Finally gone and ordered a new mill!

[klonx]

Well, placed my order for a seig KX3 today just need to wait a few months for it to be delievered now

Anyone else purchased one, and hints on essential bits and pieces that I need to take into account? Must be some other owners out there in the UK?

Just requested a quote from tormach too for their quick change tooling system, it's a shame they don't do metric tool holders so having to plump gfor the rather more expensive er20 collet holders

Hopefully when it's all set up I'll be able to finish off my lathe cnc conversion which has been dogged by trying to mill anything with any accuracy on my 3-in-1 chester lathe

[Crevice Reamer]

Hi klonx. Welcome to the Zone!

Congrats! The KX3 is an interesting mill. (It has both the Z and Y motors inside the column enclosure.) Although this may cut down on travel, from what I have seen, it is very capable. Please keep us posted.

CR.

[klonx]

well after many months of waiting for the boat to turn up it's finally arrived!!

The box it came in was a little bigger than expected, in so far as it only just managed to fit into the garage with a couple of inches to spare



a quick trip around the box with a pry bar revealed a pristine new mill inside



I have to admit that the quality of it was much better than I was expecting, everything is well screwed together and very solid (and VERY heavy!)

What followed next was censored from the camera, lots of screaming and head scratching whilst I worked out how the hell to get it onto my workbench, I tried the engine hoist, but due to no room to manouver it that was a no no, I even took a trip to the rental centre to look for other ways of lifting it that height all to no avail

So i set at it with a screwdriver and removed the electronics box, disconnecting the limit switches and steppers as I went, then removed the column, until finally had enough small parts that I could just about man handle onto the bench, the amount of grunting and cursing at this stage was beyond belief, the girlfriend walked in at one point and made a hsty retreat to a quiet part of the house whilst I worked. I also managed to break the oiler resevoir in the process so that will need fixing now, shouldn't be too bad though.

Finally, about 8 hours after the pallet arrived I have this:





all setup and ready to go, I've done a few practice sessions with some perspex so far and I'm very impressed at the accuracy and repeatability of the machine, I think it's going to take me longer to work out the CAD/CAM stuff than anything else.

The milll is running of a mini-itx board and runs through a 17" touchscreen which I managed to get for a bargain of ebay

Just need to make some proper parts now, the next job is to finish making the stepper and bearing mounts for my lathe conversion

[ImanCarrot]

Very clean setup! nice work.

Here.. in that first photo... is that a box of golf balls? I thought I was the only person who played golf in the snow! (the yellow balls). Playing in the snow gives you an Uber drive

[klonx]

thanks, it certainly is a box of golf balls, problem with my golfing style is that I spend so much time in the rough I normally find about 10 golf balls whilst I'm looking for my own, I should stick them on ebay really as they normally end up rolling around the floor!

[ImanCarrot]

lol my mates' opinion of my golfing is: "all the gear and no idea" but I do try hehe.

What CAd/CAm software are you using?

Do you get vibration on top of that wooden cupboard? I was thinking that rapid traverses would weaken the wooden base.

Hey! you could kill two birds with one stone and araldite the golf balls underneath the mill to eliminate vibration (kidding)

[SpeedsCustom]

Nice looking machine Looks nice!

-Jason

[klonx]

the cupboard is actually a bench that's around 14 feet long, very solidly constructed out of 3x2 and 1" mdf, it's also fixed to the wall behind and the floor, so it's not going anywhere. I've not noticed any vibration issues at all as yet in fact it's much more sturdy than the lathe bench which was constructed to be extra rigid???.

I've done my early testing using Solid Edge and visualmill which a friend has kindly let me use in his his offices (he runs a proper precision engineering company and laughs at my small toy machines), however i know I can't keep bugging him so I'll be looking around for some alternatives (they'll need to be much cheaper alternatives too!)

[Crevice Reamer]

Very Nice! Did you by any chance take a pic of the Z and Y motor mountings? I would really like to see that.

CR.

[klonx]

I didn't I'm afraid they are very buried in the bottom of the column in fact it was very difficult for me to see how they were fixed as there are several reinforcing plates in the way. I have the exploded parts diagram so I may take a piccy of it when i get a minute

Originally Posted by Crevice Reamer Very Nice! Did you by any chance take a pic of the Z and Y motor mountings? I would really like to see that. CR.

[ZipSnipe]

Yep good looking machine ya got. What ya making?

[klonx]

Thanks, mostly car parts and reef tank equipment, as well as the cnc conversion I'm doing on the lathe. I'll post up some pics once i've figured them out