Hi folks.

I recently received delivery of a new Axminster/Sieg SX4. I've run a few parts out of it and it's about as friendly as I thought it would be, balancing that fine line between really good and crap!

It's not a huge machine so I should cut it some slack. It's the largest I could find that I could operate safely from a wheelchair, so it's what I can use and what I have to get used to. Anyway....

Problems I need to overcome...
* I bought the x axis feed motor, it works, ish, but makes accurate manual use of the x slide bloody difficult.
* The x/y/z locks are the kind of afterthought that would embarrass a 20 year old guitar student not getting the g string joke!
* The lead screws are actually one of the good points of the machine, very smooth and not a lot of slack, until that x axis motor was added anyway, but I'd like to upgrade to ball screws.
* And generally the machine needs to be a bit more accurate. I've micro'd as much as I can but each time I use it I find something is just a little bit out in a different direction. The vice/vise is top quality, heavy and well locked down so that's not the problem, and I've had a lot of experience, there's just a bit too much slack everywhere.

I would like to send it to a refurb shop to regrind and set everything properly, but that isn't going to happen for a while.

I've used big machinery before, very big, this isn't that! And I need some advice on upgrades, fixes, changes, tweaks and just where to whack this thing with a hammer to get the best out of it.

All and any advice very gratefully recevied.
Thanks.