Seig Sx2.7 Milling Machine

[mikey]

Mike,

Was he 71 years old and sadly out of shape? (Speaking for myself, not Scott)

Tom

(Actually, I'm not out of shape. "Pear" is a shape.)

Nah, the guy was in his early 50's, though. He had three other guys hovering around in case the load shifted but I suspect he thought we were just getting in the way and kindly tolerated us. He wasn't exactly a young guy, that's for sure. Impressive.

Oh, Tom, I haven't forgotten about the Superfly cutter test. I am almost done reconditioning that RF-31 and will let you know how it works when I get the chance.

 

[mikey]

Impressive. But like Tom I knew more guys like that when I was 28 than now at 58. BTW a professional rigger quoted $1200 to do the job for me. It was too small a project to make it worth their while unless I agreed to let them rob me.

Scott

$1200.00 is just stupid. I agree with you and would lift it onto a rolling table outside with a engine hoist and transfer it to your table indoors.

 

[higgite]

Scott,
Heck, for $1200 bucks, it's probably cheaper in the long run to buy all the parts separately and assemble it on the bench. Sort of like a Heathkit milling machine.

tweinke,
If you think you need one, you need one. It's science.

Mikey,
Hurry up, would you? I don't have all day. J/K, I know how it goes. I've been busy with some off topic stuff myself, but I'm getting an itchy trigger finger for a superfly. If nothing else, it has to be a great finishing tool.

Tom

 

[mikey]

Heh, heh, if you knew what I had to go through to get machine ready ...

 

[salindroth]

Scott,
Heck, for $1200 bucks, it's probably cheaper in the long run to buy all the parts separately and assemble it on the bench. Sort of like a Heathkit milling machine.

Tom

I got the feeling they didn't want my business, so it all worked out.

If you think you need one, you need one. It's science.

I've always liked the scientific method.

Scott

 

[JamesSX2_7]

Hello, I'm new here - so go easy on me

I have a Seig SX2.7 Milling machine and have had one for 9 months now.
I'm a hobbyist, so my comments are based on never having seen or used a milling machine before.
I wanted to buy a drill press, but thought a small milling machine would be handy - glad I got it now.

Technically, this is the second machine as the first had a serious manufacturing fault. After a bit of mucking around trying to get it fixed, they swapped it over, but I didn't use the first one for the first 6 weeks or so.
This one also developed a small fault - but it turned out to be a loose connector.
Otherwise I am very happy with the machine.

As for lifting it - beware. The listed weight is incorrect. The machine weighs about 120kgs, not 101kgs. They do not put in 34kgs of packaging! The label on the shipping crate does say 120kg nett.
But, my brother and I could lift it onto the stand - not too bad for a pair of 40 something blokes.
I did choose this over the SX3 as the SX3 is much heavier than I thought we could lift at over 160kg.

Machine seems quite capable. I have used a 50mm face cutter with a 0.3mm depth of cut - no issues.
I can end mill 12mm to about 0.5mm and edge mill 20mm material by 0.5mm also.
I do not know if these figures are reasonable or maybe I'm just taking it too easy.

I have mostly finished building a power feed for the X-axis. Winding back and forth while removing only 0.5mm at a time gets boring pretty quick.
The power feed also turns the X-axis wheel at constant speed (hard to do manually) and much slower than I would.

Have a proper vise on order. At the moment I'm using a freebee home made vise, but it isn't well made and occasionally lets a part go.
I'm planning to turn it into an angle vise when the new one arrives.

Hope this is helpful to someone, though is possibly too late for the original poster.

James.

 

[salindroth]

Thanks for this report, James. Sounds like a good machine. I've used a power screwdriver with a hex socket as a poor man's power feed...

 

[JamesSX2_7]

Hi Salindroth,

I am quite happy with the machine, shame about the first issue and the time it took to resolve.
Having a "hands free" power feed is handy. Lets me check measurements, sweep up or something while the machine does the cutting.

I'm still to implement the automatic end stops, to prevent crashing the table, or milling past the area wanted.
Hope to get to these soon - as soon as I have a useful vise!
Thought I'd attach a photo. Have since changes the screws, as metal was too thin to countersink.

James.

 

[salindroth]

I just saw the YouTube video of the power feed in action. Nice work, James!

I took the plunge and ordered the SX2.7 from LMS.

Scott

 

[salindroth]

The SX2.7 arrived yesterday. I got a duct jack from a local equipment rental center, and my son and I got the mill up to the workbench without any problem. In fact, getting the duct jack in and out of my small SUV was far more challenging than putting the mill in place.

The mill is beautiful. Fit and finish are very good, and clean up did not take long. One thing I learned is that it does not like my GFCI outlets. The interrupter would trip as soon as the motor started turning. Chris from LMS told me to use a regular outlet because "These machines turn your AC into DC, then reassemble it to 3-phase. The phase shift unbalances the hot and neutral."

I ran in the spindle bearings at 600, 800, 1000 rpm for 10 minutes at each speed. Right now the spindle gets very warm, so maybe it will take some time before the bearings settle in. Or maybe that's the way it's going to be. I measured 0.0005" TIR at the end.

The head is pretty well trammed in. End milling along the x-axis leaves a nice moire pattern, and there's no ridge on the seam left by the return cut, which suggests the y-axis alignment with the table is pretty good as well. I'm glad that the factory settings are acceptable, because it's not yet clear to me how to tram the head.

The LMS mill doesn't make an annoying beeping sound that Frank Hoose points out in his review (no chip guard to trigger the warning beep), and the control box has a dial to set the speed instead of +/- buttons. Much better IMO.

Cranking the head up and down is a chore. Lots of people have pointed this out about the SX3, so it wasn't a surprise. My only complaint is that the instruction manual is extremely cursory. Frank Hoose's video review has been very helpful to me as I get to know the machine.

So far I am happy customer. The SX2.7 is the perfect upgrade for my needs. It's is a lot beefier than a mini-mill, but the footprint is not overwhelming.

Scott