[Greolt]

Have you seen this.

Apparantly Seig are making an X3 designed from the ground up to be CNC

It comes already fitted with ballscrews and steppers but no control gear. You fit that yourself.

This link is a posted by a company that is selling it in the Philipines.

They have fitted control gear and running it on Mach3

http://www.artsoftcontrols.com/forum...p?topic=3446.0

There is nothing on the seig site as yet.

Looks a very good concept. Much better than a converted X3.

Rigid single purpose head. No quill. Spindle takes collets directly.

Way covers and coolent tray buit in.

Not sure whether the oiler is added by them or original.

The picture is taken from their thread and credit goes to them.

Greg

[romteb]

Rigid single purpose head. No quill. Spindle takes collets directly.

Way covers and coolent tray buit in.

Not sure whether the oiler is added by them or original.

Looks very promising, certainly something people around here would buy.

I especially love the no quill part.

[Deviant]

Oh the irony. Just starting installing my ballscrew conversion on the x3 last night.

*laffs*

[S_J_H]

especially love the no quill part.

Why would you love having no quill? I can see giving it up but certainly there is no advantage to not having it. The quill certainly is very rigid when locked.
My x3 is converted and I still use the quill all the time. If you ever plan on using the mill manually with cnc control, the quill is a must IMHO.
Steve

[Deviant]

I'd love to have the no quill options. More so in a fully cnc machine. It's just one more thing to work lose and potentially throw off the tool height. As I plan on having a quick change system.

In fact, if it's an option. I'd like to buy that head and put it on my x3.

Less is more in my mind. Which is why I wasn't interested in the super x3. I don't have a need for a tilting head.

Either way. I'm definitely curious to see the final offering.

[digits]

Why would you love having no quill? I can see giving it up but certainly there is no advantage to not having it. The quill certainly is very rigid when locked.
My x3 is converted and I still use the quill all the time. If you ever plan on using the mill manually with cnc control, the quill is a must IMHO.
Steve

It may be rigid when locked, but I would have thought that not having it there at all could be even more rigid, as it would both eliminate an extra source of spindle movement and allow for more solid castings and/or larger main spindle bearings to be used.

Out of interest, what operations do you do 'manually' on your mill? IHMO, even for drilling a single hole, it's easier to just punch the coordinates into a wizard and hit go.

[Greolt]

Less is more in my mind. Which is why I wasn't interested in the super x3. I don't have a need for a tilting head.

I too wish this had been available when I purchased my SX3 and the rigid head I see as a plus.

However what I would miss is the tapping facility that's built into the SX3.

So it just goes to show how one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Greg

[S_J_H]

Sorry guys I have to disagree. Do you guys have x3's?
The quill is VERY rigid! There is at least .0005" clearance at all times in the gibs. The endmill flexes etc. The quill locked "at the top" is of no concern at all and poses no issues at all on this mill. It's just a 300lb mill. You will never have the power or forces to even think about making the quill a liability on a x3 mill.
You'll need a monster stepper to equal the power of manually using the quill for drilling. I'll bet anybody here I can slam out a hole faster in steel of any size using the quill manually than you can with a stepper driven screw on a x3 mill. Unless you plan on putting a 1000oz inch motor on there good luck.

I have a x3 and it performs very well under cnc control for the z-axis. I am just being honest though. No way in heck my z axis with a 425oz stepper with 2:1 reduction and 10TPI screw compares to the force of manually using the quill.

out of interest, what operations do you do 'manually' on your mill? IHMO, even for drilling a single hole, it's easier to just punch the coordinates into a wizard and hit go.

"Manually" doesn't mean I move the table with handwheels.
It is often said the best manual mill is a cnc mill!
Lot's of things. Right now I am building a cnc lathe from scratch. The surface of the bed is 1" thick steel and I am drilling it at 2.364" intervals with a .25" drill. The plate is 24" long so it needs to be relocated on the table and indicated back in after 15" X travel( max for my x3). So it needs plenty of manual attention anyhow.
It is much faster to just cnc jog the table at 2.364" intervals and use the quill to drill through the 1" steel than to program an entire cycle and peck drill it. I could have a beer and a smoke before a g-code cycle was finished.
Just one example. There are many more.

If you never use your mill for anything but G-code then I understand there is no need for a quill and then, yes I do agree less is more. But I kind of thought most guys with a benchtop cnc mill use it manually( cnc style manually) now and then and in that case you'll sorely miss not having a quill IMO. Maybe I am wrong to think this.

Steve

[P Riedie]

Read this article, near the bottom, where he chickens out pushing 130 Kg, that's #286 just using a 218 oz/in motor on the X of an X3.

http://www.jeffree.co.uk/pages/x3-to-cnc.html

PR

[askman]

looks like smithy cnc machine, which is supposedly made by sieg. check them out.

[S_J_H]

Read this article, near the bottom, where he chickens out pushing 130 Kg, that's #286 just using a 218 oz/in motor on the X of an X3.

Sounds impressive eh? Well not if you want to compare it to a manual driven screw with just a 5" handwheel.
Take a .2 pitch ballscrew and put a 5" handwheel on it. The leverage is now 78.54 : 1. Assume we have a string bean behind the handwheel and can only muster up 10 ft/lbs( weak!!) of force at the handwheel. Well now we still have 785 lbs at the screw. But most manual screw drives will have a lot more leverage than that.
A 500oz/inch motor is equal to 2.6lbs/ft. I trust everybody here is quite a bit stronger than that! Take a look at a small arbor press rating and think quill.

Steve

[Pretorien]

looks like smithy cnc machine, which is supposedly made by sieg. check them out.

Yes, the specs are identical to the Smith 622 - the smithy is available in 3 flavors from "bare bones" mechanical bits only to fully finished with software - $2800 - $6000. The baby - about X2 size looks interesting also - all mechanicals (ball screws, steppers etc.) - under $2000 - but only 5K RPM spindle speed.

EM

[Greolt]

My converted SX3 has 410mm X and 160mm Y travel.

This one has only 230mm X and 140mm Y travel

Wonder if they have dual nuts on the ball screws like Syil's do.

Greg

[S_J_H]

My conversion has 380mm X and 200mm Y. I use dual preloaded ballnuts on mine. Unless that is a misprint there is no reason to limit the x travel like that. The Y axis I can understand if they did not want to use spacer blocks and drill the column for screw clearance.

Steve

[romteb]

Why would you love having no quill? I can see giving it up but certainly there is no advantage to not having it. The quill certainly is very rigid when locked.
My x3 is converted and I still use the quill all the time. If you ever plan on using the mill manually with cnc control, the quill is a must IMHO.
Steve

I have a X2 and have never been in a situation where whished i had a quill.

I don't see why i would want the Over-Engineering, added cost and potential rigidity problems associated.

I can see though that if you lack a handle on the Z axis after the conversion a quill would come in handy.

[S_J_H]

I have a X2 and have never been in a situation where whished i had a quill.

Please clarify that sentence for me.

Is your x2 cnc'd and you removed the rack and pinion drive which acts as the "quill" on the x2?.

Steve

[romteb]

Please clarify that sentence for me.

Is your x2 cnc'd and you removed the rack and pinion drive which acts as the "quill" on the x2?.

Steve

My X2 is not cnc'd.

Why would i remove teh pinion and rack if i convert it and still intend to use it manually.

Not sure i understand what clarification you want, excuse my english.

[S_J_H]

romteb, you said you have never had the need or wish for a "quill" on your x2. Well I also happen to have a x2 as well as my x3. You see the x2 and x3 are very different. The x3 uses a screw to raise and lower the head. It also has a quill which is a rack and pinion drive for the spindle useful for drilling etc. It's fast and can exert a lot of Z force to the tool.

The x2 has no screw and uses a rack and pinion to raise and lower the head for jobs such as drilling and to get the head in the general position needed for the job at hand.
In essence the rack and pinion drive on the x2 is sort of like a quill except the entire head is moved instead of just the spindle.

So of course you don't need or wish for a quill on a x2 as it already has that function.
Add a lead screw and get rid of your rack and pinion. See how long you like using it with just a lead screw.Then you will know what it is like to not have a "quill" function.
The most powerful stepper you can fit to a x3 is no match for using the quill manually for jobs such as heavy drilling.
So unless you never plan on using the mill manually the quill is a very welcome feature on the machine. And when I say manually I mean with cnc control. Some people fail to realize the awesome potential you have using the mill manually under cnc control.
Steve

[P Riedie]

The most powerful stepper you can fit to a x3 is no match for using the quill manually for jobs such as heavy drilling.

Surely the limitation on the X3 isn't the Z axis stepper but the size of drill and spindle motor Hp that this small machine can produce.

They are hardly made for belting 1" holes through cold rolled plate

PR

[S_J_H]

Surely the limitation on the X3 isn't the Z axis stepper but the size of drill and spindle motor Hp that this small machine can produce.

Maybe that is true on my x2 but not my x3.
On my x3 with a 425oz motor, 2:1 belt reduction and 10tpi screw, The stepper is the weaker link without a doubt on the z-axis. It will lose steps everytime if I try and push the z-axis to hard when drilling. The motor has plenty of power to push a 3/4" drill bit through steel with the quill. Never tried a 1" drill bit though.
Look, all I am saying is the quill comes in handy even when the machine is cnc'd.
Steve