FEEDBACK ON 3501 CNC MILL FROM Little machine shop anyone?

[ruawake]

Still looking to buy a small cnc mill to learn on, but need to mill some stainless, 0.75-1.0 inches diam, and flat stock at up to .5 inches.

Thanks for any help in advance.

[tmarks11]

It is the Sieg KX3 mill. Also sold by Smithy as the 622. Sold by Novakon as the NM-135. And sold by Harbor Freight as the KX3-MACH Hobby CNC Mill. You probably already knew all that, but there it is anyhow. IT IS NOT A SYIL. The Smithy version uses a proprietary controller/software instead of mach3.

https://www.smithy.com/product_home....id=16&pid=1006
http://novakon.net/3.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=66051

There have been maybe half a dozen reviews from owners who have bought from one of those sources; you can probably find them by searching for "Sieg kx3". There is also a factory rep who sells direct from Hong Kong on ebay (one person here bought a machine that way). Also you can look for the review by John Stevenson over at homeshop bbs (he worked closely with Sieg in the development of these machines). I haven't heard any unfavorable reviews about the machine. There is (of course) the mini-lathe.com review:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56261
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76676
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73606
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68939
http://www.mini-lathe.com/KX3/KX3-2.htm

Littlemachineshop is a newcomer to the cnc machine game, but is a long term reputable supplier of small milling machine accessories. If I was shopping for a kx3, I would be inclined to buy from Novakon or LMS, partially since after sale support tends to be very important. Novakon has a nice package deal, including the mach3 license, bobcad (FWIW), stand, etc, all of which others seem to sell as options.

[tmarks11]

whoops, just noticed you were talking about the Sieg KX1 (also sold by those same places, except Smithy dropped it from their product line). Ask John Stevenson; he is the KX1 expert.

Stainless? Not very quickly...

Take a look at this thread. You might contact the OP and inquire on his KX-1 experience with SS.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72412

[Hirudin]

Originally Posted by tmarks11 whoops, just noticed you were talking about the Sieg KX1 ...

Argh, don't ya just hate it when you make a nice, organized response for someone only to look back and realize you have answered a question that wasn't really asked?

A quick question since it looks like you know your stuff... Do you think there is any difference in quality between the various brands of X# machines? I mean: do you think, say, LMS might get the pick of the litter so their X1 is probably better in some way than Harbor Freight's X1?

[tmarks11]

I doubt that LMS gets the pick of the litter. I don't think that he is a big enough business to support in-country quality control agents. Maybe like Lathemaster he will force quality shipments by rejecting machines that are inferior.

That being said, some of these threads describe some need for significant after-sales support, including spare parts (when they accidently disconnected wires from the stepper motor when they were energized and blew a MOSFET).

I can't see HF being a world leader in supplying either support or spare parts.

Novakon specifically got called out by customers as being very helpful. I am sure LMS would be as well, as he has a good reputation.

[ruawake]

It seems like my plan to learn on a smaller mill around the $3,000. range won't really cut it, with any decent speed-ss.

[stefan007]

please help i need to know if the kx1 or kx3 will running on my kc6 sieg lathe under mach 3 controller !!!