Member postings for daz nosworthy

good point Steve : )

I approached ARC as I had no interest from Axminster, not seen any posts from Axminster on this, or any defence of there customer service, I am sure as Ketan said, there are many stereotypes of customers, in my case I am a time served engineer and 25 years a machinist , I have worked multi axis CNC mills, and I run my own engineering design business, In short I know what I am doing...

the mills in question are sold as HOBBY mills and IMO probably would get more abuse than the pro ones as you will have a steep learning curve as a novice, even though the limits of drill/mills are advised

It would seem the early mills had little in the way of torque reaction control, the latest boards are way better in terms of tech, the sad thing is you need to replace ALL the hardware at once if it fails as none of the parts are compatible, I have now fitted trip switches to all the 240v plugs on Ketans advice to help with any issues with power supply and so far so good, but machine placement bares consideration here, a damp shed is not a warm garage, and I also heat the shed before use

we have to consider even the basic prototrak mills I used in my business are hardy machines, and I ran one all day for 7 years without any issues, but it cost me the best part of 10k secondhand, with the better mini mills coming in at way over Seig, Seig are considered great value IMO if you know there limits, with updated boards they are a great buy, and it seems to me in my experience Ketan goes a long way to keeping his customers happy

Axminster on the other hand seem to care little, maybe its just a hope that most customers wont bother returning there items, or maybe I just caught someone on an off day ; ( but in the long run, I think Ketans attitude will pay off in the end, I rarely use Axminster these days, I would however prefer to give ARC my money as I respect there values

so the latest mills are a big improvement and it must be noted my boards were the first ones, so not a reflection of the latest stuff, I would not hesitate to buy another SX3, the tech at this end of the market is moving constantly and no doubt improves all the time, I see little out there to compete with Seig at these prices, but I would say choose your seller wisely : )

Hi, I got a notice of this post, and wanted to reply, I dealt with Ketan a year ago now, even though I was upfront about the mills purchase not being from ARC I got a first class service from Ketan and Ian and would not hesitate to use them again

I purchased updated boards, and took the board at risk of the same motor problem, but the replacement hardware has been faultless, and night and day better in terms of performance

I am not being paid to say anything, I say things as I find them, my matters were discussed at length with Ketan and I found the response more than reasonable

1 year later the mill is going strong and I use it all the time, great stuff

thanks Ketan

Hi Vic, don't know mate...I have no idea if there is a problem or if I have just been unlucky

on balance Ketan and others say this is rare and I don't disbelieve him, they sell em all day ...

if this gives a wrong impression to those watching I apologize, cant say for sure till we look into it...but I defend the right to comment on my findings with this mill which has been less than ideal, but TBF I have also stated why I like it : )

Hi Ketan,

I don't want to say anymore cos its not helping my situation, and no, none of this is directed at you or ARC, I respect your opnion and right to defend your products, from the start I simply asked if anyone has any ideas on whats happened, it seems on the face of it rare, I have stated what was said..

we cannot know without looking whats happened, and that's the way forward

I will PM my contact info, feel free to call later or send me ya mobile

regards, Daz

Edited By daz nosworthy on 01/01/2015 13:56:47

Hi Nick, yes, brushless 1000w DC...

as said, I suspect Les's ideas about the board are correct, tho I am happy to send one out for a breakdown in design, it may also explain why all the boards seem to be fried, the main L1 connection to the PCB reads as live all the others dead, whether its possible to have a leak via earth that would blow thru all the 5V at once I have no idea, also a motor short issue may feed earth and perhaps the board??

I am far from an expert on this stuff, cant see this going any further without expert investigation, I am going to take the motor off and see what Ketan can do to help

gotta say this to be fair...ARC have been great from the start, I explained myself, told them it wasn't there's, expected to get a 'bugger off..' but they were very helpful and professional, never heard of Arc at the time of purchase, but forward facing companies are hard to find nowadays and I respect Ketan's involvement here and it may be rare but I for one want to know what is causing the issue.

Hi, yes firstly can a moderator please change the title to SX3..my mistake

Les, I have 2 boards here if you want to have a look over them and see the construction, happy to post one out to you for a look, let me know and I will get one out, I would really like Seig to explain why its able to happen TBH

Nick's original idea of an earth short is the only thing that makes sense, I stripped it down the minute it happened to expect to find the board condensated or something , as that particular morning was our first big frost here in Cheddar, I heated the workshop first as it was too cold to work

on inspection all the boards were bone dry, front 2 and the PCB, the only evidence was a burn to the 10 pin plug for the speed controller, just as a note, I had the mill plugged into a 4 way gang, which also has my PC, Printer, Monitor on, the PC was on at the time and unaffected..had the same set ups for over 6 months with no issues

in future it may be safer to run a separate RCD to the mill

I bow to your knowledge with this mill, and I am not comparing my SX3 to an XYZ 1500, I needed more capacity at the time and an NC, the SX3 was bought as a light use item, mostly drilling 3, 5, 6mm ally plate and a few small slot ops

I would still buy this item again as I said above, don't think there is much else to compare at this price range the XYZ's are £3k + used and not suitable for a small workshop/shed, BUT it sounds like I got it before all the problems were sorted, and still have an ongoing problem, I will happily add to this post to update readers, and I would hope that Axminster and anyone else involved with Seig would take note of the issues raised.

not to point any fingers, but it does amaze me that in this internet age that you can not expect a customer to go out looking for answers when the importers wash there hands of you, I appreciate this is a complex issue and rather uncommon by the sounds of it, but nevertheless shows a fundamental flaw in design

at the end of the day I just want my mill back, got loads to do and little time and this break was a great opportunity to make up time..gutted

Edited By daz nosworthy on 01/01/2015 12:45:38

Edited By daz nosworthy on 01/01/2015 02:21:33

in case you are wondering I wont deal with Axminster again, as tho its there mc the customer service was abysmal, had a hard enough job getting another board TBH, they did eventually send another board to try..BUT as with yourself was told they are 99% reliable, they could only offer to try a replacement motor if it failed again, but I would have to buy both items

maybe mine was a dud..don't know, just know it don't work

just wish I bought a good ol belt one now..

Hi Ketan, yeah ok, I will speak to a tech and go from there..

abit of clarity..

the mc was not an Arc item, it was ordered from Axminster, the first board was replaced only a matter of months later, it was used in a dry heated workshop along with my CNC, a replacement was ordered..

that board still not working properly motor cuts out sometimes under higher loads ( 2mm+ cuts in ally) and sometimes the direction reverses, been good tho of late

so overall very unimpressed with the mill, BUT as said this was an Axminster mill not yours, Axminster have said I can buy another board to try as it now seven years old even tho its been used a handful of times...

I have now come out of my unit and just want the mill for myself to keep my hand in, as I knew of a possible issue I spoke to your guys and was told you keep the boards and that they are generally reliable ( this is an SX3..) BUT the damp can get in and cause problems in unheated sheds and was told you have a testing option for the motor as you stated, and that this would be advisable before another board, as this is already the second board

this could well be a motor fault TBH I have no idea, just wondered if any other users could advise if have suffered a similar issue, or advise if i did miss something obvious, it failed without it being on..not during use

I tried to call but you are on holiday so will try monday

regards, Daz

Edited By daz nosworthy on 30/12/2014 22:17:49