Todd's Taig Milling Machine

Todd Ferrante's Taig Milling Machine

by Todd Ferrante <back to homepage>

In the spring of 2001, I finally decided that I had to have a CNC milling machine. As a mechanical engineer, I'm always thinking of nifty little things to make for my wife's and my hobbies. I started saving my spare change, and doing some heavy internet research. I discovered that the cheapest CNC mill available runs about $2000, but a manual mill would be about $600. Using surplus parts from work, I decided to purchase a manual mill and do a conversion to CNC. After saving all summer, I finally ordered a Taig 2019 Milling Machine from Nick Carter.

In preparation, I cleaned my workbench area in my garage. I moved the drill press, belt sander, vise and disk grinder to a smaller table. I put casters on the legs so it would roll around, and added a power cord reel. I also added a lower shelf to the table for storing scrap. Hooked under the scrap shelf is a wire basket for rags. I also purchased an inexpensive roll-around tool chest to store the tooling for my mill. On top of the chest I put a toolbox my Dad gave me for a Christmas present some years ago. This gave me a great place to store all my mill accessories.

On 10/16/01, the mill arrived in two boxes, and I started setting it up.

The 2019 Taig milling machine. Shown with the Taig milling vise. In the spindle is the drill chuck arbor and a Jacobs brand 3/8" keyless chuck. On the right are some accessories I bought with the mill. From top to bottom are some blank collets (in the plastic container), the fly cutter, some blank arbors, the milling vise, some T-nuts for the vise, and the collet set with collet holder.

Here is the mill with the good vise mounted on the table. The fly-cutter is on the spindle.

The weekend of 10/28/01 was the first weekend I was able to really spend some time working with the mill. It was very productive. From a piece of bent sheet aluminum, like the one in front of the mill, I made a pair of table covers. They are slotted around the vise bracket bolts. The back flange is bent in a little, which springs them against the vise and holds them on securely. Now cleanup is as simple as sliding the covers off and dumping the piles of chips in the trash. No more cleaning out the table T-slots.

Since I wear glasses, putting on another pair of safety glasses over them is a pain. Still, I want to play it safe with my eyes and metal chips. This U-shaped bracket holds a piece of 1/4" clear plastic in a slip fit. The rectangular clamping nuts are shown clamped on the end of screwless vise. They also can clamp through holes in the left table cover.

Clamped on the end of the vise, the chip shield protects from chips flying in my face. Since the clear plastic is a firm slip fit, it is removable for setups and cleanup. Moved to the left end of the table cover, it keeps chips from spraying all over my workbench. I'll probably at least make another bracket so I don't have to keep switching the same bracket back and forth. I'll also have to keep my eyes open for another piece of scrap plastic so I can have shields on both places at once.

This is the first real setup where I used V-blocks. I'm cutting a 1/8" slot in the extension handle I made for my lathe. The handle is the same diameter on the ends. From about 2" from the right end, there is a taper to the "grip" on the left end. I used the V-blocks to set the height, and gripped the tapered portion with leather strips protecting the handle. I wasn't too concerned with the precision of the cut, but it turned out quite well.

In preparation, I cleaned my workbench area in my garage. I moved the drill press, belt sander, vise and disk grinder to a smaller table. I put casters on the legs so it would roll around, and added a power cord reel. I also added a lower shelf to the table for storing scrap. Hooked under the scrap shelf is a wire basket for rags. I also purchased an inexpensive roll-around tool chest to store the tooling for my mill. On top of the chest I put a toolbox my Dad gave me for a Christmas present some years ago. This gave me a great place to store all my mill accessories.
On 10/16/01, the mill arrived in two boxes, and I started setting it up.
The 2019 Taig milling machine. Shown with the Taig milling vise. In the spindle is the drill chuck arbor and a Jacobs brand 3/8" keyless chuck. On the right are some accessories I bought with the mill. From top to bottom are some blank collets (in the plastic container), the fly cutter, some blank arbors, the milling vise, some T-nuts for the vise, and the collet set with collet holder.
Here is the mill with the good vise mounted on the table. The fly-cutter is on the spindle.
The weekend of 10/28/01 was the first weekend I was able to really spend some time working with the mill. It was very productive. From a piece of bent sheet aluminum, like the one in front of the mill, I made a pair of table covers. They are slotted around the vise bracket bolts. The back flange is bent in a little, which springs them against the vise and holds them on securely. Now cleanup is as simple as sliding the covers off and dumping the piles of chips in the trash. No more cleaning out the table T-slots.
Since I wear glasses, putting on another pair of safety glasses over them is a pain. Still, I want to play it safe with my eyes and metal chips. This U-shaped bracket holds a piece of 1/4" clear plastic in a slip fit. The rectangular clamping nuts are shown clamped on the end of screwless vise. They also can clamp through holes in the left table cover.
Clamped on the end of the vise, the chip shield protects from chips flying in my face. Since the clear plastic is a firm slip fit, it is removable for setups and cleanup. Moved to the left end of the table cover, it keeps chips from spraying all over my workbench. I'll probably at least make another bracket so I don't have to keep switching the same bracket back and forth. I'll also have to keep my eyes open for another piece of scrap plastic so I can have shields on both places at once.
This is the first real setup where I used V-blocks. I'm cutting a 1/8" slot in the extension handle I made for my lathe. The handle is the same diameter on the ends. From about 2" from the right end, there is a taper to the "grip" on the left end. I used the V-blocks to set the height, and gripped the tapered portion with leather strips protecting the handle. I wasn't too concerned with the precision of the cut, but it turned out quite well.