[aarongough]

Hey all!
It's recently come to my attention that the BF20 mills are made by a company in China called 'Weiss'. The 7x12 lathes and X1,X2,X3 mills are made mostly by a company in China called Sieg.

I own a 7x12, and I've also owned (for short periods of time) both an X2 and an X3. I've never been particularly impressed by the fit and finish on any of these machines...

The other day though I had a chance to get up close with a BF20... This thing looks like a totally different animal. The fit and finish look great and everything on it was very smooth, and this was a machine that had come straight out of a crate!

My question is: are all Weiss machines better than their Sieg counterparts?

I'm asking because I recently noticed that Busy Bee are actually selling a number of Weiss made lathes (re-branded as Craftex) and they look pretty good.

I'm interested in hearing people's opinions. Any experiences with the machines and availability of tooling and parts would be useful too!

Most people have seen the standard Sieg machines (7x12 lathes, X1, x2, X3) so here's some links to Weiss machines:

Buy Craftex CX-Series Metal Lathe 12Inch x 28Inch With Digital Readout - CX701 from Busy Bee Tools

Buy Craftex CX-Series Milling Machine With Digital Readout - CX601 from Busy Bee Tools

[hoss2006]

Yes they are, we've been saying the bf20 is better than siegs for quite some time.
Precision Mathews carries the lathes too.
PM1030
There are plenty of other suppliers and manufacturers as you can find on my main page.
g0704.com
The number of g0704 threads should give you a clue as to the popularity of the bf20 mills.
Hoss

[aarongough]

s

Yes they are, we've been saying the bf20 is better than siegs for quite some time.
Precision Mathews carries the lathes too.
PM1030
There are plenty of other suppliers and manufacturers as you can find on my main page.
g0704.com
The number of g0704 threads should give you a clue as to the popularity of the bf20 mills.
Hoss

Hey Hoss!
Thanks, it was actually your site that put me onto the Weiss connection...

The mills are clearly much better than the equivalent Sieg versions. I am more wondering about their lathes... Are the Weiss lathes better than their Sieg equivalents too?

Sorry, I wasn't terribly clear about that in my original post, it's been a long couple of weeks!

[BAMCNC.COM]

How did you just notice? You've been a member for along time.

[aarongough]

How did you just notice? You've been a member for along time.

Never really had much of a chance to see these things in person until recently.... Also until about 6 months ago my main interest was CNC routers, rather than metalworking gear. Now I'm looking into both!

[BAMCNC.COM]

And I'm doing the opposite of you now, haha

[LongRat]

Certainly the Weiss lathes I have looked at in person have been a reflection of the mills. Generally much nicer than the Sieg machines in pretty much every way. Maybe someone who owns both can compare them in use.

[aarongough]

Certainly the Weiss lathes I have looked at in person have been a reflection of the mills. Generally much nicer than the Sieg machines in pretty much every way. Maybe someone who owns both can compare them in use.

That's good to hear! I don't have any stockists close by so I can't go and look, when the time comes to shell out for a new lathe I will likely be looking at Weiss machines first (if I can't find something awesome used).

[arowana-lee]

Certainly the Weiss lathes I have looked at in person have been a reflection of the mills. Generally much nicer than the Sieg machines in pretty much every way. Maybe someone who owns both can compare them in use.

7x12 by SIEG is my first lathe and become newbie, Now owned WEISS WM210V & BF20 clone mill, In my runway, SIEG can gave you a start point at lower price, but that's just begin.

SIEG has a ton of accessories, standard alone or custom make SPEC.
I also waste a lot of money on SIEG accessories like QTCP, ..etc..,

WEISS brand just a machine, Accessories no to much but adequate, Some parts or modify method can exchange with other brand like WARCO, In SIEG, I can't see this way.

I suggest if you do a lot of modify RC model parts, hardcode metalwork, choice WEISS, opposite side, choice SIEG :cheers: