Smaller/bench mounted milling machines

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Bob, I have MT3 and if you want to use MT2 on the mill you will need a sleeve MT2 to MT3 that will have a threaded collar to allow you to eject the MT2 arbor from the MT3 sleeve. These are available from most tool suppliers.

Chronos OPS1 2 – 3MT open ended adaptor

Clive

[SteamgeekParticipant @steamgeek]

I bought a milling machine from SPG and went for MT2 on the basis that I had a ML7 and could share tooling.

Big mistake, I wish I had gone for R8 , MT2 takes longer to change over and it does not have the ridgidity of R8

Other than that, great machine and good customer service from Simon at SPG

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I'm a bit confused Neil,

The Arc Super X3 has a choice of MT3 or R8 spindle.

It's also on offer until 20 August with a bundle of accessories (including a set of R8 or MT3 collets).

**LINK**

Neil

(That must be worth a biscuit, Ketan!)

[charles mortimerParticipant @charlesmortimer72298]

Posted by Neil Bradshaw on 14/08/2014 05:45:54:

Hi everybody.

Can I go back to the begining on this thread and ask some advice

Im wanting to replace my worn out bench drill with a bench milling machine eventually adding DRo and maybe

a power cross feed Im not sure about CNC.

Ive looked online at the adds and it boils down to 4 machines

Sieg Super X2 Plus £595.00

Seig Super X3 plus £1400.00

Chester Machine Company

conquest mill super £547.00

Champion mill 16v £620.00

Champion Mill 20v £836.00

I realy like the sieg SX3 but the price is bit off putting I might be able to stretch that far.

Im just not sure about the chester machines I cant find anything on those.

The reason for using the mill as a drilling machine is that I have visulaproblems with my right eye and using a dro one I find the edges which I can do easily its just a matter of moving the table to get to where I want to drill or mill

I dont have a massive amount of room in the garage so a realy big secondhand machine is out of the question

Any suggestion would be gratefuly received.

Cheers

Neil

hallo neil

Charles calling

super x2

I bought one new ,,, rack is lumpy suffers head drop and the column is a tad springy and a few other problems , ok I knew all this when I bought it ,,, it cost me around 750 bucks and another 80 dollars for shipping ,,, the mill straight out of the box was stripped all parts re machined ,,, coloumb bracket where it bolts to the mill base was the first thing that I attacked all resurfaced I used my x3 to do all the machining ( that's another story ,,, the rack and pinion was a total mismatch and where the rack pinion fits in the left hand side of the head the actual teeth on the pinion fit direct in the head casting in other words the teeth of the pinion is chewing up the casting and waring it away so the pinion had to be machined back and a bronz bush fitted in the head ,,, the rack had to be remeshed with the pinion ,,, there was a lot of fiddling about on the x3 to reshape the rack to fit the pinion , not easy even for a hard criminal like myself (maintenance fitter) retired ,,, and that dam great bolt that holds the column in position if left unsupported on the rear of the machine produces a heck of a lot of flex at that point ,,, now my point is buy the sx2 and put up with all its nastys ,,, why did I buy it , SODIN PRICE WAS RIGHT , and I expected about a week of work to put it right now it is about 99 percent good ,,, the rack is a tad lumpy , but nothing like it was the slackness is down to a couple of thow where as before it had about 15 thou head drop , personally I do not recommend one of these mills to a newcomer unless he has some engineering experience , to bring it up to some sort spec and the spring arm that supports the head from dropping ,,, take it off and throw it away it serves no purpose with the arm in place the head drops 5/8 of the way down the columb before being arrested ,,, do I like the sx2 yep its a little ripper now . it was cheap and had a lot of nasty little quirks in it ,,, remember its a light weight mill don't go expecting it to do a man size job ,,, like I put my x3 through day in day out that also had its problems when buying a chines box of metal and that's what they all are ,,, no precision ,,, its chines expect the worst for your money and don't be disappointed ? learn to live with it , a machine is as good as the man operating it !

charles

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 18/08/2014 16:38:16:

The Arc Super X3 has a choice of MT3 or R8 spindle.

As does their SX2P.

Can I have a biscuit as well

Russell.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 18/08/2014 09:21:07:

R8 is quicker to change over, but costs more.

Neil

I think it's slowly changing but Morse taper stuff used to be far more plentiful over here, at least at the ME shows I've been to.

Some small mills have self ejecting Morse tapers so not sure they'd be that much slower changing tools. It's a modification I plan to do on my VMC, not that I'm bothered about the speed aspect it's just that it might quieten some of our cousins over the pond who bang on about R8 being self ejecting…

I have a number of fairly large Morse taper drill bits (they sell quite cheap at the ME shows) so it's handy being able to pop these straight in the quill, it helps preserve your Z.

[Author]

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