X2 now avalable at Busy Bee in Canada for $678 cdn

[JustSomeGuy]

I was just in to my local Busy Bee and stopped in my tracks when I saw a Yellow and Green X2.
The guys said that they just got them in this week. It's model number is CT133 and it's on sale until May 31 for $678.00 (reg $799.00).
It's got the MT3 drill chuck on it and don't know if it also has a set of collets as well. It also has the open (spoked) hand wheel.
This is the best price I have seen for this unit in Canada so far.
http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/produ...90423081864875

[isaac338]

Went and picked mine up today. I've never really seen an X2 before (save the clapped-out Princess Auto demo models), but it seems to be well built. The packing was minimal - wrapped in plastic inside a plywood crate, all the tools in a little plywood box. They loaded it into my truck with a forklift at Busy Bee; staff were pretty helpful, and they all made jokes about how I'd be back within days to drop several hundred dollars more. ********

One thing the Busy Bee mill has that I don't remember the HF or PA mills having is a reversing switch - you can run it in forward or reverse mode.

So far all I've done is cleaned the cosmoline off it and bolted it to the table. I didn't consider having to remove the table, so I may have to move it to the left a bit (it's on a bench in my shop that's built between two posts holding up the second floor).

The screws for the table end plate on the left hand side were pre-stripped (sort of) - someone tried to move them with a really tiny flathead screwdriver.

I don't have a decent camera so I don't have pics..

From my minimal measuring, it seems the table has .010" backlash in the X, which I'm about to do some searching about reducing; and also, the travel gets really stiff (to the point of almost not being able to move the table) near the ends, which I've read is common for these mills. What's the best way to go about fixing this?

edit: also, another thing I noticed immediately is that the handwheels and scales are all calibrated in metric units - each division is .02 mm. I didn't get a chance to figure out what a single revolution of the handwheel is, though. Are any of the other X2s like this?

[The Blight]

Best way to fix this is to remove the slop in the ways and tighten down the gibs a bit. I recommend lapping the ways to remove all high spots. For backlash removal, you can make your own anti-backlash nut (just a nut allmsot cut in half with a screw to either press the two halves more apart or pull them together. You might also have some luck with cutting your own nuts from delrin).

Well the one I got sounds a bit like the one you have except for the f/r switch. Mine is yellow. Actually a nice color for this machine.

If you plan on upgrading it at any point, my advice would be to get the belt drive kit.

[isaac338]

Originally Posted by The Blight Best way to fix this is to remove the slop in the ways and tighten down the gibs a bit. I recommend lapping the ways to remove all high spots. For backlash removal, you can make your own anti-backlash nut (just a nut allmsot cut in half with a screw to either press the two halves more apart or pull them together. You might also have some luck with cutting your own nuts from delrin). Well the one I got sounds a bit like the one you have except for the f/r switch. Mine is yellow. Actually a nice color for this machine. If you plan on upgrading it at any point, my advice would be to get the belt drive kit.

It is a nice color, eh?

I'll do some research on lapping the ways and making an anti-backlash nut. My first project is going to be the Shumatech, anyways, so it's not a huge issue (assuming I can cut the enclosure well enough..).

[JustSomeGuy]

Originally Posted by isaac338 . They loaded it into my truck with a forklift at Busy Bee; staff were pretty helpful, and they all made jokes about how I'd be back within days to drop several hundred dollars more. ********

Sorry to say, they were not joking...
There seems to be no end to the money you will want to through at this project.

[The Blight]

I like the color on your machine. Mine is all yellow. Going to give it a new layer of paint some day, so I might make it a mix of black and yellow.

JustSomeGuy is right. You will end up spending a lot of money now that you have a machine.

[isaac338]

Took the mill apart a little more today. The leadnuts are made of cast iron - aren't most of them brass?

Also, the leadscrews are metric thread, as far as I can measure. I know this is a common mistake, but my 1.5 metric thread gage fits perfectly on the threads, and I can't get any of my standard gages to fit. It'd make sense, with the 0.2mm divisions on the handwheels. Does this mean the delrin leadnuts offered by fignoggle won't work?

The ways on the middle table for the Y axis are scraped, but that seems to be the only part that is. I need to grease it up and put it back together - last night I was having pretty bad problems with table slop (like .010-.020) pushing and pulling it towards the column; I could tighten the X gib until the table was locked in place and the slop didn't change. It wasn't until later that I realized the slop may have been coming from the Y axis :/, so I'll see if I can't fix it when I get it all back together.

[isaac338]

I must be the most indecisive guy in the world - I don't think I'll have enough money to build the shumatech for a while, and the metric measurements on this thing scare the hell out of me. That combined with the MT3 spindle is making me really consider returning it and heading stateside..

[blades]

Yep, I believe all but one brand X2 mill has metric leadscrews. If you really want to switch to inch, LMS sells a conversion kit. Being from Canada, you should be embracing the metric leadscrews though.

BTW: make sure that you aren't introducing any amount of twist into the base when you bolt it down

[JustSomeGuy]

Originally Posted by isaac338 I must be the most indecisive guy in the world - I don't think I'll have enough money to build the shumatech for a while, and the metric measurements on this thing scare the hell out of me. That combined with the MT3 spindle is making me really consider returning it and heading stateside..

You can always mount a few cheap calipers like these http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/pictu...8&NTITEM=B2665 on it as temporary DRO until you can afford to go with the Shumatech (BTW, thanks for mentioning that. I just Googled it and that looks like an interesting project...).
Lots of people have done this. Here is a link to a simple solution http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/arc...p/t-21163.html.