Well just added a new member to my shop, a brand new X4+ and so far so good havent been able to machine anything yet as i am waiting for my TTS to come in monday, so for now i am stuck with the cheap drill chuck that comes with the machine, good anough for wood so ill try out the machine in some piece of 2x4 while i wait.
Back to the machine, as an overall package, X4+ with 4th axis and coolant system, i am quite please it is well built and a pretty heavy machine at around 520 pounds it fits perfectly in a niche between the x3-superx3 and the rf45 type machine, item got here well package with "quality"
documentation from Syil, so that explains pretty much the states of the machine inside the crate, the crate was so so and as been pretty bang up during its transport from Syil China to Syil Canada to here, Montreal, but hey i bought a mill not a crate and as long as the mill is allright who cares about the crate.
Ok now as for detail now this is one place where i would gladly pay 200$ for some amelioration in the machine for instance:
-Axis motor wire that go from the control box to the axis motor could be twist lock type connector making it possible easly to take them off for transport.
-Some of the lube tube could be at least an inch longer as for instance on mine when the y axis is at its home position the lube tube is almost stretch to its max.
-Cover over the limit switch the Z axis is fine as its in the column but for the X and Y those are expose, Keith at Syil Canada as told me that this as not been a problem so far, but still this would be a nice small addition that would add to the overall crafstmanship of the machine.
-Black texture on the motor cover and electronic component box as some have allready pointed out is nice but should definitly change to a flat suface for ease of cleaning.
-The mpg that comes with the machine (X4+) should be able to interface with Mach3 by default and as a mpg when you use the manual mode.
-switch the drain of the table from the left side to the right side as the way it is made now if you go pass the limit switch of the X axis in manual, yes there is a good ~4inch of travel more in manual mine as 14.8" of capable movement in manual but only 11" in cnc mode, you will hit the switch with the drain adaptor that you would screw there.
Thats about it for now but i think this would greatly improve in the overall look and quality of the machine.
Now for the 4th axis, overall the 4th axix is nice as it is now i do not know how it will be in the long run but out of the box its pretty hefty at around 25 pounds but again some little things could be made to make it a bit more of a quality product for instance:
-Cover on the motor, again i was told that it was not affected by the fact that it as no cover but a simple cover over the motor would be a nice addition and would also solve the plastic shielding from just haging there open to chip, grit, and coolant pouring inside the shilding.
Aside from that the 4th axis as i said it seem to be of good quality i even expected it to have more backlash but only 0.5 degree is fine by me.
Coolant setup nice little tank made out of the same material as the axis motor cover and it contains about 2 gallons (6 litres) of coolant ok for this type of machine pump as a cast body that seem sturdy as for the quality of the motor will see in the long run but again some little details could be added to make it a better quality product for not much:
-First the chip cage in the cover, now here let me be sarcastic, how the hell are you suppose to empty that thing its welded in place and this i am sorry but its redicule and it as gap all around it making it actualy useless, so off this will come, it would have made alot more sence to make it like a little drawer that you can slide in and out of the cover to empty it.
-Tubing lack of adapter to go from the from the half inch tubing of the pump to the quarter inch adaptor of the coolant nozzle adaptor.
-No tubing for the drain of the mill pan to the coolant tank a simple 4 feet lenght of 7/8 id tubing to connect to the pan with an adaptor to connect it to the .600" hole of the coolant tank cover or simply drill the hole one inch so the tubes fit in.
-An electric wire to connect the pump, i know wire is not expensive but at 225$ it could come with a wire.
thats it for the coolant.
Know those are all little detail that would help in making this nice machine an even nicer one but aside from those they seem to have put alot of effort into it to make it a more profesionnal machine from the Syil superX3, i would have to say that the machine is not up to the spec that they advertise for instance the fact that they advertise it as a machine with (15")400mm of travel in X one would expect it to have that much travel in cnc mode but on my model this was not the case and its closer to the (11")280mm that is in there documentation wich is a let down as you did buy a cnc not a manual machine as for the Y axis it was alot closer to what is advertise (6.3")160mm mine got (5.9")150mm while in manual mode i can get (7.95")200mm, now this would not be as much of a problem on a machine with huge amount of travel, loosing 4" of travel on 46" for example, but 4" on a advertise 15" cnc mill thats huge like almost 30% huge and in fact does reduce your work envelope by alot, wish i could have said the opposite.
Spindle speed i also not as advertise the website say 100-3500 and on the mill head it says 300 - 3500 now mine is 180 to 3360 it will go pass the 3360 mark but the speed becomes unstable and jumpy and it will definitly not go down to a hundred as the motor simply stops under 180.
Anyway, again let me point out that i did not own a superX3 but based on what i read this machine is definitly an improvement, but it does have some issue that could be resolve easly and does not make it less of a capable machine but in fact would make it even more capable with out having to rethink the whole machine, i will also contact keith at syil canada at the beginning of the week to see if some of those issue can be resolved ill let you know
i will post my pros and cons ounce i get to test even further
ps: man i like that blue lcd with the syil boot logo
, oh and ill post photo later on