Help me choose a mill to work with mesh cam.

Ok so I need a 4 Axis CNC Mill. I've been playing around with various cad/cam softwares and to be honest, most of them suck. Clunky interfaces, uber steep learning curves, and needless complications, well at least for my application. MeshCAM just works. It's easy to learn, made sense from the first time I opened it up. It's quite simple, elegantly so, and you don't need a PhD in CNC terms to understand it. But it's simplicity means it may lack a few features.

Now I have to choose a CNC Mill. I want it to work with MeshCAM, and I don't want to overbuy a mill that has more features than MeshCAM will support. But I want the best Mill for my application.

This is what I am making.

http://artisandice.com/wp-content/up.../isohedron.jpg

It's called an isohedron. I'll also be making various other simple polygons. All less than 1 inch in diameter. These will be primarily cut from various types of wood as well as plastics and metals. They are being used as blanks to make dice with. So I'm not trying to do anything crazy complicated, but these will require a 4 axis machine and good precision since they are small scale.

I'd like to snag something with a tool changer if MeshCAM can make use of one. Though I'm still not sure if tool changers are used in the CAM software or if the controller uses the tool numbers assigned in the CAM software to know which tool to pick up from the changer, so this may be a moot point.


I also want to buy local. And I don't want to spend a fortune. DeArmond Tools is located in Amarillo (not exactly local but near enough). Dan has been more than helpful though this whole process. He's recommend two machines for me to choose from.

The Taig is priced right and looks like it will get the job done.

link in next post

The Levil has all the bells and whistles.

link in next post

While I really like the Levil, the price is pretty steep. Dan says that it should make up the price difference over the first few thousand dice on account of the how much faster the Levil will run. The Levil is also a much more accurate and robust machine. Either machine will have a 4th Axis added to them.

For my production numbers I'm looking at getting two Taigs or one Levil. If mesh cam can make use of all the features of the Levil, then it sound to me as it that is the way to go. But man I really like the price of the Taig machine, and if it will get the job done, I'll defiantly get my money back out of it faster.

What do yall think? Taig or Levil?

Taig DSLS 3000

Taig DSLS 3000 Mill DeArmond Tool

Levil 350 Pro

Levil 350 Plus CNC Mill

If you use EMC2/Linux CNC or Mach3 for your control software then a M6 command with a properly set up tool changer will be the ticket. Meshcam automatically does tool change commands, spindle RPMs and such in post.
I like using Meshcam and totally agree with your opinion. It has some shortcomings that I've been battling with, however I have yet to find a package under $1000 that works as good as meshcam.

I stared out writing MeshCAM when I had a Sherline mill, which is similar to the Taig. It was a great machine and, because I tend to do low-volume, high-cost prototypes, it paid for itself in a couple of days. It was a great machine.

At some point I upgraded to a Tormach mill, a much bigger and faster machine. Even for small parts, the difference in machining time is amazing. To be fair, it looks like this Taig setup is better than the aftermarket CNC conversion that my Sherline had but I think the comparison is similar.

The benefit of the tool changer is obvious but the extra speed (I assume) and larger travel of the Levil will give you more options for future growth.

In the end, I've never heard anyone say, "I bought too much mill".

-Robert

thanks guys! due to the lead time on the levil machine, we went with the taig for now. we'll be purchasing the levil as a production machine later the summer, but need something to get the prototypes started asap.