Taig Mill from Ebay

I won an auction a little Taig mill on Ebay last Friday and it was delivered on Thursday. The packing left a little to be desired, but only because a UPS delivery requires that things be entirely encased in carbonite to protect them from the repeated drops and such that they inevitably encounter.

The mill didn't fair too badly, but the end of the x-axis lead screw was bent slightly and the nut on the end of it was a bit mangled. Everything seems to be alright, but I'm debating putting in a claim since it was insured.

Below is a picture of the mangled box that the mill came in and the end of the lead screw that was damaged. The lead screw does seem to drag a little on that end, so perhaps it will be worth calling UPS.













I did my best to clean the gibbs and ways and lead screws, and that made a big difference on the way that the mill table moves. Aside from the little bit of drag on the x axis where the lead screw was bent, the table moves pretty smoothly.

It looks as though this is on older version of the Taig mill, as the color is grey not blue and the gibbs use a different adjustment method than the ones that I have seen pictured elsewhere. I think that it will work just fine for me regardless. I do need to purchase a few items before I can do much with it. The vise that was included is pretty old and crappy. I will also need to buy some t-nuts and other means of holding work down.

The motor on the mill also doesn't appear to be the one currently sold with the mill. It has some problems spinning up with the belts in the highest speed position. It seems that the motor lacks the low speed torque to get the spindle going unless the belt is in the positions that give it a lower gear ratio. I'll see if I can come up with a remedy for that. The motor also came wired directly to a power cord, without a power switch in between. I intend to get a suitable switch for it eventually but for now I came up with a temporary solution. My garage only has a single outlet in it and it is not near where I want to use the mill. There is, however, a switch that goes to an outdoor outlet near where the mill is that I was able to easily tap into to add and outlet that I can switch on and off in the meantime.

I'm looking forward to getting this thing up and going. I have a few designs for LED bike lights that I intend to make with it. I'll post the designs when I get around to it.