As a quarantine project, I have been working on the CNC conversion for a Taig 2019 CR mill. This mill is an excellent desktop-size machine for milling woods and aluminum, with the possibility of some work on mild steel. It’s a great way to start hobby machining.
Here is a list of entries detailing the build:
- Planning, including a full bill of materials with sources
- Unboxing and assembly
- Motor control and detachable probing
- Air filter
- Anodizing aluminum parts
And here are some projects:
- Knife scales, in wood
- Bottle openers, in wood and aluminum
Hello World cut
Hello World!
Here’s the first aluminum part cut on the machine, out of some type of aluminum (probably 6061) fished out of the scrap metal trash can at the university machine shop. This was cut using a 1/8” carbide endmill at about 200 sfm, traveling at 8 ipm. These are poor parameters for cutting aluminum, which shows up in the wall finish, but the machine performed admirably.