[AirChunk]

I have been using a Smithy CNC 1240 for 2 years , so far so good ! I would buy another one !

[impact]

Hi all.
I was wondering about the accuracy of these machines.

Can you ream two holes for a press-fit dowel in one piece of material and two slip-fit holes in another piece about 6 in apart and mate them together without much difficulty? ie, pounding with a 10# sledge?

I can do that on my taig. I just have to take into consideration, travelling the same direction to spot the holes on each piece respectively.

This machine has ball screws and that is probably not a concern. Spot drill, drill undersized (taking into consideration material), ream at correct speed and feed and as long as you did the engineering correctly on the fit should work like butter.

[acidcustom]

the smithy cnc's seem to be HOW-MAU's going the pictures and spec's from there website so they are chinese made if anyone knows any different please say as they are cheaper on ebay by about $1000-$1200 usd just search for HOW-MAU

[ihavenofish]

the smithy cnc's seem to be HOW-MAU's going the pictures and spec's from there website so they are chinese made if anyone knows any different please say as they are cheaper on ebay by about $1000-$1200 usd just search for HOW-MAU

smithy is not how mau and how mau is not smithy. BOTH companies seem guilty of using stock photography from Sieg - as evidenced by the photos showing early prototype features.

its kinda funny, because i was playing with what appears to be the EXACT sieg-made KX1 used in those photos this morning. i had gone to see it to potentialy buy it. the price was good, and the machine is actually rather well built and rigid given the size. we measured the maximum overlimit travel and got 5.1" in the Y x 10" in the X. not bad. we stuck a heavy 4" 4th axis table on and jogged at about 30 ipm with no problem.

only had one issue... the KX3 next to it.

this is a how mau built "kx3" derivitive with a custom 4 axis gecko 203 based controller sold by novakon in toronto for $4999usd including full mach 3 and bobcad licenses. for months ive been reading about syil machines and their various issues, and these machines definitely did not fit that description. super solid, no play. precision ground ball screws with no backlash. they seem to be in a totally different leage than the retrofit super x3's.

if all goes well, i should be picking this model up friday or monday.

the how mau machines are "built by how mau". whatever that means im not sure. they are the same spec and design as sieg's machines, and may or may not use some or all of the same parts but are supposedly made in a totally different factory. it doesnt really matter to me. ive seen and poked at the machine in person, and i think its very very nice for the money.


ill post all sorts of information when it shows up and i get it cutting.

[Crevice Reamer]

So you are buying the KX3? Congratulations! I look forward to reading your reviews.

CR.

[ihavenofish]

So you are buying the KX3? Congratulations! I look forward to reading your reviews.

CR.

thats the current plan. working out details today, with luck, it will be delivered either friday, saturday or monday. i may actually go pick it up myself, since they are local. it seems whoever designed the crating knew this would have to fit through apartment doors.. 28" wide

[Crevice Reamer]

That crate will weigh about 500 pounds. You will want to round up some help. I hope your apartment building has an elevator.

A flat dolly comes in handy to roll it around.

Are you going to reinforce the apartment floor? Maybe a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood?

CR.

[ihavenofish]

That crate will weigh about 500 pounds. You will want to round up some help. I hope your apartment building has an elevator.

A flat dolly comes in handy to roll it around.

Are you going to reinforce the apartment floor? Maybe a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood?

CR.

crate is said to weigh 400lbs, machine is 375. i have a dolly and a helper to get it loaded safely in the elevator.

so no issues getting it inside. it will sit on an mdf sheet on top of a foam dampening layer to both protect the floor and dampen noise. i wont be using the stand which is included because it seems to act as a resonator making the machine noiser. ill be boulding out a temporary mdf cabinet to keep the swarf and noise in. it wont be doing much heavy duty work while its in here and will be cutting dry.

[Crevice Reamer]

Good show! I see you have planned everything well. Please let us know how it all goes.

CR.

[uptoolateman]

I too ordered a KX3 look alike from Novakon, got my quote in october before they raised the price so I paid 4795 for the mill I also paid for the computer to be installed inside the driver box. I'm glad to hear that they actually have them there at Novakon, I assume you live in canada then. Just waiting on my shipping info right now. I was looking at the Syil as well and I could have picked one up in person and saved some shipping but their product seems like it has too many issues for the price and if I had wanted a buggy machine I would have just done a conversion myself. I want a machine that will run and not be more of a project than the projects i want to do. I have a sieg X3 manual mill and have been happy with it and know its limits so hopefully I'll be just as happy with this one.

[ihavenofish]

I too ordered a KX3 look alike from Novakon, got my quote in october before they raised the price so I paid 4795 for the mill I also paid for the computer to be installed inside the driver box. I'm glad to hear that they actually have them there at Novakon, I assume you live in canada then. Just waiting on my shipping info right now. I was looking at the Syil as well and I could have picked one up in person and saved some shipping but their product seems like it has too many issues for the price and if I had wanted a buggy machine I would have just done a conversion myself. I want a machine that will run and not be more of a project than the projects i want to do. I have a sieg X3 manual mill and have been happy with it and know its limits so hopefully I'll be just as happy with this one.

yeah, im in toronto canada. both me and a friend have been looking at getting small mills for years. weve gone through all the ideas of scratch building, converting, buying.. even getting a "real" machine and a shop space to put it in.

its a shame these little machines werent readily available years ago.

my visual inspection of the machines - running up the spindle, jogging, checking for noticable play, tells me they might work out just fine. they didnt have much in the way of sample parts because they had just set the demo machines up recently for a training class they are starting soon.

to me though, they struck me as very promising, and much better than i was expecting based on reading about syil machines (just isnt much first hand kx3 data out there). so we'll see how nice it ends up once i get it home. im going to run a series of tests to check alignment, acuracy and repeatability. im going to also determine flex in in the machine to basically get the "limits" of how far it can be pushed and still maintain finish quality and precision. im a bit of a noob in all this. i know alot about machinging, cnc, and such, but have never run a mill myself - always paid other people to do that. will be a fun learning experience for sure.

so you ordered in october and havent recieved yours? is that because they were waiting for the shipment to come in. it came yesterday morning

i need to find a good cheap source of R8 tooling now. ive got 2 "cheap" tool suppliers in walking distance... sadly they are missing the "good" aspect

[Crevice Reamer]

i need to find a good cheap source of R8 tooling now. ive got 2 "cheap" tool suppliers in walking distance... sadly they are missing the "good" aspect

If you are serious about production, you should invest in the Tormach Quick Change tooling:

http://littlemachineshop.com/Instruc...SheetRev-B.pdf

http://www.tormach.com/Flash/TTS_small.html

http://littlemachineshop.com/product...itFast=tormach

You don't have to start with a full set.

CR.

[ihavenofish]

If you are serious about production, you should invest in the Tormach Quick Change tooling:

http://littlemachineshop.com/Instruc...SheetRev-B.pdf

http://www.tormach.com/Flash/TTS_small.html

http://littlemachineshop.com/product...itFast=tormach

You don't have to start with a full set.

CR.

ive been considering that for the future. for the moment im just looking to get a few tools for early testing.

i just need a fly cutter, an ER20 collet chuck, and a bunch of end mills in various configurations for the first few weeks.

[uptoolateman]

I got my quote in October but didn't actually make the order until this month. I ended up mailing it in so it took a little extra time. I have the Tormach tooling already but I haven't used my machines much in the last few years, but I'm starting to get back into machining though. I'm more afraid of the CAD side of things than the machine, because I haven't had much exposure to it.

[uptoolateman]

What did you think of the metal stand, does it look fairly sturdy? The machine comes with the stand but I may end up building a stand like the Tormach site shows on how they built a DIY stand from 2x4s, plywood, body filler and epoxy paint for their prototype machine. It has built in wings for chips and coolant collection plus the way they finished it you can't even tell it's made of wood.

[ihavenofish]

What did you think of the metal stand, does it look fairly sturdy? The machine comes with the stand but I may end up building a stand like the Tormach site shows on how they built a DIY stand from 2x4s, plywood, body filler and epoxy paint for their prototype machine. It has built in wings for chips and coolant collection plus the way they finished it you can't even tell it's made of wood.

the stand was ok, they had the kx1 on it and it seems to amplify the noise of the spindle. its not a very heavy duty stand, but not crap either. the chip tray for the machine is somewhat small though compared to the massive one on the tormach. it also has a table guard which seemed ok but too low to be really usefull. probabaly something i will remove.

[uptoolateman]

I'll probably end up building a stand then in the future, did you look at the stand they built on the tormach site? If you go under the stands tab there's a description for the DIY stand. I don't plan on using flood, but I will be making my own version of the fogbuster mist coolant system that i can use software or manual control with to either blow just air at the part or both air and coolant by putting a solenoid on the air line and coolant line. The table tray looks like it may get in the way if you have the vise mounted normally and I'm looking for a vise to fit it and give the most usefulness. I have a 3" screwless vise on my X3 now but I think a 4" screwless or a 3 to 4" kurt style vise would be better. I'm also thinking about getting the tooling plate that is made by A2Z cnc for the micro mill because it's 5.7" x15" and it has a mount for the sherline rotary table built into it. I really like my sherline cnc rotary table (probably the best small rotary table on the market) and hope to adapt it to the novakon driver box.

[uptoolateman]

Ihavenofish did you get your mill yet?

[ihavenofish]

Ihavenofish did you get your mill yet?

no, i did not. no fault of theirs though
was waiting on a lease, but the lease company annoyed me. i might just say f** it and pay cash. i have to work out some things this week.

the other issue is that the guy gave me the wrong crate size originally, and it is in fact 39" x 40" x 40" so it will not fit through my door. will need to be removed from teh crate.

ill figure this all out

[Crevice Reamer]

Wow! Bummer on the crate size. Great idea on the tool plate!

CR.