Whats the best mini mill?

Hi guys, I've just come off the phone to Machine Mart where I cancelled my order for a mini mill due to the lack of service and delays. It's a long story which I'll leave to another day when I've calmed down a piece.

What would be nice is for people on here with milling machines in the BUDGET bracket to post comments and experiences of mills, vendors, delivery and after care. (I never trust site reviews since they can be abused.)

Hopefully this will guide me as to which mill and who I might purchase from.

I'm in Bristol so I won't expect too many vendors to be farther north than Preston to be able to compete on delivery but you never know.

PS: Trouble with the Micro is height in that as soon as you put a rotary table on the bed there's none left! Plus of course the Achilles heal that is the plastic gearing, one snatch and they are toothless.

I have a SIEG X1L supplied by ArcEuroTrade. Excellent Mill, Excellent Service (Pre and Post Sales) Delivery was on the day quoted.

Well worth giving them a ring.

Dave

I like the sound of a reviews section. It would have to be limited to "marks out of ten" as worded opinions could get the forum in legal trouble.

Hello Guys,

There are plenty of reviews on various machines on this and other forums. Such reviews are good, bad, or ugly, depending on the machine, the knowledge of the reviewer, the reviewers expectations for the budget.

Dave, Jesse H has already gone through the small table version of the SX1L, which I think is the the CMD10 from Machine Mart.

Ketan at ARC

I see in the latest copy of ME (No 4056) Warco have just brought out a new compact mill with a vertical traverse of 210mm, the WM12 which retails at £650 including delivery. I don't know if that is within your budget restraints or how competent a machine it is but I have owned the larger WM16 and WM18 and found them to be very good value for the money. Having purchased all my machine tools from Warco I can say that the service both before and after sales has been very good and I don't recall having seen any bad reviews regarding them. The mill is that new that I don't think it is on their website yet.

Russ

I have had my Sieg X21 mill for over 8 years, it didn't come from ArcEuroTrade but the long table did - made a huge difference. It has done everything I have asked of it. I regularly use my 6" Soba rotary table on it and it is still on the original plastic gears so maybe I am a magician or maybe some of the "facts" about these mills are not too factual. If it vanished tomorrow I would buy another one but from Arc this time.

Andy

I bought a new one from machine mart. Wasn't long before it started eating gears, but I was pushing it too hard. Then for the same money I bought an almost new X2 (different badge but same thing). Ive managed to destroy a gear on this but it is the temperature/speed/work load which causes them to weaken. I opened up the gnarled keyway slot, loctited a brass insert in and its been fine ever since. I wouls also avoid the tilting variant as mine frequently goes out of true on its own!

Ketan, Spot on and I take your points on reviewers. Just watched the videos over at arc, the side milling video wasn't too revealing I'm sorry to say.

I like Sieg milling machines but they are a bit too pricey for me since I have to weigh this against usage.

I've been trawling the net for some time now on the look out for a suitable replacement which fits my pocket. Not that I want to but I don't mind having to modify the basic tool as I have contacts in the steel trade so any amount of bracing can be catered for.

Fizzy ask Neil Wyatt show you the mods he's carried out on his mill.

Edited By Jesse Hancock 1 on 15/04/2015 21:16:02

Second hand round column mill/drill, the 'minor' to the 'major' that Warco still do. No electronic speed controller to die. No gears to break, MT3 spindle, adequate range of speeds. Less in demand so cheaper because lots of people whine about the round column because they do things with it that it isn't meant to do. Altogether perfectly adequate first mill that will be available at a sensible price.

I bought a Warco Minor 17 yrs ago and it does everything I want it to but you do have to treat it gently, you mention the round column if only they had fitted it with a key to stop the head creeping.

Stan

Hi Jesse

Your Quote

"PS: Trouble with the Micro is height in that as soon as you put a rotary table on the bed there's none left! Plus of course the Achilles heal that is the plastic gearing, one snatch and they are toothless.".

The first consideration buying a mill is what are you going to use it for Large jobs or small and intricate pieces.

New or used machine to fit your budget needs careful thought.

Personal Choice ((Biased Opinion)) based on owning an X2 Mill Drill with plastic gears, tilt column and quadrant arm spring thing to slow the fall of the head under gravity withe the gib lock loosened.

Many modifications later a small mill drill without the aforementioned hindrances performing much better.

The new models of X2 with solid column larger tables and belt drive would have saved many hours rebuilding and and modifying Although the challenge and the satisfaction would have been lost.

Horses for Courses. Small Mill Big Job = Trying & Testing Big Mill small Job = Less Stress.

Keep us posted on your decision and the reasons for your choice.

Eric

I have to agree with Old Velo. I have one of the first X2 mills. Having converted to belt drive (but not a brushless motor) and done a lot to increase the rigidity of the column it now meets my needs and fits in the space I have. If I were to replace it, I would go straight for a brushless motor rigid column super X2.

Neil

Oldvelo Neil : sure I bought the micro whilst keeping my budget in the black, it was as much as I dared spend at the time but when needs must and all that.

In my experience (in work) it was always comforting to have spare capacity but not particularly profitable. A hobby is a different kettle of fish but there are times when jobs are taken on without knowing exactly what is needed from your kit I think you would agree. Or you wish to take on something larger and more ambitious.

Super X2 rigid column etc etc too much for me so....

For the record it's looking like an X2 or clone there of, due to cost and physical size. I'll keep the mini too and use it to modify big brother. I might even make a mod so as to keep the tilt but I can't see why.

Does anyone understand the thinking behind the tilting head?

Sounds like the Machine Mart X2 clone would suit you Jesse, they have a couple of vat free days coming up.

Neil

I went for the SX1L from Arc too. Excellent service before and after. The large 400mm table and increase 140mm cross travel sold it to me. (that and a really good accessories package!!!)

Out of the box after a good strip clean and setup the machine was ok, I wouldn't say anything more than that. I bought in a rigid column from an older model of the X1 (maybe the same as your CMD10?) from the LittleMachineShop in the states and ditched the almost useless tilting column in favour of a tilting vice.
It transformed the machine. I then needed MORE POWER - lots more it seemed, as the machine was suddenly strong enough to make full use of the small DC motor and this led me to move it on not to long after upgrading the column as it was more work than it was worth upgrading the motor and converting to belt drive.

About a year after I bought it, and before I sold it on, a new X1 version came to Arc, with a rigid column, and a motor with double the power and direct belt drive - it's basically every mod you'd want to do to an X1 rolled in to a nice package. I ended up with a much bigger machine in the end, but the 400mm table on the X1 already outclasses most small machines. I think they also do a similar but wider rigid column X2 with the X1 table (as its larger than the stock X2).

If I had to do it all again, I would go with this new X1 version, and then no doubt think to myself, I should have stretched to the even more rigid powerful 500w X2 as I still think the improved 250w X1 might srtuggle but will be a marked improvement for sure.