Help regarding choice in milling machine please

Hello all,

I'm looking at upgrading from my Sieg SX2 milling machine, the one I was pretty set on was the Chester Mecury, (Sieg SX4) good price considering it comes with stand and DRO, only offput is its only available in MT4 spindle taper, link below :-

http://www.chestermachinetools.com/mercury-mill-br-includes-dro--stand-7614-p.asp

I'm now looking at the Chester Super lux machine, but cant find any reviews on it and was wondering if anyone here had any experience with it ????

Link below :-

http://www.chestermachinetools.com/super-lux-milling-machinebr2-axis-dro-3997-p.asp

Many thanks for any help offered.

John.

Axminster do the SX4 with R8 taper which is a bit more useful than the MT4 or use a MT4-MT3 reducing sleeve.

J

Hello and thanks for that,

Axminster SX4 is quite a lot more £'s overpriced for the basic machine, no DRO's or stand included.

Anyone else have any feedback on the Chester ????

John.

have you considered the 626 which seems to have some following on here in it's Warco equivalent.

I use a Chester Lux with a 4MT spindle and over the last 10 years have been very happy with it,

For the same money, you can get good condition old iron. Well worth looking at.

Thank you all for your input, after reading quite a long thread from someone asking a similar question to mine above, I think I might now be looking at, as said by jonathan heppel, "old iron"

Now the real fun begins ) size wise (as I am quite limited) I have been looking at Tom Senior's as they seem to be in the size range that would suit me, have been looking at an E-type, only thing that concerns me with it though is the round column as I'm sure I read somewhere they are not as accurate/sturdy as say a square column ?????

John.

I wouldn't worry about rigidity. Generally, a concern with round columns is position repeatability on the z axis, but there's a key that's meant to see to that. You may well find lack of a knee a nuisance when tool changing, and the high minimum speed a handicap also.

That said, it looks like it's excellent for high speed fine work. so I guess it depends what you're doing. Personally, i'd prefer a knee mill.

There was a thead on another Senior mill here a few weeks ago, which may be worth a look.

The myford and denford 626 and 836 may be worth looking at too. One issue with the 626 and 836 is their provenance. While there are many happy owners, there are also a few horror stories on the net also, often to do with warped castings. Proper stress relieving is an expensive process.