Search Results for 'arc euro'

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

Posted by JasonB on 20/10/2014 12:47:06:

Was on their site that they could not attend, was it another hit & miss you were going to buy?

I missed the info on their site that they were not attending, I just saw on the show site that they were, but I suppose this is not always updated in time.

I was going to buy one of their 1BI horizontal steam engines, in fact maybe two of them. I will now have to wait until my stock of spare cash, and cake that I was parted from at Arceurotrade has recovered.

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

I visited the show on Thursday, it did seem quite different from last year and the year before.

I had a pocket full of cash that was destined for Forrest Classics, they were listed as attending but I just could not find them. If they did not turn up then it is the second time I know of that they have not attended a show that they were listed as doing so, a shame.

After a couple of hours in the throng I retreated to my van for a snack and a cuppa, and decided to leave and pay Arceurotrade a visit for the first time, and I am glad I did.

I enjoyed visiting Arc so much that I went straight there on the following Friday. I don't know if they were glad to see the back of me in the end, but all funds I had set aside to spend at the show was handed over to Arc for various goodies. They were also very efficient at relieving me of all my cake and biscuits.

I was very impressed with Arc's set up and the investment they have made, they are not larking about at this business.

Hopefully my funds will have recovered for next years show, and Harrogate.

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Paul, like the others have said tram your head first. Then face machine using the X axis so the the relationship between the table ant the cutter centre line remains constant whilst machining.

Then if you can do away with the end mill. Use either a fly cutter or if you have one, or can afford opne, use a face cutter using replacement carbide tips. our friends at ArcEuro do a great one for not too many English Beer Vouchers..

I have a Super X3 from ArcEuro and it does the sort of work you are talking about with no problems. If you are near Leicestershire then you are welcome tp pop in and try the tipped cutter.

P.S. We don't charge for the mugs of tea either.

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Hi Max, Welcome

I think you'll find that there is a predominance of metric lathes/mill as opposed to imperial, although you can still get decent imperial lathes second hand… Myford, Boxford & the like. For your budget have a look through the suppliers e.g. Warco, ArcEuro, Chester, Amadeal, etc (usual disclaimer). I have a Warco WM250V-F with power cross feed for the same price as Nick's suggestion (Sieg C6) so I would check sizes, capabilities & what you get for your money from all of the aforementioned, don't forget that you may (will) end up forking out half as much again + for 'extras' 4 jaw chuck, QC tool post (?) etc… happy hunting.

George

[paul simsParticipant @paulsims62082]

I have difficulty, no failure, in attempting to square off the end of say a 100mm x 20mm x 20mm in the precision vice in my Arc Euro trade Super X3 mill, I mount the bar horizontaly in the vice and then using the side of an endmill and the Y feed make many passes but the cut is never vertical, I had the sames trouble with my previous mill a Warco GH universal, I do not like using the Four Jaw in the Lathe due to the intermittant cutting forces.

Any Ideas anyone

Paul

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Max Desmo on 19/10/2014 21:27:08:

I know metric are hard to come by,

Not so.!

I would imagine / guarantee there are far more metric machines available and sold these days than imperial ones.

Don't drink beer for a month and stretch your budget a little bit for (perhaps) **LINK**

I predict that there will be many contributors to this thread for the best place to spend sub 1K on a suitable metric machine for your needs.

Nick

[HowiParticipant @howi]

completed my division controller electronics, just need a rotary table and make suitable coupling bits.

Controller is based on PIC18F452 chip firmware by Steve Ward web address [email protected].

Although I have facilities for production of own PCB and programmer for PIC chip, it was easier to get a ready made PCB and electronic bits including programmed chip for board from Steve Ward. The 4 line 20 character display was from Ebay ( about £5.00) , keyboard also Ebay about £3.50 ( I did also get a membrane keypad for £1.20 inc postage but preferred the other one), stepper driver board again from Ebay via China, decided to use one with a much better chip than the one Steve used, cost £11.00 inc postage and took a week to get here. At £11.00 it was dearer than the earlier chipset boards but still cheap against similar driver boards in the uk which seem to cost £40.00 upwards. Check out ArcEuro site for prices of there driver boards, not saying ArcEuro are expensive, just typical prices here in the UK.

I hope I do not come across as having a go at ArcEuro, I have and will continue to buy from them as there service is second to non, I am just using their site to illustrate typical cost here in UK for these stepper driver boards.

some photos below (I hope! first time trying to upload photos)

[Ulrich AlsfasserParticipant @ulrichalsfasser81596]

Posted by David Colwill on 19/10/2014 08:28:54:

Mustn't post with phone.

**LINK**

Regards.

David.

Thanks

Added it to the list

[HowiParticipant @howi]

Posted by OuBallie on 19/10/2014 11:39:31:

Thanks Les.

Being an electronic dunce, I take it that the Arduino UNO is a straight replacement for the MSP430 I'm busy with.

The scales are from ArcEuro, and similar to iGaging i think.

Geoff – One day I MAY complete my projects. I live in hope!

MSP430 is fine, no need to go to Arduino platfirm, iGaging scales from Arceuro also work fine, not as accurate as glass or magnetic scales, but a whole lot cheaper. I have this setup on my super SX2 mill from Arc and it has transformed the use of the mill. I have kept the remote displays that came with the scales and have them mounted near the mill. I can easily swap from remote display to touch dro within seconds.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Thanks Les.

Being an electronic dunce, I take it that the Arduino UNO is a straight replacement for the MSP430 I'm busy with.

The scales are from ArcEuro, and similar to iGaging i think.

Geoff – One day I MAY complete my projects. I live in hope!

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Mustn't post with phone.

**LINK**

Regards.

David.

[Ulrich AlsfasserParticipant @ulrichalsfasser81596]

Posted by David Colwill on 18/10/2014 22:29:37:
Hi
The Arceurotrade super X3 should be a contender. The brushless motor is a big improvement and it is near your budget.
Regards.
David.

Hi

Thanks

I googled it and it comes up as a mill not a lathe

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Hi
The Arceurotrade super X3 should be a contender. The brushless motor is a big improvement and it is near your budget.
Regards.
David.

[Flying FiferParticipant @flyingfifer]

Brian,

4 or 5 years ago there was an article spread over 2 issues of MEW on fitting a permanent lubrication system to a Myford lathe. Arc Euro Trade sell all the parts for this upgrade. Sorry I cant remember which issues but have a search on Neil`s new index (earlier post today).

It took about a day to fit to my Myford & was well worth (a) the cost about £125, & (b) the time in doing plues the bonus was I could get rid of that b++++y useless oil gun. I`ve used the system for about 3 years (not everyday) 7 the reservoir is still on its first fill. Very highly recommended, at least by me

Alan

[Bernard ReillyParticipant @bernardreilly64467]

Hi all I have a precision vice purchased from Arc Euro for my WM14. A very well constructed item but I find the clamping method very fiddly. I a bit disappointed that despite the pull down action of the moving jaw I still require to tap the work piece down in order to seat on my parallels. So am I doing something wrong?

Also is there an equivalent low level vice suitable for this little machine.

Thank you B Reilly Glasgow

[mattParticipant @matt27093]

Posted by mechman48 on 13/10/2014 14:14:24:

Welcome Rich

Looking at Chester's site the Conquest seems a neat little starter machine; bearing in mind what your budget is, you will also be looking to add to it tool wise, as we all have done, so you may well end up paying the same again for 'extras' (4 jaw chuck etc ?). Have also had a look at the next one up the 'Conquest Super' which may be a better buy as it has DRO's fitted to the 'X & Y' axis, as all these mini machines (& not so mini) invariably have some backlash on both the crosslide & compound slide & the DRO's will help eliminate any discrepancy, plus you can read in metric or imperial.

I note that the 'Conquest Super' is out of stock at the moment but not the 'Conquest' so depending how urgent your needs are I would hang on & for an extra £75 go for the 'Super' deal with the advantage of the DRO's… IMO. Give Chester's a ring & see when the next shipment is due… maybe due in for Xmas? or hang on 'till Ally Pally show.

Have another browse through other suppliers in the meantime… Amadeal, Warco, ArcEuro etc (usual disclaimer) for similar & for any deals they may have,( FWIW I have Warco Lathe & Mill & am pretty pleased with them) whatever you choose… enjoy! Hope this helps a little

Cheers

George

The DROs on the conquest super don't work the way normal DROs do. Their actually rotary encoders that count number of turns of the handle. You still get backlash between the lead screw and nut and have to take normal measures to account for it. Just something to be aware off.

Matt

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Welcome Rich

Looking at Chester's site the Conquest seems a neat little starter machine; bearing in mind what your budget is, you will also be looking to add to it tool wise, as we all have done, so you may well end up paying the same again for 'extras' (4 jaw chuck etc ?). Have also had a look at the next one up the 'Conquest Super' which may be a better buy as it has DRO's fitted to the 'X & Y' axis, as all these mini machines (& not so mini) invariably have some backlash on both the crosslide & compound slide & the DRO's will help eliminate any discrepancy, plus you can read in metric or imperial.

I note that the 'Conquest Super' is out of stock at the moment but not the 'Conquest' so depending how urgent your needs are I would hang on & for an extra £75 go for the 'Super' deal with the advantage of the DRO's… IMO. Give Chester's a ring & see when the next shipment is due… maybe due in for Xmas? or hang on 'till Ally Pally show.

Have another browse through other suppliers in the meantime… Amadeal, Warco, ArcEuro etc (usual disclaimer) for similar & for any deals they may have,( FWIW I have Warco Lathe & Mill & am pretty pleased with them) whatever you choose… enjoy! Hope this helps a little

Cheers

George

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

Someone on here recently bought a precision vice for their mill just like the one in the link below at the top of the page. Not too expensive and seem to be able to open very widely for holding large work. I am considering buying one for myself.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Workholding/Machine-Vices

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by Russ B on 27/09/2014 14:55:04:

I bought the SX1 from ArcEuro with the nice big 400 table and in the end I removed the tilting column and made an adaptor plate to fit the rigid column – it was a vast improvement and transformed the machine, ultimately the little 150w motor limited everything and as it was CNC'd the software was aiming for higher feeds and speeds than it could cope with, I had input the machines power and max spindle speed, plus an overall factor but it just resulted in the software generating lots of shallow passes which dulled the tools or trying to take fewer deep cuts very slowly which had a similar effect.

Just out of curiosity Russ, which CNC CAM software were you using when you put in the machines power and max spindle speed?

Thanks, Ketan

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

I bought the SX1 from ArcEuro with the nice big 400 table and in the end I removed the tilting column and made an adaptor plate to fit the rigid column – it was a vast improvement and transformed the machine, ultimately the little 150w motor limited everything and as it was CNC'd the software was aiming for higher feeds and speeds than it could cope with, I had input the machines power and max spindle speed, plus an overall factor but it just resulted in the software generating lots of shallow passes which dulled the tools or trying to take fewer deep cuts very slowly which had a similar effect.

I think the wider rigid column combined with the large table from the X1 that Arc offer on their X2P offers a pretty capable machine for £600 – I don't think there is a machine on the market that can better it.

the SX3 is more than double that price, and throws it in to tough competition from machines like the Warco WM18/SPG 2217-30 LV/AMA30

Perhaps a middle ground could be struck with the Chester 20V,Amadeal AMA25/Warco WM16 – all these machines benefit from taper gib strips and slightly beefier tables – that's where the extra £200 goes I do remember getting so fed up trying to adjust the gibs on my SX1L that I remade them out of brass so I could just run them a bit tight and they'd still glide – previously they just seemed to loose or lock solid – I even remade the adjusting screws with ball ends and cleaned up the cups on the original strip but it didn't really help.

I don't think I'd let that put me off on the X2P at £600 it seems suitably priced, but I would hope the system worked better on the SX3 as I notice they don't seem to have tapered strips either -hopefully they are a bit thicker though – at more than double the cost, I'd hope so but I notice off the shelf gib upgrades are/were available a couple of years ago which is very telling if you ask me.

I like to get a copy of the manual or service guide from the sellers and flick through them to see how they're made to get a few ideas about quality and strength.

Edited By Russ B on 27/09/2014 14:57:07

Edited By Russ B on 27/09/2014 14:58:32

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Neil,

I think we are all confused. After re-reading Alans earlier posts with drip feed comments I feel that Alan may have limited knowledge of using a small mill. May be he has a background of using a production CNC machine. If he has done as he suggests in his earlier post he may have rattled everything loose in the process, but difficult to say for sure. Further confusion is caused by being unsure of what machine he has.

Nick,

It would be better to try and get to the bottom of the problem, as, from reading Alans post, I believe that the issue may be more to do with Alan, then the machine. The XN2 structure (especially the column) is different from the SX3. If I am correct, the column on the XN2 sits on a dovetail, where by the column moves in and out (Y axis), and the table stays fixed. It was initially made for the Japanese market, with initial 'exclusive' sales in Europe through Axminster and JET. Because of the structure and related controls, the costing was high, close to/similar to/sometimes more than the SX3, depending on volumes purchased. As far as ARC is concerned, I was against the idea of purchasing it at the time and I was glad that JSs attempts to persuade SIEG to sell the machine to us at that time, failed. Moreover, JS changed his mind too, after a day or two, for certain technical reasons. Enough said on that.

At present, this thread feels like the blind leading the blind. The picture is un-clear. ARC would not be keen to sell an SX3 to a person in such a situation, and I would discourage Alan from considering any idea of returning his machine back to Axminster.

This is in no way 'having a go' at Alan. The machine may or may not be right. Alan may or may not have damaged/rattled the parts of his machine loose, due to what he has done already. Neil is right in saying that it needs to be looked at by someone, but that someone needs to be someone with experience of using small mills of Chinese origin, and not a person used to big machines/CNC machines. ARC would prefer to stay out of being considered for this purpose, for various reasons. Ideally, Alan should refer this to his supplier.

Ketan at ARC

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

I am a little confused. Looking at the link for the XN2, I fail to see how it looks identical in any way with the X2 or the SX2:

**LINK**

Am I missing something?

If you purchased from Axminster, then it looks like this with a different paint job:

**LINK**

If so, it is closer in resemblance to an SX3. there is a dismantling and reassembly guide for the SX3 here:

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/machineguides/Super-X3-Mill-Dismantling-and-Reassembly-Guide.pdf

Maybe you might find some similarity in the SX3 guide.

I am guessing you purchased the mill from Axminster. If so, have you considered asking them or whoever you purchased the mill from?

Ketan at ARC.

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Wow that's a great space upgrade!

I wouldn't have thought noise would be to greater concern and if things are vibrating – well that's not normal in my books, what little use I've had with my Myford has been very very quiet, the motor is the noisiest bit – even parting off 60mm EN16 was smooth and quiet last night, a very satisfying noise came from the sound of metal peeling off the diameter

In terms of keeping things clean, AND atheistically pleasing, tacking a sheet to wall is probably not going to be satisfactory – and now you seem to be facing head heigh issues, would a bench at working height there not mean you'd bump your head and no doubt fling oil up on to the ceiling?

Perhaps you could setup a mini workshop in or on a Tambour (in a full height, on a bench height!)! that way your containing everything in there, with a full height – you've got walls, you've got sides, I would remove the lower shelves and build a wood frame inside and place an old kitchen worktop on it, and mount the lathe to another piece of worktop so you can use the lathe on it, or store the lathe under it to work on other things. Chucks, tools, stock could all be stored in the tambour, and tidied away by simply closing the roller shutter doors!

perhaps the bottom section could contain a piece of vinyl mat or just a roll of folded carpet that can be unrolled and folded out and then just rolled back in where your done.

A nice little CJ18 or CJ18A from Amadeal (they do one with a 100mm 4" spindle plate, very worth while having) would sit nicely in there.

aka the Warco "mini lathe", and "super mini lathe" (same thing slightly different)

SPG Tools "0618" and "0618A" (notice the pattern….)

​Chester Hobby Store "Conquest" and "Conquest Super" (the pattern continues)

Arc Euro Trade do some nice machines too and I have experienced there great service, I don't think they do any really cheap machines like this – they are obviously not as well made as some of the more expensive machines, but many enjoy them and are happy.

There was another lathe supplier that I can't remember the name of, they had a simple website and offered a range of lathes – it's completely gone from memory……. similar green and yellow colours like Warco, lathes had numbers for model numbers….. it's gone, I can't blame it on my age, it's been a while since I dug all this info up.

I think when all my research was done I was going to go home with either an SPG 0618A, Amadeal CJ18A, or go bigger with SP2124 550, if I wanted something more long term (this became an option when comparing it's price to a Chester DB7VS which was much smaller and had no power cross feed (for facing) at a similar price – also I think some of them don't have reversible feed directions on the leadscrew which could cause issues if you need a left hand thread?

They're almost all the same, some of them are physically bigger capacity, most notably the larger spindle plate from one of the models sold by Amadeal and SPG, I think someone was selling a mini quick change tool post in the standard package which is nice but relatively easy to instal yourself – unlike upgrading to the larger spindle which is not really economical or quick!

I'm really talking about the real bare entry level models here, they're very cheap and when looked after they do hold there value very well but perhaps things will break from time to time – if you're planning on upgrading in a year or 2/3 these might well be a great little starter machine. Personally not being limited by space I went for a used Myford Super 7 as it came up locally I got very lucky basically – it was cheap (£500) and it was virtually unused and has no real sighs of wear – my god, its heavy – 2 man lift – 2 strong men at that!

It's a lot to consider – I don't envy you at all right now!

 

Edited By Russ B on 25/09/2014 17:53:12

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

That patent idea looks very fiddly. How about the mini-lathe style that uses a threaded adjuster through the end of the steady finger and screwing into a hole in the finger fixing bolt? The fingers have slots for the fixing bolts. They are very easy to adjust

Neil

P.S. simple mod for owners – saw or file off the front corners in the gap, then you can fit larger stock without threading on from the end and it won't compromise the strength of the steady casting.

[David CambridgeParticipant @davidcambridge45658]

I do hope I’m not breaking any forum rules by posting this, but I just wanted to pass on my very positive experiences with Arc Euro Trade. It’s probably also worth saying I have no professional or personal relationship with any engineering supplies.

As a total beginner, and with zero experience, it was a very prolonged and difficult decision on which machines to buy. It’s a lot of money to spend and not a decision I wanted to get wrong. As a consequence I spent a lot of time researching, and a lot of time talking to the ‘usual suspects’ asking the same questions probably more than once. Some firms showed no interest. Others firms were professional and helpful, and one particular individual went out of his way and far beyond the call of duty to give me truly unbiased advice. To regular readers of this forum you can probably guess that was Ketan from Arc Euro Trade.

Now, as it happens I actually bought Warco and I feel truly ashamed for that after the time Ketan spent with me. My decision simply came down to the fact that in the end the Sieg machines were just fractionally too big to fit between my lawnmower and coal store! None the less, I think Ketan and Arc euro trade really do deserve credit for helpfulness and unbiased advice.

Ketan – I will try and make up for it by making sure Arc Euro Trade are always my first port of call for tooling! Everybody else – everything I’ve ordered from Arc Euro Trade has arrived promptly, been good value, and good quality.

David