Sieg X2 Mini-Mill Teardown

[cinqster]

Couldn't resist taking it apart when it arrived as everything was badly set up and these Chinese tools arrive covered in nasty red shipping grease.



It gives me a chance to spread some rustproofing grease on the back of the iron castings too.



Note that both the X and Y feed screws are bone dry!



Argh...the Chinese have discovered woodruff keys! I wanted to pack the X feedscrew housing with grease so this came off too.



This is the gib strip for the X feed and is clearly in need of lapping - probably the greatest problem of Chinese tools.



Needless to say I forgot to photograph the lapped strips! I reckon on about an hour for the longer Y strip and 30 mins for this shorter one. I go in sanding the strip back and forth with 120 Wet/dry on a glass plate. Then I proceed to 240, 400, then 1200 until the surface is super smooth. Some people go further and polish them but fine scratches are fine by me as I reckon they hold lube better.



This is what really lets down Chinese tools - note that this X feed screw retaining nut has already been adjusted twice before I got near it! I reckon the machines are set up in the factory and then semi-stripped to repaint them in the specific dealer colours. No wonder I thought the X feed was out of adjustment!

I've not done the vertical feed gib strip as I didn't fancy taking the head off just yet - and it's bloomin heavy. I did remove the head stop, raise the head and spray white lithium grease over all the gearbox internals for good measure and I tweaked the motor to gearbox fit to quiet down transmission noise. It's all back together, and after a 10 min 0 - max rpm run in (not mentioned in the manual but recommended for the lathes using the same gearbox) it's running lovely!

[drnitrus]

NICE

cant wait to see more

[freakray]

Originally Posted by cinqster

Argh...the Chinese have discovered woodruff keys!

The key in your photo isn't a woodruff key, are you referring to another key not photographed?

[Decs0105]

great to see some pics of the machine. Typical chinese quality but whatever you can get a decent machine out of it if you spend some time on cleaning and adjusting!

[cinqster]

Originally Posted by freakray

The key in your photo isn't a woodruff key, are you referring to another key not photographed?

Indeed, my mistake but 'woodruff key' is almost a generic term in the UK even though it's not technically correct...still you guys don't even have the correct sized gallons and even your horsepowers are too small!

Got the table and chuck at the weekend and finished the rebuild - will post pics soon

[freakray]

Originally Posted by cinqster

Indeed, my mistake but 'woodruff key' is almost a generic term in the UK even though it's not technically correct...still you guys don't even have the correct sized gallons and even your horsepowers are too small!

You guys?

I'm a Brit

[cinqster]

[ozracer]

cinqster,

Any plans to cnc this mill. I have had my eyes on one of these for a while but am getting my lathe first. I want to use them both for modelling but I also have a race car so want to make sure it is suitable for both and not too small.

[cinqster]

Originally Posted by ozracer

cinqster,

Any plans to cnc this mill. I have had my eyes on one of these for a while but am getting my lathe first. I want to use them both for modelling but I also have a race car so want to make sure it is suitable for both and not too small.

I looked into it briefly, but was put off by the price. I also think I'd end up wanting a forth axis so the price would go up again! I may go for it in the future but I really need to see just what I'd want it for first as milling is still new to me. I don't plan to make many repeat items because I'll be casting from any masters that I make.

There are some good conversion kits around and some good user sites if you need more info.

My first tweak will be a belt drive conversion as these beasts are notorious for breaking the plastic teeth if a tool stalls.

The lathe first is a good idea - I've already had to use mine to turn parts just to install the rotary table on the mill - yep, I've fallen into that model engineers trap from the get-go!

More on the install later.