Sieg spares

The X0 mill isn't supplied with an XY table, and afaik it never has been. Are you thinking of the X1 micro-mill?

If it's an X1 you could try littlemachineshop.com, but they only do parts for X1 and larger mills. Also they are 'merkins.

X1 nuts are $11.95 each, so two should just get under [1] the £18 tax limit on imported goods parcels [2].

[1] though watch out as HMRC or whatever the call themselves these days use their own dollar-pound exchange rates, available on their website if you have a few days to spare finding it [2] the tax itself is small, but the handling/collection charge is £8 plus depending on carrier - USPS is usually best

-- Peter Fairbrother

[...]

Aargh, spoke too soon. I see AET do supply a separate XY table for the X0 mill.

I don't know who makes it, but I don't think it's by Sieg. Did you ask Ketan?

Alternatively, can you post dimensions etc including the leadscrew thread?

-- Peter Fairbrother

I read somewhere that Machine Mart do some Sieg bits. H

Peter.

Yes I have spoken to Ketan, and yes AET did supply the table, and no AET can not supply the nuts. However, further testing since I first wrote revealed that the nuts are not worn significantly, what I am detecting was just the inherent slack in the thread that has no compensation for backlash. I have just sketched a design of double nut with jacking screws similar to those on my Myford lathe, though the link you showed in your other post would be an alternative idea. Whether I can make it is another matter altogether!

Regards Cliff.

Hi Cliff,

I cant recall having this conversation with you. May be this was some time ago, or, may be I am starting to forget things....sign of things to come :-)

Anyway, you are right, we do not keep the nuts. We have been selling the said XY table for the X0 for about five years, and so far, no one has asked me for them (unless I have forgotten).

The said table is made by a SIEG Group factory.

We do keep nuts for the SX1 because people such as Richard Bartlet of Compucut add an extra nut when converting the said mills to CNC.

Thanks, Ketan at ARC or AET

Sorry Ketan. It's my memory that is at fault, not yours. It was you I spoke to regarding the motor problem, and Ian regarding the nuts.

Regards, Cliff.

After much laborious measurement and sketching, I made one split nut for the table today, and on testing with some spare 6 mm studding it all seemed to work as hoped. Two 8 BA screws to jack the two halves of the nut apart took up the backlash nicely, and the threaded operating and mounting holes all seemed to line up as they should with the other components, but the leadscrew just would not engage. Gentle persuasion got me nowhere, and then after thirty minutes the penny dropped:- the leadscrew had a left hand thread! After another couple of hours I had made a new leadscrew with right hand thread, assembled it, and successfully tested it, so the other one must wait until tomorrow.

What puzzles me is why one leadscrew should have a LH thread, while the other has a RH thread. I had previously found the table would not always go in the expected directions when the screws were operated but never thought it through to the logical conclusion, assuming instead that I was being cack-handed. Very strange.

Cliff Coggin.

Cliff Coggin.

[...]

I didn't know that, obviously, though afaict Sieg is more a loose affiliation than a single company - is that correct?

Anyway, back to leadscrew nuts. Sieg sometimes do a strange version of backlash adjustment, which I haven't seen elsewhere, and which may be the method used on the table - they rock the nut.

This is best-known on the cross-slide of the C3 mini lathe, where there are three adjusting screws. The center one acts as a pivot, and the two outside ones rock the nut up and down.

This is not as good as a split nut, as only portions of the sides of the nut is engaged, and it will wear faster, but it can provide low backlash for a while - however in practice backlash tends to increase quite quickly if it's set to a 100/th mm or so, and a split nut can do much better, retaining

It is a complex picture. From a Western point of view, it is best to regard it as divisions or departments of a single company - SIEG. It is anything but loose, and probably far better managed and controlled then before.

Well the Taigs have left and right hand threads to get the tool moving in the right direction when you turn the handles ;)