As expected, HF now carries Sieg X3

Is the X3 considered a good machine? On reading threads about some other mills, they seem to require a lot of initial cleaning and setup to work right. How does the X3 compare?
 
Chant said:
Is the X3 considered a good machine? On reading threads about some other mills, they seem to require a lot of initial cleaning and setup to work right. How does the X3 compare?
Click to expand...

All chinese machinery needs some tlc to make it perform adequately, Jeff. In my experience, the HF stuff is the best of the lot right now, as far as cleanliness and finish. I think it is because they have been dealing with Sieg the longest, and therefore get the better customer service from the Chinese. Others like Homier and Enco seem to get the dregs, probably because they aren't sending people over there to personally approve production runs and so on.
 
what's your opinion on this one, Jeff?
(compared to the mini-mill)
 
I have owned one for over a year now. I purchased one when there were very few in the US. You can not beat the quality for the price.
There is no setup or cleanup to speak of, but there are some machinist nuts who purchased these and insisted on taking the unit completly apart and cleaning before use.
I broke mine out of the crate, lifted it on the table with a engine puller, plugged in and started using it from day one.
Bought mine from Bob at Lathemaster.com (Baton Rouge, La) who I believe was the first to import these to the US and is a nice guy to deal with.
I paid $900+ and it was drop shipped to my door.
 
Man, it's tempting to just up and order one. But, 325lbs. How would I get it into the small shop in my basement?

I've got to convince my wife to move to the country, so I can set up a proper shop!
 
You'd need to get a couple of friends to help you.
It is rather easy though as long as you disassemble
it: remove the head assy, the column and , optionally,
the table.

The mass is good for the mill's rigidity. @ 300Lb it
is in the sweet spot: 3x of mini-mill's 100 and 1/2 of
RF45's 700

http://www.mini-lathe.com/X3_mill/X3rvw/X3.htm
 
Daniel Koster said:
what's your opinion on this one, Jeff?
(compared to the mini-mill)
Click to expand...

After reading up on this, I would say it has a lot of advantages over and above the venerable mini-mill. Its twice the price, though...

If I get myself a Bridgeport for the non-knife machining side of my business, I would get the X3 to replace my Rong Fu mill.

Rong Fu... that's just... wrong. Sounds like a bad Patrick Swazey movie. Sounds like the type of girl IG would pick up...


:foot:
 
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