Nick Carter's Taig Lathe and Milling Machine Pages
Welcome to my pages devoted to the Taig Lathe and
Taig Milling Machines!
I have been using Taig equipment in
my own shop for over fourteen years and I am an enthusiastic fan of the
Taig
Lathe and Milling Machines (both the manual and CNC versions), their
economy, capability and over all style. The Taig Micro Lathe and Taig
Micro Mill are especially good if you are a novice to metalworking, and
seek to learn the basics without a large investment of money and space.
These pages are a useful resource for all Taig Lathe and Milling
Machine users, with technical support, project ideas, articles,
pictures and links to all pages on the internet.
Taig prices and shipping prices have gone up significantly due to our runaway inflation and poor
economic leadership. See Ordering page for details.
Updated February 7th, 2026
Table of Contents
Taig
Lathe Taig Micro Lathe Information and
Specifications.
Taig
Mill Taig Milling Machine Information and
Specifications.
First
year with a Taig Lathe I wrote an article after my
first year with the Taig detailing all the changes and improvements I
made in my first year of ownership.
Motor
Suppliers Here are some places to get cheap motors
for the Taig lathe (February 24th, 2003)
Tips on the Taig Lathe and Milling Machines and
Accessory Drawings:
Link
to Taig TipsI hope that others will submit tips,
tricks and lengthy how to articles for posting on these pages (April
6th, 2006)
(a lot of tips are contained in thepictures
section, as well.)
Plans
for holder Drawings for a simple boring bar holder
for the Taig lathe
Motor
mountA crude sketch of a useful motor mount I use
on the Taig lathe.
Jose Rodriguez
(Dead Link) has a site that keeps growing and growing, truly a master of small shop
equipment!
I also have a number of his articles here: Jose
Rodriguez
Bob Urso has a
website of his miniature firearms, most are made with the help of Taig
equipment.
Alan Pinkus (Dead Link) now
has a page about his Taig
Jim Eckman (Dead Link) has
a webpage about his Taig.
Trever Talbert
(Dead Link) has pages on his methods of pipe making with the Taig lathe.
Tony Jeffree
has written some of the best "how-to" articles on making accessories
for the Taig, appearing in "Model Engineer's Workshop" and "Projects in
Metal" magazines. On his page are articles on a "Comprehensive set of
dividing accessories for use with the Peatol/Taig lathe and mill", "An
earlier and simpler dividing head for the Peatol/Taig micro lathe", and
"A Leadscrew for the Peatol/Taig lathe".
Steven Noll (Wayback) has a great
page on his glassblowing lathe made out of Taig parts. (Wayback machine link, his site now seems dead)
Brian Huffaker powered his Taig lathe with a foot treadle.
John Wall's (Dead Link) PhotobucketandFlikraccounts have many pictures of his A10C Warthog cockpit that used the Taig mill extensively (50 pcbs, 30 panels, etc)
Spencer Stromberguses a Taig cnc mill every day for my side business cutting plastic house numbers.
Andy VickersTaig related blog posts, especially his limit switch post!
If you have created a page that has anything to do with the Taig Lathe
or Mill, don't be shy,
let me know! Dead Links may be found on the Wayback Machine.
Taig
Tools Your source for official
Taig information. Their CNC Division is Microproto.
Taig has a new websiteshowing how they make some of their parts as well as
details on their new powerfeed design.
Video
on Youtube from Taig Tools showing adjustments and setup as
well as some products in development.
Taigtools groups.io,
now that Yahoo is limiting their yahoogroups and deleting old files, we
have moved the yahoogroup to groups.io A mailing list dedicated to
the Taig.
The
Taig Lathe Tony Jeffree's Taig Lathe Book, New Edition, for 2020! Available in softback or for Kindle (Amazon link).
Supertech is
the company that produces the Supercam software used on the Taig CNC
mills. They have a series of web pages on their CNC conversions of the
Taig and other machine tools as well.
Lee Valley Tools
Have a beautiful two page spread of the Taig in their latest catalog.
They manufacture wood turning rests and spur centers for the Taig in
their own shop. If you are thinking of freehand woodturning on the
Taig, give their products a shot - or at least see how theirs are made
before you make your own.
W.M.
Bergsells 3M series belts
(which are the series used on the Taig) in a variety of lengths from
180mm to 750mm, as well as bearings, gears and other precision
mechanical components. They do have a minimum order of $50, so you
can't just buy one belt, but you'll find something else in their
catalog to fill out the order.
OMW
Metalcrafts sells a nifty ball turning tool
(among other products) which will work on the Taig and other small
lathes.
KENBO
is the company run by my good friend Kent Rudisill, who makes a line of
quick change toolposts for the Taig, 6" Atlas and other small lathes,
as well as doing general machining jobs in his incredibly well
outfitted shop. He is always interested in taking on work, no matter
how small or large. Also see:
Aftermarket Taig
Accssories and Related Machine Shop Products I Sell
In an attempt to fill some gaps in the small machine supply
market, as well as showcase items made in the USA by small
manufacturers I have started selling the items below. I have personally
tested all items and stand behind them 100%.
Fisher
Machine 1/4" Shank edge finders, other edge
finders, micro tapping guide, PEE DEE thread wires, magnetic bases,
sine bars and magnetic chuck accessories all made in the U.S.A.
FROG
I have finished reviewing the FROG x-axis CNC powerfeed/threading unit
for the Taig (Updated October 3rd, 2001) Sadly FROG is out of business.
KENBO
Here's a review of the KENBO quick change toolpost for the Taig
SPILLAGE
Spillage International makes many accessories (shell mill, clamping kit
and grid plate, etc.) for the Taig and MaxNC Milling machines. Here are
my experiences with their tools
KNAELL-MINIMECH
A review of the innovative Knaell (Minimech) threading accessory for
the Taig (February 21st, 2002)
Tony
Griffiths maintains a web site with information
about many different types of metal lathes, well worth looking at if
one is shopping for a new or used lathe
Mini-Lathe.com
has tons of info on the 7x10 /12/xx series of imported lathes.
Logan
Actuator has information and parts for Logan
lathes, as well as a useful tips section.
Tauseef's CNC Machining and R/C
Helicopter Pages. This is the best set of pages on
a beginner starting out with home shop CNC, learning and sharing what
he's learned. There are so many great pages on his site I can't believe
it. You must visit his pages!
Majosoft
has a good set of pages on making a CNC
engraving machine, also some software.
("*" means I
use the software myself, "**"
means recommended by other users, even though I don't have much
experience with it myself)
CAD
Rhino
is an excellent 3D NURBS surface modelling program, moderately
expensive but extremely powerful, it is what I use for all my CAD work.
*
Available also from Andrew Werby
Freemill
from Vectric. FlatCAM is free PCB layout and CAM software.
Camotics CAM and Simulation. Open Source and Free.
GrblGruFree CAM and 3D-Simulation for mills and lathes
F-Engrave G-code generator for engraving and carving
CAD and CAM
FreeCadis a free open source CAD
program, has integrated CAM called PATH.
BobCAD/CAM
Marginal CAD and relatively good CAM, I used to use it but now
use MadCam. Make sure you find a discounted price, company uses the
"used car salesman" method of sales. *
Andrew Werby sells a
number of CAD and CAM programs including Visualmill, RhinoCam and
Deskproto at competitive prices, and a good price on Rhino. *
IMService is a
great seller of various CAD CAM software including DeskCNC and Vector,
he has demo downloads. **
Dolphin
is CAD and CAM, and offers a free CAD program for 2D drawings (UK
website)**
Mach 2 and 3 control software.Runs in Windows
XP/2000 and can be used with the latest Taig controller. An exceptional
program.*
TurboCNC is a
DOS machine control program that seems to be much better than the stock
MPS2000 program. DAK
Engineering has
a lot of other fun stuff as well! *
Xylotex
sells machine controllers and has excellent
support, Jeff is a frequent contributor to the Taig yahoogroup. I used
to use a
Xylotex controller on one of my Taig mills and it performed flawlessly.
*
CNC on a Budgethas some cool products for the DIY CNC machine
IMService
sells controllers and steppers and systems.
MSC has an
enormous free catalog of metalworking supplies (an ideal place to buy
toolbits etc. for the Taig) and they don't mind at all selling to the
home machinist.
American Carbide
seems to have good prices, anyone have any experience with them?
Bits
& Bits makes engraving cutters, wax milling
cutters, end mills and has diamond drag engraving bits. Paul is a great
guy and runs an excellent company. A must for all wax carving and
jewelry work on the Taig CNC mill.
McMaster
Carrhas
everything you need for machining and
projects. Really.
Mailing
Lists, Web
Based Discussion Groups, Usenet Groups
Every day there are more and more machine shop
related forums
being created on the web. Here are a few of the longer lasting and
busier ones. For specific machines it is always a good idea to check
yahoogroups for dedicated forums.
All information contained on this page and all pages
located
on cartertools.com, or other server space used by Nicholas Carter,
copyright Nicholas Carter* 1998-2026. No part or the entirety of these
pages may be reproduced without the permission of Nicholas Carter.
(*except works and pictures by other contributors who retain their
copyright )
. A
good place to check prices against MSC and McMaster.