First machine, Sieg or haian. Haian experience?

[MattiasCarlsson]

Hallo!

I'm looking for my first hobby lathe and mill and discover that here in Sweden you can basically choose between, unimat, sieg ond haian. www.haianmachine.com Does anyone have any experience of haian (at520) and maybe have some information about accuracy compared to Sieg. Sieg seems well established.

Mattias Carlsson

[philbur]

Avoid combination machines if you possibly can. A separate lathe and mill is easily a better option. This is especially true if you want to CNC the mill at some stage. It might look line you get two machines for the price of one and a half but the flexibility is greatly reduced.

Sieg are well supported and would be a much safe option for a beginner.

Regards
Phil

Hallo!

I'm looking for my first hobby lathe and mill and discover that here in Sweden you can basically choose between, unimat, sieg ond haian. www.haianmachine.com Does anyone have any experience of haian (at520) and maybe have some information about accuracy compared to Sieg. Sieg seems well established.

Mattias Carlsson

[JohnELMDAS]

In addition to Philbur's points, with separate machines, you might have occasion to have them both running simultaneously if they are CNC equipped.

Also, the combo machines are unnecessarily heavy compared to the mill table travel. Some combo machines have a short throat on the mill, which restricts the size of workpiece since the table interferes with the lathe chuck. To get reasonable 'reach' of the mill head over the lathe bed, the machine gets very top-heavy and requires an unnecessarily large bed/base. Get two machines that weigh about 50kilos instead of one that weighs 300-400! In general, the combo's are quite wasteful.
Cheers and Good Luck,
John B.

[MattiasCarlsson]

Thanks!

I've taken your opinions into consideration and I'll try to fit in two separate machines into my hobby room. Don't know what to buy yet, probably sieg maybe sherline, but sherline seems too small for now.

Mattias

[CountZero]

Don't forget the option of ebay, don't forget to factor in shipping +customs(25% min).

Also the http://www.optimum-maschinen.de/ have a reseller (sök på fräsmaskin på blocket) and claims to be made in germany, but I have my doubts about that...

[MattiasCarlsson]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider optimum, within price range and (made) i Europe! Actually I had already lost hope about finding a made in EU mill anywhere near my budget. However it will be very difficult finding information (quality, accuracy) about something named optimum, you only get search engine answers of "optimum measurement" and alike. Probably as easy as sieg to convert into a cnc-machine when time comes.

[philbur]

Try emailing the company.

They also have a sister company, lower prices so presumably the Optimum brand is higher quality.

http://www.quantum-maschinen.de/qua_...uro/index.html

Regards
Phil

Thanks, I'll definitely consider optimum, within price range and (made) i Europe! Actually I had already lost hope about finding a made in EU mill anywhere near my budget. However it will be very difficult finding information (quality, accuracy) about something named optimum, you only get search engine answers of "optimum measurement" and alike. Probably as easy as sieg to convert into a cnc-machine when time comes.

[MattiasCarlsson]

I'll try to compare the German brands Quantum and Optimum. I can't however find a reseller of quantum milling-machines in Sweden, but I'll mail them and see what they suggest. I'll move to a new place in two months and will not buy before that so I'll have some time to do the comparison.

[philbur]

Optimum state that all lathes and mills come with test certificates. Ask for an example of the machine you are considering.

Regards
Phil

I'll try to compare the German brands Quantum and Optimum. I can't however find a reseller of quantum milling-machines in Sweden, but I'll mail them and see what they suggest. I'll move to a new place in two months and will not buy before that so I'll have some time to do the comparison.