New Milling Machine - advice requested

Your old milling machine looks like a Sieg X2, if it is it seems ARC still carry spares - Link.

Thor

Edited By Thor on 16/06/2018 16:26:24

Thanks, Thor. I'll give it a look later on tonight.

Similar design, but different in several aspects.

Appears to be made by Seiki in Taiwan.

Interesting, they also make a mini-lathe that looks like it is parallel universe where things are superficially similar but really quite different.

I imagine they are based on the same (originally Russian as I understand it) design.

Well, I finally got around to disassembling the old mill to see the damage to the gear teeth. Big Ouch! The gears are the plastic acetal kind and didn't take it so kindly when that end mill fetched up on my work-piece. The low-end gears are properly borked: having shed some teeth on the shiftable, intermediate gear as well as the on the main spindle gear.

So far, I've only removed the intermediate gear (12/20 tooth), but it appears to be identical in count and measurement to that for the old Sieg X2 mini mill. Too, it appears that replacement gears are still offered by such places as AET.

...however...

I'm not exactly sure that it is really worth my time and effort to replace the gears on this old mill. Although the CH-10M is more or less the same as the Sieg X2 it has the disadvantage of having aluminum castings, aluminum column and an aluminum table. So if I put in new gears (even the stronger metal versions), even if I put in better main spindle bearings, the mill will still have its basic lack of rigidity as compared to the newer (old) version.

By the way, I happened upon that article by Neil Wyatt, "Improvements to an X2 Mill". (Hats off to you, Neil. You're a prince!) The article explains the mysteries of disassembly very, very well. Nevertheless, I see it is anything but a simple wave-of-the-hand, drop-in exchange.

...so even IF I had the parts in hand - for free - the work hours themselves - along with the preparation - are not inconsiderable. Might just button it up and use it high-end only until I've decided on which larger mill to purchase.

Oh, and a last amusing note:

I don't know this for sure, but I really suspect that this is not the first time this thing has some shed gear teeth and been repaired. I'm making this assumption from the fact that the label across the motor plate was cut through and the top spacer on the spindle - the one with the spindle locking hole - had been inserted upside down so that locking the spindle was kind of... impossible.

Anyway, when I opened up the unit I found it absolutely - and I do mean absolutely - filled up with lithium grease. I dug out something like a soft drink can's worth of the stuff before I could even see anything inside.

I figure that one of the first owners also lost some gear teeth, went through the trouble of replacing them and was so panicked about it happening again that he kind of overdid the lubrication in supposed self-defense.

So now I know why the bearings were always dripping grease when it was running.

Or it could be normal (???). What do I know.

Anyway, feel free to comment or suggest.

Cheers!

Ignatz 

I have the 12/20 Nylon(ish) spare as I upgraded my Chester Conquest mill to belt drive several years ago. I am quite happy to post to you with the other 2 gears and shaft foc just send me pm with an address if you require them

Lione

Edit correct spelling l

Edited By Limpet on 25/06/2018 16:09:20

Lione,

Thanks for the offer.

See my PM

Finally got around to pulling the main spindle out of the mini-mill and thought to post this photo of the arrangement I used.

Of course, I was referencing Neil Wyatt's article, but having no large, metal tubing at hand I elected to go the fussier route and stack up spacing blocks. Considering the small size of this mill I found I could happily use elements from my clamping kit as the spacing blocks. True enough, as Neil states in his article, the blocks did tend to (* ahem *) fall out at the most inconvenient moments, but they did ultimately get the job done.

Lionel was kind enough to send me a replacement for the the intermediate shifting plastic gear (thinks again, sir!), but I still need to order a replacement for the gear that fits round the spindle.

I see that I can order either plastic or metal for that main spindle gear and I was thinking that a plastic gear on the intermediate shaft running against a metal gear on the main spindle might make for (A) slightly quieter operation as well as (B) more or less guaranteeing that if the mill is overloaded in the future then it would be the plastic intermediate gear that would fail first - this being the one that is really quite easy to replace as there is no major spindle pulling required.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments on this approach?

I wouldnt sell it on , fit a belt drive conversion to it and keep it , there a times where the little mill will come in very handy - especailly for delicate work .

XD 351 - You may have a point about keeping the mill for delicate and/or light drilling work, but since this is the older unit made of aluminum castings I just can't see the value of investing my time in a belt drive conversion. I would already be content with the transmission gear repair.

Edited By Ignatz on 30/06/2018 12:34:47

I got the test information below with my Chester 836VS mill. Turned out to be fairly accurate when I checked the measurements.

Spelling quite comical though....

Seems pretty good.

Oh... and not to be too cynical about it... are those figures actually written in with a ballpoint pen, or perhaps written once and then printed with the form? I've seen evidence of that sort of chicanery on the internet with some other machine brands.

Of course, your actual measurements are what really count.

One would hope that the figures are indicative of a general level of quality across the machine offerings.

The 836VS looks pretty good, but is about three times larger than the space available in my tiny shop