SEIG SX4 mill power feed

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

I have finally got a good working SX4 mill from Axminster! I am thinking I'd like an X axis power feed for this machine, unfortunately there seems to be very little about the SX4 on here. Axminster are out of stock of power feeds and are advising delivery to them in July but before I commit does any one have experience of these please?

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Anyone use one?

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Why not fabricate one yourself; I made one for my WM 16 from an old 12v car windscreen wiper motor, a pwm off eBay, some ally plate, bits 'n' bobs from odds 'n' sods box & 'Voila' you have a X axis drive, have a look in my album … 'X axis drive' … I know that OEM units are nice but very cost prohibitive for most of us hence making one up.

George.

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Thanks George, I'll have a look in your album and see what's what! I probably have an old wiper motor or two kicking about…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Jason has one, I have the SX2 version. (corrected!)

I think it would benefit from either a bit more controllability at lower speeds or a lower gear ratio, although it's a godsend on longer jobs.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 29/05/2019 18:14:45

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Neil actually has the SX2 and I have an X3 one, basically all the same box of tricks but there are different adaptors as part of the kit to fit the different size tables on each machine.

They are better suited to fast feeds and light cuts as they lack torque at slow feed rates and are really moving too fast to take heavy cuts without crashing the machine. The gear head DC motor inside would be better with a lower reduction ratio so you could have usable feed rates when the motor is in its power band.

The SX3.5DZP comes with one fitted as standard but that also has a 5000rpm max spindle speed as opposed to the 1600rpm of the SX4 so you can get a more sensible chip load with the fast feeds which makes it a more usable accesory on that machine.

Click the "More" tab on this page for a bit more info on the feed

Edited By JasonB on 29/05/2019 16:18:40

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Neil, Jason, thanks for the replies and also correcting my typo in the title!

The SX3.5DZP was a contender but I went for the wider table and larger throat with the SX4 as its more suited to what I will do with the machine. The SX4 also has a 1500W rather than a 1000W motor, both claim to be Hi-Torque" we shall see.

Due to some difficulties with the first mill from Axminster, the one I have is a replacement and has also had some issues that I have now corrected, I have been offered a voucher to spend with them, hence the reason to consider the power feed.

Back in the day when I was on a mill, late 70's, they were heavy production machines and I don't expect to be able to do those type of cuts/feeds/speeds with this one, I have dome some light work on cast iron and it seemed to cope well with a 50mm face cutter and I did it on speeds as I remember and a hand feed that felt about right.

[Author]

Posts