Seig SU1 ?

[Joules]

Hi folks,
         has anyone bought and used one of these as sold by Axminster Power tools.  I am looking at replacing my old Taig mill, and haven't found a good Centec 2B I could afford.  I know about the limited height table to spindle.  I have never drilled with the Taig mill but would consider the Arc Euro Μicro Drill Adaptor if I was going to spot holes on the mill.  What is the deal with the offset ram for the table, has anyone experience of it binding?

        Many Thanks

                        Joules

[lesterhawksby]

I'll admit to owning one. I am fairly happy with it for me, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people. It's reasonably well made (better than some of the cheaper ones I've seen, but for the price premium it jolly well should be). However, it doesn't feel very well thought through in lots of little ways - you're right that the offset z axis screw does make get less smooth and harder to turn at the bottom of the travel range, though it doesn't quite get as bad as binding. A pain, as loosening the gib to prevent that makes it too loose at the top.

A chap on the Home Shop Machinist forum heavily modded his (Grizzly equivalent with a weaker brushed motor) to have a central screw and reports a big improvement:
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/56138-Grizzly-Benchtop-Horizontal-Mill-w-Vertical-Head-%28G0727%29/page9
but that is a bit of a drastic change...

The drill chuck supplied with it is simply inappropriate to the machine's spindle-to-table distance. Put the Arc Euro micro drill adaptor in that drill chuck and you lose even more room. I think you might be better off holding it in some other way - I'd try a collet, but I'd need to make an imperial drawbar. To be honest, I am not all that happy with the micro drill adaptor so have not bothered - there is a little more lateral play than I was hoping for - though I have not tried it on the mill yet, only the lathe and bench drill. Try fitting a reasonably precise smaller drill chuck (say an 0.5-6mm) first - that works for me.

[Brass_Machine]

Hi Joules,

If you can afford it, why not step up in size to a sX2 or a wm14/16?

Eric

[Joules]

Lester,
         thanks for your reply.  Yeah on the micro drill adaptor, bit disappointing to hear about the play in it.  I had only considered using it in a collet, but would look at other solutions based on your experience.  Are you happy with the overall performance of the machine, X Y axis smooth with out too much backlash.  What materials have you machined on it and how was it for vibration.  I am mostly interested for non ferrous materials with occasional steel/cast iron work.  I had seen the HSM work that guy did.  I could possibly fabricate a riser block for the arm if I need more headroom.

I am taken by the possibility to use the horizontal spindle position for boring work.

        Joules

[Joules]

Eric,
      have looked at the SX2 but the limited spindle stroke and lighter table construction kind of puts me off.  I do like the  knee mill design, but really struggle with the fact they offset the Z axis screw and put it so far forward, who made that decision !!!

The WM14/16 is interesting as they use a 2mt so would make use of my existing tooling.  The WM18 is a beast, but we are into serious mission creep on the finances, I think my other half would be  over that plan.  Will add those machines to my possibles list, cheers Eric.


            Joules

[Joules]

Lester,
         I had a think over what you said about the knee being tight at it lowest point.  I wonder if the nut is not true to the knee, assuming the dovetails are true.  Any chance of slackening off the fixings for the Z nut and maybe rotate it to see if the knee loosens up at its lowest setting.   Just a thought.


           Joules

[RussellT]

If you're looking at the WM14/16 then you should also take a look at the Chester Champion 16V which is a similar size, cheaper and appears to be from the same factory.

I just bought one secondhand but haven't had a chance to try it yet, so this isn't really a recommendation.

Russell

And now I have had a chance to try it, I still wouldn't recommend.  The motor overheated and died with a bang.

[lesterhawksby]

Hi Joules

Sorry for disappearing for a bit.

I see what you mean about the z nut. The rest of the machine actually came fairly well adjusted but I didn't check that, I was too focused on the gibs - in fact, I'm sorry to say it took me a little while to get my head around your suggestion. It definitely seems worth a try and I'll let you know if/when I get the chance and what the results are.

I am quite new to milling but the other axes seem smooth and solid to me. Significantly better than an X2 I've tried, and it seems rigid too. There is backlash but it's not excessive and is yet to bother me; I've never handled a machine with zero backlash and the feel of it is fairly clear (if that makes any sense at all?). I must admit the only vaguely tough job I have attempted so far is taking the skin off a fairly nasty iron casting with one of Arc Euro's 30mm carbide 2-insert face mills. Not much vibration, though the finish wasn't as nice as I'd hoped (probably due to all the gravel!). The motor seems strong and fairly quiet - I can run it without offending the rest of the family (the machine's a house pet, I have no garage or shed here) which is a big plus for me. 500w brushless, but it seems to be rather more powerful than the 560w brushed motor on my lathe, especially turned down low.

That said, I'm not confident to recommend it because I'm a newb and I'm not sure how I will feel about it when I get used to it... at the moment I'm fairly sure deficiencies on the part of the operator exceed those on the part of the designer, but that doesn't mean the latter aren't present! It is abundantly clear that it would be useful to a lot more people with 2-3" more column length, but that's ok to me right now and for a while to come. It's certainly better made than the really low-end machines, but costs too much to buy as a "project" expecting to do major works to - I won't be anyway, because I think it would be daft to mess with before I know it inside out. Maybe it's spot on for you, but I suspect there are more sensible compromises for a lot of people. (A bit more money will buy you an SX3 from Arc Euro, but I wanted something smaller but not very much less solid. That narrowed the field down a lot.)