sanded to reveal the numbers.
  
  
• A Neighbor needed a hex cut on an existing steel part that was an odd diameter. This is how I held the part on the Taig mill using a 5C Hex Block, 1140ER drill chuck arbor, 1/2 drill chuck and my toolmakers screwless vise. I think it came out quite well...
• #2
• #3
  
  
• Etsy.com and Craft Magazine ran a contest to use the Craft logo. This is the bracelet I entered.
• Another view
• Another view
• On my wrist
• CNC Milling the reverse of the logo into a piece of steel
• Rolling silver against the steel "die"
• Rolled link
• Punching the holes with a Heinrich press
• Finished links
• A key fob/ring made out of 3/16" thick brass, milled directly on the Taig CNC, for the same contest.
• Another view
  And no, I didn't win...
  
  
• Taig has changed the Lathe cross slide leadscrew design. It allows for slightly greater travel and is smoother.
• Disassembled Note that the entire assembly is backwards compatible with older lathes, but the screw alone is not. They only supply these new screws.
  

Taig Owner Modifications and Projects

When people send me a few pictures this is where they end up. I generally edit the picture for size, play with brightness etc. I tend to put new pictures at the bottom of this section, and put the description in bold text until the next update. I really appreciate pictures, and always welcome new ones, of any Taig lathe, mill, or projects done on the machines. Feel free to email me pictures in .jpg format, or mail a CD or regular photographs so I can scan them. If you send me enough, I'll give you your own section on this page.

• Sharon Marshall's Taig , Notice jackshaft for greater speed control, and the indicator holder made of pipe-fittings.
  
  
• Alan Pinkus' Taig setup
• Detail of Alan Pinkus' motor mount.
  
  
• Don Shaw made this nice bushing with his Taig to allow him to use an electronic gyro on his r/c helicopter tail rotor
  
  
• Jyurki Vuorinen shows what happened to his lathe in Los Alamos N.M., this summer: His Spindle, His Lathe Bed.
  (Don't worry, I sold him another one at cost before he went back to Finland)
  
  
• Captain AJ made his own boring bar holder.
  
  
• Richie Richardson Milling a Casting on His New Taig Mill
• Another View
  
  
• Tom Roach Modified his Old Craftsman (AA) Lathe to Take a Taig Crosslide and 4 Jaw Chuck
• Closeup of Crosslide
  
  
• Bruce Bender has an old shortbed Taig
• Another view, note gearhead motor driving lathe
• A view of the foot at the end of the lathe and the old style tailstock
  
  
• Guy Zattau's Taig before converting to VS treadmill, showing drawers under lathe w/ tooling
• Guy's Lathe.
• VS motor from a treadmill mounted to power the lathe.
• Using a Dremel Drill press to drill indexed holes around the workpiece for model wagon rims
  
  
• Martin Field's Maserati Chassis in 1/12th scale, Machined with the Taig Lathe.
• Another View of the Chassis, Notice gear selector in lower right corner!
  
  
• Bob Fritch has his steam engine running!
• A Static View
• The engine made on his Taig lathe
• His version of the Boring Tool Holder
  
  
• Jack Sadler's Bow Frog, partially completed
• Slide and Ferrule of the Frog
• Bottom of the Frog
• Finished Frog
• Entire Bow
  
  
• Jerry Biehler's 7x10 lathe with Taig milling attachment mounted.
  
  
• Neil Kempka Uses his Taig CNC Mill to machine plastic components for his business, Integrity Instruments. #1
• #2
• #3
• #4
  
  
• Don Mock's Boring Bar Holder # 1132 Arbor mounted to milling attachment by # 1221 chuck adapter. Arbor also serves as 3/8 end mill holder.
• Quick change Extension lever for tailstock. Adapter block was ready made - direct from junkbox
• Detail of adapter block - simple channel milled width of tailstock lever
• Clamp from mill adapter use to prevent slipping of compound. A spare tool holder or #1036 face plate angle bracket could be used.
  
  
• David Goodfellow made these scotch rods on his CNC mill.
• Here's David Goodfellows cribbage board and several stages of construction on the Taig CNC mill. If I have time I'm going to redo the brass pocket cover. I took too deep cuts on the lips, and the mill stalled on the last pass; ended up finishing by hand. I was taking 0.005" per cut. When I get a new piece of brass I'll do it at 0.003". The pegs (6 round and 6 hex 1/4" brass) and the aluminum knob were done on the 7x10 minilathe from Harbor Freight. The 3-1/2" x 12" board is oak, stained with Minwax Golden Pecan and finished with 3 coats of polyurethane All in all, the project turned out rather well; the pics don't do it justice. The cover is engraved with my daughter's and her fiance's names, and "01 02 02," the date of their upcoming wedding.
• #2
• #3
• #4
• #5
  
  
• Alex Strecker's portable rolling lathe workshop
• Dremel Flexshaft holder for the lathe
• Knurling Tool
• "Make-do" Mill
• Alex Strecker "I made this on the taig lathe and it works rather well" Index Head
• #2
• #3
• Tap handle
• Nut of the tap handle
• Homebuilt Mill "the Taig was very helpful for me."
• Homebuilt Mill with dremel attached
  
  
• Bob Wilkins amazing tailstock modification
  Description: Ram - # 0 Morse taper, 1/4-20 LH lead screw, Self ejecting for Sherline length tooling. Two quarter turn locking handles, one for lathe bed locking, one for the tailstock ram. A standard type of tailstock stepover arrangement for close adjustments
  
• View #2
• View #3
  
  
• Mike Rosing sent a couple of views of his robot: "which I used the lathe for but didn't have the mill" and a simple box "which I made with help of the mill". "The robot axels were made on the lathe, and the main turning pin for the front wheel was turned down so the end was broad to hold it on. It turns very nicely, and there's no way I could have done anything like it without the lathe. "
• #2
• The box is for the outlet of a vacuum pump which I dragged out of a trash dump. The pump itself is 40+ years old but in very good shape. I used the mill to make the ends of some aluminum bars nice and smooth and bolted them on to the pully drive. When I first tried the motor, the pully got really hot. But with the aluminum on there, the heat doesn't even get warm to the touch after hours of running. The brass box was soldered, and I got the sides accurate to within a thousandth using the mill.
• #4
• I wanted to share a picture of what I consider amazing - I used the Taig endmill to drill 127 .012" holes in a hex grid, and by eye it looks pretty damn exact. I used two Grizzly dial gauges, which are low cost but pretty nice. The most important thing was the smooth sides on the Taig mill bed. Without that, the dial gauges wouldn't have meant much. The people are Grizzly are pretty nice too, good follow up on my order! The holes are all .069" apart. I suspect it's better than .001" accurate too. I think it's pretty damn amazing!
• The stuff I drilled is PETG, a food grade plastic. It has a protective layer on both sides, and the large bubbles on some holes are the protective layer pealing up from chips. Way easier than copper! My wife helped me with the camera, it really is pretty amazing to get that close and be in focus. Overall size is .720 flat to flat or .828 point to point (inside to outside diameter)
  
  
• Pat Sweeney used Taig parts on his homebuilt milling machine
  
  
• Tom Welch mounted a Sherline DC motor on his Taig
  I used a Sherline pulley by putting a blank arbor on the Taig and turning the end down to 5/8, then I reversed the headstock and put the Taig pulley on the arbor. Then I turned the Taig spindle down to take the Sherline pulley. That worked great. I got the longest Sherline type belt from the local sewing machine place, so I could mount the motor back farther to give room for some index plates I am mounting on the pulley.
  
• His Index plate
• Detent for the plate
• Another view of the Detent
  
  
• John Jones first small engines made on the Taig Cylinders are brass tubing soldered to sheet brass bases. Crank supports are aluminum sheet or angle. Crankshafts, pistons and flywheels are turned from brass, steel or cast 63/47 solder. Connecting rods are piano wire with turned and press fitted crank ends.
• #2 his favorite
• #3 from a kit
• #4
  
  
• Chris Hendricks has come up with an interesting project, the "Crinz Puck" I added pictures of my attempts at making this.
• His puck, a small steam engine and a head transplant quarter
• View #2
• View #3
  
  
• Fred Burton using a dog to prevent rotation of a brass workpiece held in the 3 jaw chuck, for threading with a die.
  
  
• Bob Hurd made this box using his Taig lathe, The sewing box is made of cherry, walnut, ebony, matapone, ivory, and ultrasuede for the pin cusions on the top of the leg turnings. The drawer knobs are turned ivory with ebony inserts
  
  
• Susan Parker mounted her Taig Mill quite nicely. "Points to note. I have mounted on a thick aluminium plate. I am using a Proxxon Mill/Drill unit to drive the spindle. I works, but is under powered in this application and will cut out from overheating if used for long. "
• Susan worked more on her mill, "the motor is from Peatol. It isn't quite as big as it looks as it has a fan and shroud - hopefully won't suffer the overheating problems of the Proxxon unit. Spec: ELVEN Italy (probably a badged Chinese import) type EB-63B4-B3, 0.18KW, 0.25HP 220Vac 50Hz, 1.67A, 1500 rpm."
  
  
• Brett Flemming has mounted his Taig in a toolbox. "Here's a look at how my "machine shop in a box" is coming along. I used a surplus center treadmill motor, machined a pulley groove in the shaft, and used their $45 or so dc controller. It runs smooth at 30 rpm, and will go to 3000 rpm. You cannot stop the chuck at 30 rpm, if the belt didn't slip, it would wreck your hand!, It plows steel off like crazy, rigid taps (and reverses thanks to a double pole single throw switch) . runs smooth and is kind of fun to run. I mounted motor and controller underneath. How about that, an underneath drive taig. Oh, and notice the 15000 rpm grinder that runs when you hook up the dangling belt.....for sharpening bits in the field.
  
  
• Colin Heath made his version of the Crinz CD puck, out of plastic, which really should work better than aluminum.
• Here is his "bearing journal for my first stirling engine."
• Here is the spark gap for his high voltage Tesla coil
• Wow! That is fun with lightning.
  
  
• Phil Warden says: I just completed a tread mill conversion on my mill and am just so enthused that I had to write you. I milled a 1/4" steel plate similar to the stock taig motor mount and I used a stock taig pulley and belt system. I had to bore the pulley to fit the motor but everything went real smooth. The mill now is load sensing and variable speed with power to spare, what a difference! It's like having a new mill.
• Face milling some 7075 fortal aluminum. I am taking .015 passes with the spillage face mill and could go deeper with no trouble. I must also say the spillage face mill is well worth the investment, just a outstanding tool for the taig mill.
  
  
• Jim Crumley sent this picture of his Taig set up.
  
  
• Tony Crowe mounted a TOS brand 4 jaw self centering chuck on his Taig. I made the back plate by:
  1. Turning down some stock all to diameter of the chuck.
  2. Faced the back and turned a shoulder drilled and tapped 3/4-16.
  3. Turned it around in the lathe and faced and made the register turned it about 50 thou over size.
  4. Screwed the back plate onto the taig lathe skimmed the register some where near the size for location.
  5. Then i warmed the chuck up in the oven turned the register so it was a nice tight fit.
  6. Let the chuck cool down i screwed grub screw backwards into the chuck to mark the back plate where the holes go drilled them and it all went back together it only has 1 thou run out with a 1/2 inch silver steel with a dti
• A back view
• A Sandvik 1/4 lathe tool
  
  
• Jim Beggerow sent pictures "...of the modification to the Z axis on my Taig mill. I used a 1/2 - 10 LH Supernut to eliminate backlash. The reason is I use 5/16 & 3/8 end mills and do a lot of plunge cutting, this eliminates the chatter during the cut. As soon as I can take the machine out of service the next modification will be X & Y axis with 3/8 - 10 supernuts. I also have a Homier lathe converted to 3 axis cnc using a microproto controller and supercam.
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• Modification of my spare taig to a horizontal mill. Thought you might want to see the pictures. Will test it next week.
  
  
• Kenny Smith says: "I wanted to send a few pics of my lathe I got from you a couple years ago. It sports one of your index kits on it. I made the tailstock knobs, inspired by Tom Benedict, with the index kit. Tom e mailed an idea and I made a set. The motor mount is a little different also. The platform on the top keeps the angles below at a 90. I have enjoyed my lathe so much. It has been the best thing I have bought in years. "
• Tailstock
• Motor and Mount
  
  
  
• Mark Thomas has modified his lathe, here is his latest quick change toolpost. "The lathe is fully CNC capable. The Index plate and magnet are due for replacement as I'm changing to an optical sensor, the electronics are done, just need to re-work the plate. The chip wiper is a cut down cleaning brush, and I'm going to add one on the other side as well, they work very well at keeping the lead screw clean. The motor is 1/4 horse DC variable speed. "
• Closeup of toolpost top
• Another interesting view. Look at all the modifications he has made!
• An overall shot of the lathe. The large extension on the tailstock arm is nicknamed Ichiro. I haven't gotten around to painting the bench yet hence all the spots of filler.
• An example of the tool holders I've made so far for the QC toolpost. The advantage is that they are very quick and easy to make. The blanks take about 20 minutes each all CNC, and then the remainder varies with the complexity of the finished holder. No need for special setups for parting or boring anymore. One of the other advantages is that each tool can be set the same depth on the Z axis, which greatly speeds up CNC runs. In the works now are a knurling setup and ball cutter.
• A shot of the mill and cabinet built to keep the chips inside (used a couple of sheets of 5/8 plywood and a bit of solid wood). The computer is running turbocnc and although the screen is small it's perfect for monitoring progress. I use a different machine for my CAD work and gcode editing except for minor code adjustments.
• Another view of the mill There's a removable whiteboard of the left door, and the ever convenient calculator on the right. The black box on the lower left is the variable speed control. The controller at the top right is currently based on Dan Mauch's 2amp chopper kits (one 3 axis plus one 4th axis), I've added limit/home switch logic, tachometer (not implemented on the mill itself yet), flow and mist control, as well as spindle on/off. The case is oversize to allow future expansion to Gecko's if necessary.
• A shot of the forward control shift arm for my Roadstar 1600. The original one is at the top, and it's fairly evident as to why I needed a replacement. Material is 6061 aluminum.
  
  
• Jim Shaulis made this great quick change toolpost
• Jim sent me some more pictures of his toolposts: I just thought I would send you a couple of pictures and a breif discription of my new tool post. The last one I made you posted on your site, I would be honored if you would do the same for me again as it trully graces the mighty taig. You would be interested to know that most of it was produced on the taig lathe, with exception to the mill work. Here is a breif discription: The tool post main body and tool holders are made of 6061 aluminum, then they are powder coated with black chrome poly powder making the set oil, solvent, acid, and UV protected. The coating is impact proof to 165 LB per square in. The center 10/32 stud is stainless steel and so are the height adjustment studs on the holders. Both of the locking handles are oil hardened drill rod. The main body center within the accentric cut locking mech. is 4046 aluminum and it handles the pressure from locking the post to the common table. The post main body is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 including the dove tails, the tool holders are 1" sq. x 1 1/2 long. The parting tool is made longer for more stability and a positive 3 degree down sweep for the locking hood insures no slip cut offs. The tommy bar makes it truly a mini big boy toy. The boring bar is drilled and bored to .501 with a 1/4" of meat around it. The tool holders will hold up to 3/8" cutters.The main body height is 1 7/8" insuring that special cutters ground by you can be easily put on center. As for its ability to handle a load, the original prototype produced five sets, exact copys to the thousanth. Thanks and dont let the chips get cold under your feet!!! Jim Shaulis
• That's a lot of toolposts!
• Taking a cut
• parting (notice all the indicators)
• boring
• turning
  
  
• Nicolas Juliano made these two Morse Code keys with his Taig lathe: "I had purchased a lathe over a month ago, and I finally came up with a project that I made exclusively with the Taig lathe. I made two single paddle Morse code keys. However I did of course purchase the screws and ball bearings. I have included some pictures. in case you are wondering the larger Morse code key is set on a large 2 pound bronze casting, that was intended to be a sheave. ( the smaller one is a prototype) I just wanted to say, I am very pleased with my Taig lathe. "
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• John Stevenson modified a Taig manual mill into a CNC mill, with great skill and precision They are the best motor mounts I have ever seen!
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• His 4th axis made from a gearbox.
• Just been playing today with one of those digital dials you see on the cheap import lathes. Wanted to see how easy they are to fit to a Taig mill. They need a 20 tpi screw to work correctly which is why I thought of the Taig. Mod is straight forward. You need to turn 5/8" off the screw thread and also extend the small handle diameter by the same amount. In other words you need an extra 5/8" to stick thru. The mounting plate needs to be bored and threaded to fit the motor mount and you need a spacer to go from the small diameter up to 10mm for the inner sleeve to lock onto. X and Y are the same. Not done Z yet but this is harder as it needs to go on backwards so the numbers aren't upside down.
  
  
• Tom Mix sent these pictures of his shop with Taig Mill
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• Spent the weekend working on the Taig mill. I had two old DC motors I found at a garage sale 7 or 8 years ago, you know the kind of stuff you just have to have. I think I paid $1 each for them at the time, they had gear reduction on them 100:1. I ordered some small chain and gears from Electronic Gold Mine (a site I got off your web site). Built some bushings and motor mounts, a little electrical wiring from Radio Shack and presto two axis of the mill are now powered. Very cool, saves me from turning those little handles a couple of million times. :-)
• Detail of powerfeed
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• The power supply I was using to run the DC motors for the axis drives on the mill is my Lab unit, very expensive unit. So I decided to build a new power supply just for the motors. I found a cool web site http://www.awrr.com/awrrhome.html where I could down load information on building a 0-24 volt DC power supply. Went to Radio Shack and bought all the parts and in one afternoon, built the supply unit. It works very well. Included some pictures. On a scale off 1-10 it was about a 5 to do. This rounds out the project and cost about $45.00 to build.
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• Voi Nguyen's CNC mill conversion
• He installed digital scales on his mill
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• And a neat spindle lock
• Another view of his mill
  
  
• Michael Sobik made this motor mount and base for his new Taig
• Note his workbench doubles as the kitchen stove!
  
  
• David Copley Makes beautiful flutes with his Taig Mill: I have attached some photos of my set-up for machining the key mounting blocks and holes on an african blackwood flute, as well as a picture of the finished product.
• Sherline Tailstock modified for use on the Taig mill
• Boring a hole
• The finished flute.
• His Taig Mill Setup
• Milling the wood tube.
• Drilling a hole
• Boring a hole
• View showing sherline rotary table
• Notice 4 jaw chuck on rotary table
• More milling
• Even More...
  
  
• Chet Culham made these great rings on his Taig. "I'm a jeweller in Toronto and I do most of my work on a Taig lathe"
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• A necklace by Chet
• Another cool ring
• Some precise cufflinks
  
  
• James Stevens does parts like this with the mill "The small rectangular piece was machined for a connector. The fixture was for PCB's"
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• Sheldon Stokes did a great job mounting his lathe
• The drawer is convenient
  
  
• Tei Newman made this turbine compressor diffuser mockup out of plexiglass to test his program
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• John Bentley came up with a clever way of making an indexing pin for his lathe index plate
• #2 The pin
• #3 (Drawing)
  
  
• Mark Murray's home brew CNC Taig mill
• His Spindle Motor
• X Axis Servo Motor and Mount
• Y Axis Servo Motor and Mount
• The Mill Enclosure
• The Coolant System
• The CNC Controller
  
  
• John Miller says: I very much enjoy reading your web site on the Taig lathe. I have owned a Taig lathe myself for a number of years and so did my father back in England (sadly passed away). For many years my father has made modifications and attachments for both his and my lathe and I would like to share these innovations with others if you think them worthy. The very first modification that he made was to the tail stock for drilling operations. As supplied, the short leaver is hard to use except for very small drilling jobs. I have noted that many others simply extend the length of the leaver. My fathers approach was to add a threaded knob and feed screw. This approach allows fine control in advancing the drill into the work but does not negate the original quick leaver action when the control knob is fully retracted, since it is the knob that is threaded not the brass bush attached to the leaver arm. In addition, drill snatch that can occur when enlarging holes, can be minimized by tightening the tailstock shaft clamping screw. This modification requires that only one hole be drilled in the tailstock leaver.
  
  
• Anthony Musco made this adapter to use the Taig collets on his Unimat lathe out of the 1221 spindle adapter
  
  
• David Robertson cuts clock wheels on his Taig Mill. : I have a Taig lathe, a Taig Mill and an extra head stock that I use for an indexing fixture with the mill. This way I can use the same work holders among the three devices. I make the dividing plate by using a 4" rotary table on my Taig mill. Then I firmly attach the dividing plate to the non-threaded end of the extra head stock with a bolt held against the ID of the arbor with an expanding mandrel. I have a spring loaded arm that holds a pin in the dividing plate at each of its positions. I mount the fly cutter (which is flat) in a holder made from a Taig blank arbor (and for pinions...) I have a fly cutter made from round stock whose holder fits in a 1/4 in collet.
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• Ted Walls made his own CNC control for the Taig Mill: I started building my Taig CNC mill about 9 months ago. Some years ago I built the Camtronics 2A controller and converted my Sherline mill to CNC. Having recently become interested in gauge 1 live steam loco's, and finding the limited capacity of the Sherline frustrating, I decided to put together a Taig CNC mill. When I converted the Sherline I built a camtronics 2A controller, but after some discussion via email and the yahoo group I did not consider this would not be able to efficiently drive the Taig. Trying to think ahead, and allow for some upgrading in the future, (possibly to a larger machine) I considered using Gecko drives. Only wanting to build the controller once I decided, 1. incorporate a 4th axis 2. have easily selected current outputs for the range provided by the Gecko's 3. incorporate a spindle tacho. 4. provide a probe input. 5. provide relay control for spindle and coolant 6.incorporate power supply for the motors, logic, and cooling fans in the housing. 7.provide inputs for limit switches. Putting together the controller meant providing a power supply to provide the voltage for the motors, the logic for the Gecko's and power for a cooling fan. I decided on a large toriodal (1000VA) for the motor power and a smaller 12V for the logic and fan. A small PCB was drawn up using Eagle to provide a regulated 5V and 12V supply for the logic and fan supply. The main motor supply being rectified by a large bridge rectifier and capacitors. The tacho was built some time ago from a Camtronics kit. This was disassembled ready to build into the housing. The relay and limit switch PCB was drawn up using Eagle. This allows for 2 12V relays and provides the pull-ups for the limit switches. The switches themselves are yet to be installed. The PCB's were too large to be milled out on the Sherline as it was, so I made an extended bed to give me more movement in the Y axis. The controller was assembled and tested on a baseboard and the cabinet duly made
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• One of the boards being milled on the Sherline mill using a Dremel. The extended bed can be seen in the photo
• Having built the controller, converted the mill and tested it, I have used it since to produce parts for my gauge one Dee loco, which is now nearing completion. It has also beeen used for milling PCB's and engraving sing the Dremel. For normal milling I have mounted the Sherline motor and controller. A recent article in The Model Engineer pointed me to a material supplied for glueing wood veneers. This is a thin (nomial 0.003") thermoplastic glue trade name gluefilm. The material melts at about 100 deg C and forms a very strong bond between 2 surfaces. I purchased some to hold 1mm brass sheet to a baseboard whilst milling out the various panels for te superstructure of my loco. Photo shows the splashers and cab sides being milled. The brass sheet is glued to a piece of 1/8" aluminium which acts as a base.
• The milled blanks, attached to the baseboard, being heated up to soften the glue to allow them to be removed.
• The finished items with the baseplate in the rear. The toolpath can be clearly seen on the baseplate.
• The nearly completed locomotive, gauge one Dee loco at its current stage of completion
  
  
• Jim Rich is using his Taig CNC mill to make parts for pneumatic G-scale track switches
• Milling the parts from brass
• closeup showing air nozzle
• finished mounting bracket after being bent 90 deg.
  
  
• Randall Busbee's Cue Lathe
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• Ed Kline's Lathe: I recently acquired a box of parts at a swapmeet that were parts of a Taig mill and a Taig lathe. After looking at them carefully and looking at all the information on your site I started to put the two together to make frankenlathe. This is a work in progress as you can see from the attached images. I've machined the head stock to take 5-C collets because of their availability and versatility and fine detail work that I do with my projects. There really is part of a Taig lathe and mill in there. I think you can spot them! :) So far it seems to work very smoothly and accurately (check out Ed's very cool webpage: http://www.klinefx.com ) q: "Was it a problem to cut the bed like that, with the concrete filling? " Yes. I had a stock tungsten carbide flycutter that came with my Rong Fu mill/drill. I had a horrible time trying to make the first few passes as everyone in my household can attest to. Wondering what was wrong I examined the four cutters and found that they had almost no cutting edge at all. A few minutes in front of the green wheel and they had the proper cutting edges. The rest of the concrete and aluminum then went down like butter, leaving me powdered with concrete and an ear-to-ear grin.
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• Ed's shop made tubing bender
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• Alan Smith's Milling Attachment stops
• Flycutting a radius on a model train steam dome. "The tool holder was made from a 4" length of 3/4" Mild steel rod. The tool > slot was cut/filed so that the 1/4" tool was a snug fit, one side of the > slot being across the centre.line. A 6BA grub screw held the tool. The slot > was actually slanted so that the round headed tool was trailing whilst > cutting. My theory was that if the cutter dug in then it would be deflected > away from the job. Seemed to work OK. I also retightened all fixings after > about six passes, they tend to work loose with all that thumping! > > The brass workpiece was held on the cross slide by a homemade bracket which > uses the side slots on the cross slide. I was lucky with the packing - I had > an NBG cylinder blank which had been bored and sliced lengthwise. It was > exactly the right size. You need a bit of luck sometimes!"
• Another view
  
  
• Nick Dowling's Taig Lathe, modified for extremely precise work.
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• Ramsay Holmes' setup for Ornamental Turning on the Taig Lathe, set up for OT drilling work. "Making the drills is an interesting exercise. I'm trying to copy Holtzapffel's various drill heads by milling them out of 12L14 and drill rod. "
• "I've found that by putting two riser blocks under the Taig headstock, then mounting the Taig faceplate, to which is attached the compound slide and a Sherline 2.5" 3 jaw chuck, one gets a reasonably good eccentric chuck. When this is turned by a handcrank there is no need to worry about the lack of counterbalance and various circles can be turned using the flexshaft handpiece mounted on the crossslide in a V clamp on the milling vice. The attached photo shows the general layout. Can't help but be impressed by the adaptability of the Taig equipment. "
• I've spent a good deal of the last year desiging and making a goniostat to sharpen OT cutting tools.
• The goniostat can be used for manual sharpening on a waterstone. If one has days to spare for this (or a 'manservant' to do your sharpening for you!) it can give quite a nice edge. But having neither the time nor the patience, not to mention a handy 'manservant', to manually sharpen a host of cutting tools, I adapted the goniostat so that I could use the power flat bed grinder. Any waterstone can be used with the manual approach (the one in the photo is 4000 grit) and a micro-bevel can be applied by slightly altering the vertical angle of the goniostat. One last thing, the rectangular collar shown above the cutting tool in the power grinder photos has a 3/8" square hole broached in it. The collar's function is twofold; to extend the reach of the tool when it is being sharpened on the power grinder and to permit the sharpening of cutting tools with shanks up to 1/4" square. The steel I'm using for OT cutting tools is 1/8"x3/8" but the goniostat and the power grinder could readily be used to put a very sharp and accurate compound angle on the end of a 1/4" Taig metalworking cutting tool.
• The goniostat resting on a piece of plate glass which, in turn, is mounted onto a brass bracket so that the cutting tool can be sharpened using a Veritas flat bed power grinder. Also shown in the photo is a gadget called an Accu-Level. This is also sold by Veritas (Lee Valley in Canada) and has a magnetic base so that it can be attached to the goniostat in different planes to set the necessary sharpening angles. The goniostat can readily be set at any compound angle and then the OT cutting tool can be sharpened at that angle. The power grinder comes with two platters and permits sharpening, with a micro-bevel, as fine as 9 microns. It gives a mirror finish on the compound angle.
  
  
• Nelson Johnson says "As I promised, here are four pictures of the setup as it is now. The project that demanded that I purchase a lathe was to create four spacers, two pair, to precisely fit the mounting hardware for two front GMA billet aluminum motorcycle brake calipers. I had no choice, so I finally broke down and bought the Taig lathe. It looked like the most sensible, flexible design out there. I have plans for many projects, and just having a lathe opens up many possible uses, so the machine tool is an investment. Of course it's a whole lotta fun too. In other words, a bargain! Each spacer was machined from 3/4" dia. aluminum bar stock. The center hole in each spacer is 3/8" diameter. The depth of the spacers was taken by caliper measurements at the average runoff point for each of the two calipers. Spacers on the left side of the bike are perfectly coplanar and flat, with a thickness of approximately 0.280 inches. The exact dimensions are duplicated on each side of the bike, so the calipers are near perfectly parallel to the axis of the caliper mounting points on the front fork of the bike. The lathe solved three problems for me: To get extremely accurate spacing, to obtain absolutely coplanar faces and to have identical thickness for each pair of mounting points. The lathe base is bolted to the workbench. To face the 3/4" diameter aluminum rod I used a rounded tip cutter. The parting bar is mounted behind the toolpost. The dial gauge is attached to a magnetic base and is in contact with the rear toolpost. Using the tailstock (not shown) I was able to drill a 3/8" diameter hole about 3 inches into the bar on center. I faced the end of the bar. I then drilled the end with a 1/8" dia. starter drill, then increased the drill size to 5/16" and finally drilled the 3/8" dia. hole. This way each spacer could be parted from the bar using the parting tool after moving the cutter to the exact position necessary to create the spacer. The dial gauge was set to 0 with the near-side cutting edge of the parting bar aligned with the face of the piece. Then the cross-slide was moved toward the headstock the required distance. The cross-slide was locked in place and the parting tool was used, with lots of cutting oil, to part the piece from the rod. This tool opens up new worlds for me. It requires some mental re-training to remember to think in terms of solving problems with the lathe. In other words, I'm so used to hacking out a solution with a hacksaw and file that I need to force myself to think creatively and use the lathe! The four spacers are now mounted on the bike, and I can sense the solidity of the assembly. It is a perfect illustration of how accurate machining can make parts fit together solidly, as opposed to having only a few points of contact. Each face is flush with the caliper and the mounting boss. It is much safer than using a hacksaw to cut the spacers.
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• A picture of the new front wheel
• The brake caliper on the left side of the bike
• The spacer
  
  
• David Koizumi says, "some pictures of the Zero Backlash setup. The weight system is compact, does not take away XYor Z axis travel and seems to be very easy to keep "in rig." It can also be easily removed from the mill without so much as a scratch. The pulley supports either clip in place or make use of existing holes. "
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• Richard (What's your last name, Richard?) uses this for determining RPM. " I have been using a simple and cheap method which is easy to build at home. It is an GE trick from way back. I uploaded some photos of the gadget and will delete them in a week for the sake of saving valuable space. (Richard's collection). A Radioshack motor( generator, they are linear)) about 2 bucks, along with a 5K pot and a short plastic tube to house the units is used for the the tach. A wheel and an "O" ring is made to fit the motor shaft. A digital meter is used on the 2 volt scale to read the RPM directly. The pot outside leads are across the generator winding, the center and one pot end supply the meter. My lathe motor is a 1/4 HP wash machine type and runs at a speed of 1725 according to the nameplate. The Taig motor pulley and the lathe pulley are matched size wise. The tach wheel is held against the largest diameter of the motor pulley and the pot is adjusted to a voltage reading of 1.725 volts. Now the set up is calibrated as RPM. Move the pickup pulley to the large diameter of the lathe pulley and the reading in RPM can be read directly on the DVM at any of the six speed ranges. My setup reads:5300, 3350, 2200, 1400, 980,and 600RPM depending on the groove settings containing the drive belt. I use the same unit on the 7x12 lathe using the "stop" of the 45 tooth gear on the left end of the lathe as the calibrating source when scanned with a flourescent lamp. (7200/45) equals 160 Rpm. A different DVD voltage scale may be used. Works fine and the cost is low if you own a meter.
  
  
• Michael Bliss's Taig Lathe, "I have made some additions as you can see. The fine feed lead -screw is based on Tony Jeffree's design, and the contraption at the far-left of the screw is a microwave-oven turn-table motor, this provides a very fine feed. ( Those motors have a remarkable amount of torque). "
• First Model Aircraft Engine
• Michael holding his first engine
• Here is a pic. of my Boogaboo powered by an ML Midge designed by Marl Lubbock. A real thrill to see flying. By the way, I'm on my 5th. Midge, it is very easy to build on that little lathe.
  
  
• Keith Bucklitch's Reversed Taig Tailstock modification.
  
  
• Bill Cleary modified my index plate "I added the 40 and 50 hole circles like Jose describes using a saw blade and piano wire. I'm making an end cap for the MiniTinker tool and cutter grinder that I just completed"
• His MiniTinker
• Rotary Table of Lautard's design
• Home made knurling tool.
  
  
• Russ Revels made these Corian trivets on his Taig CNC mill "I have the tailstock extension and also the Y extension installed. They are 6" diameter 1/2 inch thick. I am using Turbocnc and a 486 laptop, xylotex driver and 24v ps. The steppers are 187oz-in that I got for $10ea. I can send you some gcode if you like. I make the cuts in two passes because I have stalled the spindle a couple of times. Sometimes I could cut the full .25 and then not. I have the speed set to 22.5ipm rapid to keep y from stalling. They are cut with a 3/16 endmill."
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• Jason Rahn's antique Taig lathe, the old Mk1
  
  
• Jay Couture's Taig lathe
• His cross slide indicator mount "For the cross slide mount I used 1" round 6061 (all I had that was big enough). I first turned the cut edges on the lathe, then mounted it in the milling attachment. I notched the bottom of the mount to allow 1/4" overhang of the side and back of the carriage. Then I used my drill press and made the mount hole for the indicator and then the hold down for the carriage. I tapped the carriage for a 10/32 screw to allow the removal of the mount when necessary. For the contact pin, I found a 4/40 screw I salvaged from dismantling hard drives and PC's and filed two edges to make a "t-nut". Then I filed a brass pin and drilled and tapped it 4/40. The pin can be easily moved/removed as it's only finger tight. "
• Closeup of his indicator mount
• He installed one of my index plates on his headstock, "For the index plate I used 1/2" square stock and chamfered the edges after I drilled the mounting holes per your drawing. I turn the brass locking pin out of some stock I had and added some rings for gripping. I don't think I'll need the locking screw for the pin at this point. "
• Jay's workbench showing the Taig and drill press as a compact workshop.
  
  
• Glen Rash made these parts on his older model Taig lathe. "You asked what I was making with the lathe. I have just finished most of my tools and am starting on the motor parts. I have included one picture. I want to make small motors for my RC aircraft. "
  
  
• Ted Wright's Taig Lathe
• Drilling PC board with the milling attachment.
  
  
• Nelson Snedecker made this hot air engine with his Taig
  
  
• James Holbrook made "an adapter to allow the use of CD ROM based motors to drive ducted fans to power R/C planes. It worked great the first time and allowed me to up the power to the fan almost double. You should hear it spin at 42,500 RPMs. I turned the adapter out of 7075 and the shaft out of O-1 Drill rod. (hard stuff) "
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• Gary Hartnett says "my compound slide it is made from mild steel ,brass, and air craft grade aluminium (rescued from my companies scrap bin) to make it I first had to make a milling setup from a couple of bits of flat bar welded together bolted to the cross slide of my old 10" atlas to which i attatched a stripped down and rebuilt chinese compound vise. You would have thought that aluminium is easy to mill but as i found out it is a real bugger, the slide moves very easy on brass gibs and is a very handy addition to my lathe
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• A tail stock made by a machinist where I work, this bloke is a genius
  
  
• Eric Uptagrafft's Taig CNC mill and enclosure
• His Stencil Airplane Wheel Chocks.
• Finished Wheel Chocks, "finally "finished" my first set of wheel chocks. I powder coated these in my garage...and am pretty pleased with the results."
  
  
• Ron Cole's CNC Milling Machine Enclosure
  
  
• Alexander Stanton adapted the 1221 spindle adapter to be a collet chuck on his Unimat Lathe: After squaring up, drilling 10.8 mm hole and tapping 12X1 threads I turned a 9/32" rod straight out.
• Then the Taig adapter was slipped on the rod.
• The 9/32" collet was closed keeping the back of the collet adapter tight against the back plate.
• Drill number 21 was used to drill the two holes for the 10-32 screws used to hold the adapter to the back plate. Then the adapter was removed and the rod machined off the back plate along with more of the back plate to get it thinner. More still could be taken off. So this is the method I designed. With the SL it is slow going. But it worked.
  
  
• Dan Pines modified a Taig blank arbor to hold an ER collet chuck "lately there were several discussions about ER collets on the taig. i had the same problem with the sherline and solved it this way: bought straight shank ER closers (ER20 and ER32) - 20 mm dia. shanks held them in a 4 jaw independent chuck, worked great and indicated tir was less then 0.01 mm i was soon tired from swapping and re-indicating the closers so i bored taig blank arbors (ruined 3 by overboring about 0.005mm ...) for a tight fit of the shanks and used loctite. takes some space but works very well. "
• Chucked in 4 jaw.
  
  
• Miche Meizner uses her Taig to work on rings and ring waxes, here is a milgrained ring done on the Taig
• Another ring
• Turning and Boring wax tube to make rings for investment casting on the Taig lathe
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• Using a radius template to shape the wax
• Making the radius template on the Taig milling attachment
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• Christo Vassilev (in Bulgaria) made hardware for attaching mirrors to the wall.
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• Roy Stedman's spring-loaded easy-on/easy-off chip guard for quick access to the T-slots
• Showing the spring loaded bolt.
  
  
• Colin Mortiz adapted the new ER spindle to his MaxNc mill."The ER16 spindle assembly only has one 10-32 hole on the side. Simply drill another hole opposite of that one and tap it to 10-32 and it bolts right into the MaxNC.
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• mounted to the mill
  
  
• Dan Barry's Taig mill, "with the CNC mod, and a box I built for manual control of the stepper motors. The mill is setup next to two big windows with beautiful views of the Berkshire mountains."
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• A robot that will follow people. It follows indoors and outdoors and has miles of range (uses a motorcycle battery). The cutouts on all of the boxes with circuitry were made using the mill, as were the housings for various parts. The three round platforms and motor mounts were in a kit from Zagros Robotics. The microprocesser is a 68HC12 based development board from Axiom Manufacturing and is housed in the big black box on the middle level. The connections from the microprocesser to the peripheral devices is via RJ45 jacks and ethernet cable. The cutouts for the jacks, cables, LEDS, ultrasound and infrared transducers were all done on the mill using CNC, so they are all just the right size, all perfectly spaced.
  
  
• Norman Crowson added vibration mounts to his manual Taig Mill motor, "McMaster part number 9016K113 vibration isolation mounts with 10-32 posts which match the Franklin 1/5 HP motor that shipped with my Taig mill. The motor is approximately 9 lbs, making each mount load a little over 2 pounds. The mounts are rated at 8 lbs per post, compression load, with no data available on sheer force from McMaster's catalog."
• My dial indicator "Before" installation of motor mounts; Photo2 is the dial indicator swing due to vibration ONLY with the mill motor running. Although the camera "froze" the needle vibration at over .002, in actual viewing it was past .003; the needle motion so violent as to make the indicator unreadable, not to mention potential dial damage. The indicator was attached to the mill column and contacted the mill X-axis bed, zero'd... then the motor turned on and the photo taken.
• The dial indicator "After" installation of 4 mounts and the motor running; the dial indicator is steady.
• The installed motor mounts; the .125 inch extra length of threaded rod sticking down can easily be cut off with a dremel cutoff blade. My guess is that these rubber mounts may make balancing the motor armature unnecessary, except in the most extreme cases. Note: The condition of the rubber mounts will need to be monitored , as all rubber products eventually deteriorate . While I doubt the motor would fall if all 4 mounts failed simultaneously, safety always comes 1st. There are mechanical interlocking rubber mounts available at a higher cost for any who don't mind the additional investment. Routinely monitoring the condition of the motor mounts is for me just another part of frequent safety checks required on ALL electrical and mechanical components. If I have time I may explore some of the vibration frequency "nodes" that occur at various tension settings of the Taig mill belt... I'm wondering if an idler might dampen these out just a bit... These were just the first motor mounts I found that had a significantly favorable impact on the overall no-load vibration, were economically priced, and simple to install.
  
  
• Glenn Grieco's western river steamboat engine: I thought you might be interested in some photos of my completed western river steamboat engine. The valves have been left off, awaiting data from this summers excavations. The TAIG mill performed flawlessly. Every one of the metal parts was machined with the mill and BobCAD. The Flywheels are each composed of 16 identical overlapping pieces that are bolted together. I had some concern about wether they would be machined accurately enough to overlap properly but, they fit perfectly! This model will be be displayed at the new History Museum in Oklahoma City and a second identical model will be built for a museum in the town of Fort Towsend, Oklahoma - near the sight where the original vessel ran onto a snag and sank. With all the mill routines already created, it should be no problem to crank out a second model. Thanks for all your help and I'll let you know when we have our website about the wreck up and running. (Check out his personal webpage and work webpages also linked from the main Taig page)
  
• Closeup of the flywheel
  
  
• Andrew Carlisle made this extended crosslide. I had snagged a longer extrusion a long time ago from Taig (they don't have any more, I don't have any more...you can mill your own...sorry) and he made the gib and screws, etc. "After some dillying and dallying, my new longer Taig lathe crosslide table is now operational! With any luck, this evening will provide the first opportunity to put the new crosslide to use in earnest. In the attached photos, you'll see that I found a local outfit to hard anodise the table for me. The crosslide operates very smoothly, and I'm certainly happy with the looks. Machining the longer gib stock turned out to be the biggest challenge of the project. However, with a shopmade workholder for the brass stock, I managed to machine eveything on the Taig lathe with the standard length crosslide."
• #2 "For the anodizing, I found a company in Port Moody that will do ten pieces for a $45 minimum. Unfortunately, I didn't know they would do ten items for the same minimum price. At that time, it didn't seem worth it to drive all the way home and back again to pick up another nine items for anodizing -- but luckily I did bring a few other odd pieces along. And now I know for the future."
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• Gerald Hynes made this tailstock lever: "Just finished my first real useful shop project/TAIG Lathe mod and I had to share it with someone. Just the standard Tail Stock handle extension with my twist. I milled a piece of 1/2" round steel flat on two sides to 1/8" like the original flat handle. I then drilled and threaded the opposite end. Into this screws the 1/4" rod handle extension with a large plastic knob on the end that I happened to have laying about.A lock nut keeps it tight. The extension is easily removable to get it out of the way and the new 1/2" round handle is much easier on the hands.Overall with the extension is 10.5" and without the extension is same as stock! Took me all afternoon of tinkering but sure feels good. Can only imagine how good the completion of a steam engine must feel! When I figure out how to use the compound slide I might even put a slight taper on it!"
  
  
• Mitch Llewellyn made a DRO for his lathe out of two digital calipers: "Thanks to your suggestion I found the digital caliper adaption on Jim Lewis' web site. The claws are easily removed with a bandsaw. In my case a HF 4X6. I used the 4" caliper for the y axis and the 8"for the x. I used double stick, HF, for all caliper attachments. Thought this would work fine except for the ruler end on the x axis. This did require a screw. I used a 4-40. The T slots on the headstock do not take a 10-32. I used 8-32 and made the square nuts. On the side of the headstock I used the slot for the stop rod for the digital readout and a bracket on the cross slide to mount the ruler end. On the y axis I used two 4-40 screws below the side slot for the ruler end. This is a neat and inexpensive ($17 for 4" and $30 for 8" calipers) way to get there."
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• Zsolt Szekely sent this picture of his Taig lathe: "I thought I'd send you a picture of an improvement I brought to my little treasure. As you see I transformed a digital caliper into a digital readout. I'm very proud of it since it makes working on the lathe to be very enjoyable. I absolutely love it!!"
  
  
• John Neugebauer built this incredible cabinet for his Taig "Den Lathe"
• Open!
• The Vacuum system
  
  
• Ryan DeBaker's Taig Lathe
• His motor mount based on my design.
  
  
• Ed Leong added knobs to his tailstock: "I found some great knurled anodized aluminum knobs for my tail stock. They are cabinet knobs from the Ikea (furniture) store. The shape caught my eye. All I had to do was drill them out to tap to 10-32 and a couple of 1 1/2 inch screws. I could have cut them down, but they seem easier to use as they are."
• Ed completed his telescope modification, "Thanks to the Taig Lathe. This was once a manual telescope now it's a motorized "Goto" scope.
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• I would love to have the capability of cutting the gears. But the worm gear was purchased and the worm itself was from a worm driveshaft that I turned down to the appropriate shaft size (leaving worm intact).
  
  
• Ted Hoberg sent in a pic of his mill beavering away on a run of part modifications.
  
  
• John Smalley recently adapted a defunct clisby crosslide to act as a taper turning top slide for the Taig. "So far it's working really well. Move the tool holder to the end cut off the leadscrew and dovetail section and just clamp it on. I use my Taig mostly to make tools and accessaries for my Boley watchmaking lathe, and also just for fun."
• I have an odd motor mount as you may see from the pics, it really was temporary but has stayed. The motor is mounted with two hinges and hangs below the lathe in a box, there is a support in the box so that belt tension isn't too high, you just lift the motor to change pulleys, works well.
• More pictures of the Clisby Compound / Topslide
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• Cole Wagley made this bracelet on the Taig CNC mill. "We milled it flat, then we used a tool that shapes it like it is. We also did some belt buckles with the taig mill also."
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• Cole engraved this cool bracelet on the Taig CNC mill
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• Jason Gleason used his Taig CNC to make this AR-16 model. "I finally have milled what I would call a legitimate part off of the mill. Of course it is only one side. The next step is to flip mill one in wax and then in metal. I chose it to see how the mill would handle a somewhat complex surface."
• I took some pictures of my enclosure I built. It still needs some finicky details. I am planning a blower or vac system of some sort. Not completely sure yet which one or both. Next big step is to finally set up the 4th then tha vac/blower.
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• Brian Kramer made some knives with his Taig mill and lathe. "I have really gotten into using the equipment you got for me and am having a great time making knives. Attached are some pics of knives I made using the equipment. Everything you fixed me up with has worked wonderfully. I use the lathe to turn and tap the end of the rat tail tang handle bolsters, use the mill to make the hilts, taper and rough cut the wood slab handle on the full tang knives using a router bit. I also turn custom handle pins on the lathe."
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• Toni Markus says: "Here are a few pictures showing how I installed digital Calipers for all axis. These are just cheap calipers from HF, but have data ports just in case I later want to build a display. Right now I'm very happy with them the way they are. X-axes slider is just glued and has been holding ok with no slipping or sliding. A double sided tape did not work."
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• Picture of a slitting saw holder that my hobby machinist friend made for me. Shaft is 3/8" and it holds a blade with 1" arbor.
  
  
• Ricardo Velez hard at work on his Taig
• Drilling a water pump mounting spacer
• Facing the spacer
• Boring the spacer
• Spacer parts
• installing the pump spacer (notice the alternator pulley as well)
• modified timing pulley for alternator
  
  
• Phil Hopkins made his own drill chuck arbor "Here's the arbor. Nothing special, but it's the first real tool I've made. There's something fantastic about making something that before now I would have had to buy if I wanted one. "
  
  
• Brian Bosch has a much modified Taig Lathe
• Halfnut and leadscrew "The 1/2 nut on the leadscrew is quite interesting- it actually is two 1/2 nuts- when disengaged the right side is above the threaded rod and the left side drops below. This nut is all one piece pivoted on the large handle."
• Halfnut and leadscrew #2
• Back Side
• Leadscrew Bearing
• End showing crank
  
  
• Graham Collins modified his Taig milling vise: "I soon discovered that the 1/4-20 bolt used to tighten the vice had some very frustrating problems. It marked the surface of the moveable jaw which in turn encouraged the end to wander which in turn caused the bolt to bend thus rendering vice difficult to operate and to securely tighten. After looking over the vise I stuck upon the idea to improve it. I replaced the 1/4-20 bolt with a piece of 3/8-24 rod - the larger the better was the thought and I had some on hand. The moveable jaw was drilled and tapped 3/8-24. To prevent the problem of the end wandering on the moveable jaw I provided a spot for the screw to seat against, in this case I used an 82degree counter sink to provide that spot. No measurements where taken and a suitably sized spot against which the screw seats was simply guided by eye. The end of the threaded rod was suitably pointed and polished to match the spot and provide a nice fit. The other end of the screw was drlled and threaded 10-32 for a short socket head cap screw which was secured with Loctite."
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• I just finished a quick mod for my Taig lathe that I thought other might find helpful. I have been using a A2Z QCTP for some time. I have always like this tool post but from time to time get frustrated with it not being "secure" enough. It is sturdy and secure enough for most work but I found I was unable to tighten the secruing bold enough to keep it from twisting. As I wanted to do some knurling I had to find some way of keeping the tool post from twisting even when using a clamp or scissor type knurling tool. I ran across a reference to a modification someone else had made (I can't find that reference now) and a similar modification they had made. That person had commented that amongst various fixes the one that he had found most beneficial was the use of a larger through bolt to secure the QCTP. He used an 8mm socket head cap screw and made a modfied base mount from brass (only material he had on hand of sufficient size) and stated this cured his problem of the tool post twisting as the larger bolt was better able to secure the QCTP. I made a similar base mount out of 12L14 and used a 5/16" - 18 socket head cap screw and am very pleased with the mod. I can now mount the base cross ways across the two slots on the cross slide or in one slot as original. I can now mount the QCTP in such a way that I work a piece 1-1/2" diameter where as before I could not. I replaced the original aluminum mount with a piece of 12L14 1.5" diameter and starting at 1/2" thick faced each end until I reached my design thickness of .470" . I made my base mount .470" thick so that I could use a 5/16"-18 x 2-3/4 cap screw adding a full 1/4" extra thread in the base mount over the original 2-1/2" screw. The hole for the 10-32 mounting screws are on a 1" center to match the slot to slot distance of the cross slide and appropriately counter bored for the 10-32 socket head cap screws; the counter bores are .240" deep to allow the use of the original A2Z QCTP provided mounting screw. The center was drilled and tapped 5/16"-18. The mount was cleaned and blued with hardware store gun bluing.
  
  
• Larry Plume made a speed reduction pulley for his Taig mill. "Somebody at the Taigtools usergroup asked how to put a boring head on a Taig mill without getting the shakes. I had just addressed the same problem so I posted some pix (attached). Rich Crook suggested that you might be interested. as well. My solution achieves about a 4:1 speed reduction and eliminates the shakes for holes as least as large as 2.16 inches. It's simple to make, and installing and tensioning only takes a minute. This was a 'quick and dirty' exercise for me; I wanted to be sure it worked before investing major time in it. There are certainly improvements that can be made."
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• John Devost's Taig Lathe, in his tidy shop.
• His wonderfully crafted wooden mallet
  
• A picture of a walking cane I made for my father in law on the taig lathe, the wood is bocote made in three equal parts joined with brass joiners, all the brass is Lee Valley supply.
• A picture of some chopsticks that I made for a puzzlebox maker out of Oklahoma, tapered round, and some pens and pencils all made on the Taig lathe.
  
  
• Andrew Lunn makes handsaws: "Hey, I thought I'd send you a few pictures of my first saw using those split nuts and bolts made on the Taig. Thought you might like to see what this guy with all of the questions makes. :) I've also written an article about doing the etching you see on that saw. It should be coming out sometime soon on www.wkfinetools.com. "
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• Caribe Schreiber says "Here's a few pics of what I put together to protect the Z-axis leadscrew from chips. I removed the motor and disassembled the head stock, then used a drill press to make two holes in the Z-axis main body. I then re-assembled the head stock and took an old piece of FR-4 board from my PCB shop and made a retainer bar with holes large enough to accept the two 10-32 hex screws. Then I took a piece of thin rubber and cut two holes in it and made a drape to fit the retainer bar+screws. I then assembled the set like so: (bolt -> retainer bar -> rubber drape -> main body) and bolted the new assembly onto the Z-axis main body. The travel on the Z-axis seems to be short enough that it won't pick up sticky oil-coated swarf from where it collects in the existing Y-axis ways covers, so I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out. The whole process only took me a little over an hour, so it seems like a worthwhile mod. It wouldn't have taken me quite so long, but I've never taken the main body off the mill so I was a little nervous that I was going to break things. Everything goes faster the second time"
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• Minsoo Kim says "I have just finished to set the lathe up. With your index plate, it is not only more useful but looks very classy!"
• back view
• motor switch
• rubber bumper on motor mount
  
  
• Chris Hanson sent "a pic of my first piece of jewelry using a milled component.......I stopped after the rough tool path because I liked the look.... As I watched it mill I got the idea of a woman emerging from a pool of high tech primordial ooze (molten gold in this case). It is set in a textured silver setting with a pin back. I'm really limited in what I can do since I'm totally new to 3d modeling, CNC, machining, etc, but I'm looking forward to what I'll be able to do by adding a whole new element to my artwork."
• This is a piece titled "The Darker The Berry..." that I created for our annual Blueberry Art Festival Juried Art Show. Because I serve on the gallery committee, the piece wasn't eligible for the juror-selected prizes but it sold minutes after the show opened to a nationally-known artist. Again, I am playing with a digitized and then milled image of my wife like the other piece.
• Here is the steampunk-inspired piece I did for the AK Governor's Awards Dinner for the Arts using your gear. I domed two brass gears and connected them with a silver tube. They didn't mesh perfectly because of distortion from doming but all in all, given I had little time to crank them out because of the deadline, I like the result. It is a fun piece....
  
  
• Keith Brooke says: "Here's a picture of a spindle depth stop I made. It's pretty trivial but really useful. "
• My latest project was an index plate.
• I use the Taig mill headstock mounting plates to hold the lathe headstock for axial and radial indexed drilling and milling. Also a kind of poor man's free-wheeling rotary table.
• When I made that indexing plate, I used my Jeffree Mark I dividing head in the following kind of bizarre configuration.
  
  
• Rob McNaughton says, "Here are some pics of the "Rob Special" dampers. They are 2.8" in dia made of 3/4" UHDPE with 1/8" cap and have 12 .5" steel ballbearings. The just have a 1/4" hole through the center and press on the motorshafts. The holes for the bearings are .575". The Dampers also work great as handles when the diver board is off. I got the idea from this post. I made it larger to fit more pendulum weight and I new I was going to use ball bearings which would be lighter again, so I went with a larger radius and more of them. I also wanted a lighter base material that could absorb a bit more vibrations, so I went with UHDPE from McMaster Carr. I also didn't want to bother with the set screw so I went with a pressure fit (I added a piece of paper to make it real tight). I believe resonance increases after prolonged overheating of the xylotex board. My stalling was getting worse and worse over time. I found my board was getting very hot, so I had previously replaced the wimpy 60mm fan with a monstrous 80mm that is 5 times the amperage and pushes 10 times the air. But I believe the damage has been done.
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• Scott Sutter sends pictures of the "Lane" variable speed motor for the Taig. "I got the motor/controller unit installed on my lathe. I have to say I was skeptical, due to the fact that the motor mounting was folded sheet metal screwed to the controller, which was a standard tread mill motor controller. The adjustments are just two SHCS and a big spring on the back end of the motor to the motor mount. But after I got it bolted in and adjusted, I must say I am fairly impressed. Lots of torque, good speed range, and in a compact package. The price was a bit steep, $200.00, and the components are not worth that much. I would say that the unit works well but it is a bit too expensive.
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• Niels Jalling sent pics of the new Taig lathe crosslide screw adapted to an older lathe. As it was an older slide he had to machine out the slide as shown
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• "Here is my way of slitting collets. Fast and easy :-)"
• The jig
  
  
• Jason Pasierski says, "I LOVE MY MACHINE! I got my mill today, and spent an extra hour or two then what would normally take someone to set it up. I wanted it to be perfect, I set everything up, from the spindle alignment to the table to everything. My area looks a little bear but I will soon have that top bench covered in sheet metal with a drainage system for my coolant system, I have to make. I feel like a little kid on Christmas!
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• Just a cool shot of the y-axis screw!
• The Mill works better then I thought, I really didn't know how well it would cut or anything. I set everything up and using some spare metal I just made some passes, (not deep at all) and a pocket. It cuts like butter with a mirror finish and is smooth as can be, I'm amazed, I know this machine is going to be perfect!
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• Andy Grueninger made a longer headstock mounting plate for his Taig CNC mill, cutting the dovetail
• closeup
• countersinking the holes
• finished holes
• "I've discovered my newest, most favorite way to debur holes. Chuck a 1 flute 90 deg countersink in the lathe chuck on lowest speed (130 rpm I think) and just hand debur the holes. Puts a nice little chamfer on all them and is quick too."
• done
• "These are a present for my girlfriend and I thought they turned out pretty nice. I have a local anodizer so I might have them done in purple. "
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• Brian Howard sends pics of his New Employee, Just playing around with the "toys"
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• Colin Broad shows his Taig CNC mill setup
• The quick release jig that 'Godfrey' made for me.
  
  
• Frank Carney shows his yoyo made