I have the 626 mill.

That has a spindle to bed measurement of 320mm….but mine has a riser block added to give me more headroom and cost me less than the price differential between the Super Lux and mine….(£70…. For the material…!)

Plus the 626 has a 1.5 hp motor versus the 1hp of the SL…..price difference between the 2 is around £600….

Depends on what else you want….

Oh, btw, I converted mine to inverter/3phase motor and still would have had change from the £2100 price tag buy a power feed too…..

Pay yer money takes yer choice……

The 18" figure is the table to spindle nose distance before any tooling is put in place. Do you need 18" under the tool? It may be possible to extend this distance with a spacer piece as 628 owners often do but it would not be as simple as the 628 version, you would need something about 7" x 11" x whatever height you needed under the column.

Martin C

A major gotcha with the Super Lux, and similar square column machines, is the limited Y axis coverage of the spindle. Typically the spindle centre line only goes to a bit beyond the middle of the table which can prove very restrictive if handling larger components. The usual general purpose position of the ram on Bridgeport machines lets the spindle centre cover pretty much the whole Y width of the table. A lot more coverage available if you actually move the ram and far more with a bit of creativity.

Another gotcha concerns the relatively large head which can seriously obstruct visibility with smaller work forcing you to peer round the side when you'd prefer to look as near as possible to straight down. A related issue is the limited space each side of the head for setting up. On a Bridgeport you can wind the table over far enough to get the vice, clamps or whatever well off to one side of the head giving excellent visibility for setting up. Heck if you really need room on a big job you can swivel the turret round for unobstructed access to the whole table. Never gone that far myself but been tempted.

This sort of thing, and especially the impact on what you do, doesn't show up on brochure analysis unless you really have your wits about you. I sold my Lux style machine after a couple or 3 years and went Bridgeport because the aforementioned limitations were driving me nuts. Truth to tell I very rarely do work which couldn't have been got onto the Lux, albeit often with considerable patience and creativity, but the Bridgeport is so much easier having the space to make most jobs simple walk up – fix – cut events. That said I remain impressed by the amount of work holding and cutting capability a Lux puts on your bench.

When contemplating any of the larger Home Shop mills I'm convinced that the correct procedure is to assess what capability you loose relative to a Bridgeport. Easy enough to compare basic work accommodation dimensions from the brochure but its where you run out of room that sets the limits and stretches vocabulary. For example drilling at an angle burns up space and smaller machines can be seriously limited in this respect. For something of Lux size maybe consider what you can do to a 6" cube beyond the straightforward vertical drilling and facing or side cuts.

Could be a useful article there for MEW Neil. Mostly drawings illustrating the geometry and space needed for more complex operations. Along with set-up suggestions to win back the 1/2" or 10 mm that makes enough difference to squeeze a job in.

Clive.

Martin

Obviously Y axis travels vary with breed and, maybe date of manufacture. The one you looked at clearly has more Y table travel than mine did. More usefully arranged too. As I recall things mine took the spindle centre line from just off the table on the column side to just past the middle Tee slot. My DRO scale was on the front. Although I bought mine from Chester it wasn't actually a Lux, same style, different breed.

Clive

Chester used 1 1/2 pony motors on these for years, current spec 1hp same as my Zay 7045 bought from Chester in 2004 new £930 when they were £1500.
Warco uses 2hp spindle motor.

Used to keep looking at the 626 but such a short X axis travel around 14". Don't look at parts up to 14" long the cutters ideally need to clear so your 2 1/2" cutter will take 5" of max length obtainable bringing it more like 9". Lux without power feed will get 23 3/4" X axis travel, with power feed 21 1/2".
Far quicker and easier to change speeds on Lux's, 626 have to faff about with belts.
626 have to compare with the Lux not Super Lux which has power head elevation, my gearbox packed up 7 yrs ago and not prepared to pay £240 when whole machine cost £930.

Limiting factor on Lux's is the slow spindle speed, doable but takes an eternity having to slow feeds down.
The head is real heavy full of gears and oil.
Second Clives findings buy a decent torch or send X axis 11" down, I do it regular.
May need that height of the Lux's with normal tooling, regularly run within 1 1/2" of maxing out on height with a low vice.
If have the option choose R8, though MT3 never been a problem – ever with finger collets.

Have the Bridgy style power feed on as well on the right, meant for the job ones will interfere with some jobs and on wrong side to see dro.

Have had the Super Lux since June 2004 used daily for small scale production mainly aluminiums. A Bridgeport I could do jobs 3 to 4 times quicker and leave a better finish and have to go that route if I can spare two months downtime.

Have a mate who has two Lux's, a 626 and Model T Super. He has had a Bridgeport, his words will cut with blunt cutters and is more robust but virtually no other gain over the Lux's.
Wouldn't say its about looking after the tools its about using them whether or when the will break or wear out, all imports will.

Hi Simon,

Not sure where you are in the world, but we will be at the Doncaster Show next week and I will be taking both the 626 and Superlux, so if you wanted to do a hands on comparison you are more than welcome, you may even be lucky enough to bump into one of the many people who I know attend the show that have these machines!

(Obviously you can come along to our showroom at anytime!)

I hope this helps,

All the best,

Tony (Chester Machine Tools)

Edited By Tony – CHUK on 04/05/2017 11:39:36

I have an inverter/3phase conversion on my 626…..rarely have to change the belt arrangement to go faster or slower….the Eagle 30 was much the same…

It does depend on the work environment, I agree, but for the hobbyist, my setup works fine for me…and did t cost the earth to implement..,