Wich mill to choose, your opinions

[CnC_BoY]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a milling machine and I heard a lot of good things about the Sieg X3 sold at Harbor Freight. There's also the lathemaster model (http://www.lathemaster.com/HEAVYDUTY...E%207045FG.htm) wich is twice as heavy and twice the motor power but I can't find any info on it on the web. Do you know about this machine? What would be your recommendations? Alternatives ?


Thanks

[ZipSnipe]

Well I don,t own either mill yet but the one lathemaster is selling I believe you just won,t go wrong with that one, I mean look at the size of the thing, what can,t you mill with that thing. Its the one I,m getting and I,ve found it at Enco for just a little bit cheaper(the shipping is cheaper). I too was looking at the X3, but when I seen the Zay45, yeah its $500 bucks more but I think it would end up money well spent, but then again it really depends what your planning to mill.....P.S. plus the X3 isn't here in America yet

[gto7419]

I am very new to milling and actually just bought the same mill as the zay from lathemaster, but from penn tool co.

I was in the same situation you were in about a month ago.

The very first thing you need to assess, is what you are going to do.

The rf-45 clone (lathemaster/penntoolco/IH machines) is VERY capable as a milling machine. The X3 is not nearly as "capable", but is still supposedly a good and decently priced unit.


The one thing that tipped me over towards the rf-45 clone was someone who more or less said, "I cant count the number of people who upgrade to bigger mills, but I can count on one hand the number of people who downgraded to a smaller machine.".

Danny

[gto7419]

The X3 is most certainly in America. There may not be a ready stock in America because all the suppliers are sold out, but I am pretty sure there are X3s in boxes making their way over the Atlantic.

If you are talking about the SX3 - now that is a different story...

Danny

[ZipSnipe]

Thats kinda what I meant, the first wave of X3's has been bought out. Gto let me ask you this with your Zay45 did you order the stand that goes with it or did you build your own?

[dutchcedar]

I guess this kind of a common thing...

I had ordered an X-3 variant from Grizzly and was told it would have to be back-ordered. I ended up cancelling it, looked around a bit more and bought an RF-45 clone from Hoekstra Machine in British Columbia. They inspect the machines, clean them, redo some of the wiring and repackage them. The price ended up being better than any of the other RF clones (through an eBay auction). It should be here in about a week.

The more I poke around, the happier I am it all happened this way. The few hundred bucks extra, over an X-3, will likely have been well spent.

About stands... they seem kinda dodgy... some people are happy with them while others are not. I suppose they aren't all built the same. Reading the website at Industrial Hobbies hooked me on the idea of building my own and its inspired me to to revamp the shop a bit (a good thing) and pull in some extra power (220V).

It'll look something like this:



Essentialy, its a 3/4" plywood top skinned with MDF over a 2x frame supported by 4x4's and fixed to the concrete wall. When its all together, I'll tell ya if it works, or not...

[gto7419]

I built my own table out of 2x6 (I doubled the legs) I built the table to be about 40" wide so I would have a little bit of a work table, and I built it to be about an inch longer than the mill table for the y axis (I think the y axis - I just woke up...). I used 4 sets of doubled 2x6 legs under the mill, and another 2 sets of doubled 2x6 legs under the far side of the table. I used 2x6s as the pieces surrounding the legs, and I used 2x6 under the entire area where the mill sits. I then put 3/4 ply over the top, and under the table for some shelf space.

I screwed and GLUED EVERYTHING.

If I had to do it all again, the only thing I would change, is making sure I had more clearance from the wall to the back of the machine. At least another 2-3 inches.

I didnt buy the stand that comes with the mill because of its overwhelmingly poor review by many people on this board. Also, if I ever plan to cnc my mill, I could move it to the middle of my table, and build parts to make the table flood coolant capable.


Danny