"Spehro Pefhany" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:52:14 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:
"Ignoramus12820" wrote in message
...
On 2010-08-19, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:15:57 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/tls/1902372658.html
Run Away! Run Away!
That first picture tells you all you need to know.
First impression: crack or meth head?
(buying a new substandard mill
What other alternatives are there in a small mill?
What alternatives are there that do not cost a lot more?
I have a Taig because I was told it's a decent quality mill for its size
and
price. To be quite frank I disagree. It requires constant adjustment,
and
the Z axis is horrible in my opinion. When I talked to Taig about the
clamp
on ways they told me its should be within a hundredth along its length.
You
have got to be kidding me. That is 0.01" No wonder it binds up
sometimes.
Yeah I know its made right here, and that was another draw, but if I had
bought a cheap Chinese mill instead of cheap American mill I would atleast
have expected to spend a lot of time tweaking and adjusting to get decent
work out of it. The Sieg mills are atleast heavier and more robust,
although I have really only looked at the SX4 which is a little larger
machine than the SX1.
Don't say Grizzly. A lot of their machines are identical to the Sieg
machines and made in the same factory. Just have a different label. Same
with the HF machines and several other companies. Even Jet and Enco
machines (for a large step up in price) can be found under other labels
with
different color paint.
Whether you have any respect for that poster is not the question to me,
but
rather what other alternatives are there in small machines? Sherline?
They
are smaller than the Taig mills.
Not everybody can afford to chunk out 6 to 40 grand for a brand new big
name
machine, and not everybody has the ability to spend months retrofitting a
used clapped out machine or the time. Guys like Gunner do not count. I
am
sure he could refit a clapped out machine to like new in a day, but that
is
what he does for a living. The rest of us have to learn every single
thing
one issue at a time and hope guys like him will be kind enough to guide us
in the right direction., Nor do most of us have the ability to look at a
used machine and know if it can be fixed up for a reasonable amount of
time
or money. It's a lot safer to buy a small new mill to do small projects.
It may not be great, but it will run.
I asked recently on the ZONE what a good slightly larger step up machine
would be from my Taig. Something not too much more money and I
specifically
said, not the Sieg machines because their working envelope was not much
bigger if at all. I did not get one single response. So I'll ask here.
What is a decent quality small step up from my Taig.
I'd say Seig X3. Little Machine Shop sells some Seigs with factory CNC
(ball screws and Mach 3). You can't compare the rigidity of a 500lb
machine with one that is 100lbs.
As much as I hate to say it, that is what I have been finding. The moderate
size Seig is about as good as it gets without going way up in size and
price. I'ld probably go with the X4 or SX4.
I've also been looking at the MaxNC machines. I was thinking of asking them
if I could buy a MaxNC 15 without their motors, controller, and spindle so I
could fit my own setup. I've already got one of their little NC 5 machines
I bought as scrap, and plan to retro with the controller and motors I took
off my Taig when I upgraded it to the Gecko controller with bigger motors.
I guess I really need to look at a Seig and see what I think of their ways,
since a couple people already make a bolt on ball screw conversion for it.
Unfortunately the local HF store no longer stocks much of anything so I
can't look at their color painted version of it locally.