CLAYMILL - FOR DESIGN STUDIOS
Every Line You Draw Ends Up On This Machine
Tarus built the first purpose-built CNC claymill in the industry. Forty years later, it’s still the machine studios measure their surface quality against, because the model should read exactly as you drew it, not as a machine interpreted it.
1st
Built for studios, not adapted
from a factory floor
The original purpose-built CNC clay mill in the industry.
40 yrs
In Continuous Production
Refined generation over generation by the studios that use it.
Best in Class
Milled surface finish
The standard other design studio milling machines are still measured against.
Quiet
Studio-friendly operation
Quiet enough to run beside a live design review.
ONE PLATFORM, THREE CONFIGURATIONS
Built around how your studio actually works.
Same core precision, construction, and control system across all three — the difference is footprint, reach, and how the machine sits in your studio.
Claymill T
Commercial models
Spindle Power: 7 kW / 25 kW
Spindle Speed: 12,000 / 24,000 RPM
Claymill M
Automobile models — mobile/portable
Spindle Power: 4.4 kW
Spindle Speed: 12,000 RPM
Claymill Series
Model Specifcations
Key travel, feed rate, and spindle specifications across the Claymill lineup.
| Specification | Claymill | Claymill T | Claymill M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intended Use | Automobile Models | Commercial Models | Automobile Models, Mobile/Portable |
| X Axis | Configurable, 3m sections | Configurable, 3m sections | 3,500 mm |
| Y Axis (Vertical) | 2,400 mm | 3,248 mm | 2,400 mm |
| Z Axis (Reach) | 1,500 mm | 1,595 mm | 1,500 mm |
| Max Rapid Feed | 40 m/min | 40 m/min | 25 m/min |
| Max Spindle Speed | 12,000 rpm | 12,000 rpm | 12,000 rpm |
| Spindle Power | 4.4 kW | 4.4 kW | 4.4 kW |
ENGINEERED FOR THE STUDIO
Inside the build.
How it moves, what it does, how it fits your floor, and what runs it.
PERFORMANCE
How it moves
The mechanics behind why the surface comes out clean and the room stays quiet.
FUNCTION
What it's built to do
Purpose-built for in-studio milling — nothing borrowed from a factory floor.
INSTALLATION
How it fits your floor
Installed around your studio's layout, not the other way around.
CNC & SOFTWARE
What runs it
An industrial-grade engine underneath, and a studio-built interface on top.
PERFORMANCE
How it moves
The mechanics behind why the surface comes out clean and the room stays quiet.
- Rack-and-pinion drive with dual servo motors holds zero backlash — nothing drifts between passes.
- A nearly silent, liquid-cooled spindle keeps the room usable during a live review.
- The monocoque aluminum column and arm are lighter and stiffer, so speed doesn't show up as chatter.
- The fork-style milling head blends adjacent surface passes into one continuous patch — no visible seam to sand out.
- An optional wireless controller lets a modeler walk the model instead of standing at a panel.
FUNCTION
What it's built to do
Purpose-built for in-studio milling — nothing borrowed from a factory floor.
- Built specifically for in-studio milling — full-featured, with no factory-floor compromises.
- The most compact high-performance fork-style head in its class, with full 5-axis capability.
- 3- and 5-axis CNC milling and measuring, so the same machine mills the buck and checks it against the CAD.
- Works in clay and foam, matched to how design studios actually model.
INSTALLATION
How it fits your floor
Installed around your studio's layout, not the other way around.
- Runs with or without surface plates, so it fits an existing studio floor as easily as a new build-out.
- Low-profile rails carry all running hardware and power — no overhead gantry cutting into ceiling height.
- Installs above the floor or set into a trench, whichever suits the space.
- Modular 3m rail sections, extendable, so the install grows with the studio.
- Add multiple columns to a single rail run as your program adds vehicles.
CNC & SOFTWARE
What runs it
An industrial-grade engine underneath, and a studio-built interface on top — you'll only ever touch the second one.
- Siemens SINUMERIK ONE control — the same industrial-grade platform used across the machine tool industry, chosen for long-term reliability, not built in-house for you to learn.
- You'll never touch SINUMERIK directly. What a modeler uses every day is the TARUS Design Studio Interface and TPI CAM running on top of it.
- That interface is developed continually with design studios and modelers — built by watching people work.
- Wireless probing handles model alignment and measurement without a modeler manually indicating points.
“The clay should never
apologize for the machine.”
TARUS DESIGN PHILOSOPHY, SINCE 1986
WHY DESIGNERS CHOOSE CLAYMILL
Because the machine should disappear, not the design intent.
Everything underneath the surface exists for one reason: so what comes out the other side is what you actually drew.
Your surface reads exactly as designed
It doesn't interrupt the room
Built around a review cadence, not a factory schedule
A partner in the room, not a vendor on a call
SPECIFIED FOR
YOUR STUDIO
Surface plates, lift tables, and rotary tables are available across the line. Every Claymill
installation can be custom-specified to the studio it’s going into.
SURFACE PLATES
Custom cast iron and steel studio floor plates, precision ground with drilled and threaded holes for model armature pylons.
LIFT TABLES
Fully electro-mechanical. No compressed air or hydraulic oil. Lifts or rotates a model in under 5 minutes, with redundant safety braking.
ROTARY TABLES
Index or continuously rotate the model under the head for full 360°access.
RUNNING ON STUDIO
FLOORS WORLDWIDE
From leading automottive studios to independent design senters, Claymills are trusted by designers around the world to bring full scale concepts to life.
