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[BarryM]

I am thinking of having all my Christmas's at once by buying a vertical milling machine. Does anyone have experience of the SIEG X2 Mini Mill which is featured on the Axminster website http://www.axminster.co.uk and others? I know its Chinese but the spec seems reasonable. 

By the by, I've seen two of these mills sell on eBAy recently for more than Axminster is selling them. A fool and his money...?

Thanks for all replys,

Barry M

[djrobbo]

Hi.....i have an axminster metal lathe....not the most accurate thing in the world but for the money extremely good value !

          hope this helps............regards,bob,

[Circlip]

 
   Don't know whether I dare get in on this one Barry M but hey ho. One of my past suppliers used to buy these
   'cheap' M/C tools for just ONE contract and amortise the costing so he then sold the machines. At the prices for
    the initial purchase it didn't matter for long term accuracy cos his never got worn. So (takes deep breath) how
    accurate do you want to be for how long?
        Beware, cos Chinese cast iron quality varies immensely, have seen tee slots in millers and drill tables bent and
    no not with gorilla tightening. First job on my mates wood lathe was for me to HELI-COIL all the threads. I have
    also seen machines shed a few pounds after having been stripped down to clean the sand out of the castings.
    Not trying to put you off but certainly worth checking. There used to be someone in the Glasgow area who
    sold ex-school/colloge machinery, can't remember the name but might be worth googleing.

[HS93 (RIP)]

Have a read on


http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/X_Series_Mills/

may give you an idea.also if you look on

 http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/

they say it has been discontinued.  

if you look on

http://www.warco.co.uk/shop.asp?catid=40&ProdId=286  

 I think this is the replacement
I have an X1 from warco and it works well I was going to go for the X2 but it was bigger than I thought and to heavy for me to move but it would have been the better option if it was not so heavy

Peter

[Bunkerbarge]

I would suggest with any Chinese machine tool that you strip it down, clean it thoroughly, grease and lubricate where necessary, adjust everything and even shim if necesary and you will be in with a chance of a reliable machine.

There is no guarrantee against casting quality but I think for most modelling use they are fine and open up oportunities that would have normally been way beyond most of us.  I personally would never have been able to stretch to a Myford or such like, second hand or not, so I am very pleased with my Chinese lathe and milling machine.

[mrsgoggins]

I was going to refer you to the ArcEurotrade website where the X2 mill is/was offered and which underlines the need to "re-finish" imported machine tools. However they have discontinued the model - which might be significant. Seem to recall an article in Model Engineer which fairly favourable report.

Keith.

[Bryan Young]

They may be Chinese, but I have found the "Proxxon" range to be pretty good.

[pops]

I think Bunkerbarge has hit the nail on the head. These tools do open many doors for us modelers. Most of the stuff we do can stand a little tolerance drift. I have the Sherline lathe and mill. They work way better than the chain saw I used to use for "rough in" work.  :)