chinese minimill prices

And the Arc Euro Trade mill has just gone up to £490.

(all prices inc VAT and delivery - Chester and Warco include a vice)

Not just me up early then!!! I'm just off to bed - been working the night shift!

No idea on what's going on but these machines represent fantastic value for money. I must admit that until recently they were a joke. I looked at one a while ago when I was looking for a small mill for my daughter for conversion to CNC for jewelry. I looked at the Warco one as I imagined they would be better than Chester being that bit pricier but to be honest I couldn't see any difference. Cheap, nasty and really all you were buying was a kit of parts.

I finished up buying a Taig mill, less drive motor for £400, I dare say these have gone up in the couple of years I have had this. Nicely made, tight and it will do what's needed. No idea what the current price for a complete machine is these days.

Dislikes on the Taig are the alloy table elements, they need plenty of lubrication and are critical on adjustment, especially under CNC if you are not to loose steps one way. The Taig also has it's own spindle taper which is restrictive although they have brought an ER11 spindle out now.

Idly looking at an X-2 last week, no intention of getting one, these have now come of age. Whereas in the past they had planed beds with the ends and corners finished off by Won Hung Low with a 9" angle grinder they have been replaced by precision surface ground finishes and prepared edges. Slideways run smooth, nice dials without numerals on the piss and clear to read. More importantly they are ready out the box, no sourcing drive motors, wiring in etc like I had to do.

Do I regret buying the Taig?, not at all given what was available at the time. Would I buy another Taig today? No, I'd go for the far more rigid and heavier X-2 and convert it to CNC.

I think the main reason you don't see more of these converted is that it costs just as much to convert an X2 to CNC as a X3 and commercially it makes sense to get more for a bigger mill like the X3. If you are doing a home conversion, this doesn't apply to the same extent. Perhaps over winter I may get one for my daughter to either suppliment or replace the Taig.

John S.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

We have had the "prepared" version of the SIEG X2 on the market since October 2004 till date at =A3460.00 inc.vat, + carriage at =A330.00 =3D =A3490.00 inc.carriage. Or you can collect, for =A3460.00 inc.vat. Prepared version includes strip/clean/lubricate, upgraded control board (higher capacity MOSFET), and a captive drawbar system.

To the best of my knowledge (subject to errors), we have not advertised the prepared version at =A3430.00, as yet 14-08-05.

We have advertised "In-the-Box" version at =A3395.00 inc.vat + =A330.00 =3D =A3425.00 inc.carriage. However this has been withdrawn, mainly because the MOSFETS on the original control board used to blow in 50% of the cases. We believe that this was due to the initial power supply in the U=2EK., rather then a faulty board. In our own workshop, we have often registered power supply at around 260v. The original mosfets on these control boards are correctly set to accept 240~250v. Above this, they can blow. In the prepared version, we remove the original MOSFETS, and replace them in-house with a higher capacilty MOSFET, so now we don't experience this problem....at least for the past 14 months, from the time we adopted this policy.

Ketan

Not quite on topic but very close - X3 as opposed to X2 mills

I am considering buying a mill in the next 12 to 18 months and have been looking at the X3 as one of my options. I have been concerned with buying a Chinese mill which is fitted with a variable speed control as I have heard stories of failures of these controllers, do you also change the MOSFETS unit in the prepared X3 mills you supply?

Thanks

Dave

Er...Dave - Ketan *owns* Arc Eurotrade. ;-)

Regards, Tony

Web site address please.

Bill H Derby

Doh! Just realised its sitting in his email address.

Bill H Derby

Bloody hell I thought he drove the truck.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Dave,

Yes I do work for Arc Euro Trade Ltd. Sorry I failed to make that clear earlier.

Stories of Chinese mill controllers are slightly incorrect. Unless there is a faulty board (say 1 in 50) the only problems we have had are with the Model X2 boards, which we modify anyway.

There is no MOSFET problem with the X3 boards. However, in certain parts of the country (rural western regions mainly), we believe that there is a highly inconsistent power supply, where we have seen one or two problems, and we suggest people to get a surge protector at least. Unfortunately, we cannot regulate the power supply.

Thanks, Ketan. Arc Euro Trade Ltd.

Dave,

Yes I do work for Arc Euro Trade Ltd. Sorry I failed to make that clear earlier.

Stories of Chinese mill controllers are slightly incorrect. Unless there is a faulty board (say 1 in 50) the only problems we have had are with the Model X2 boards, which we modify anyway.

There is no MOSFET problem with the X3 boards. However, in certain parts of the country (rural western regions mainly), we believe that there is a highly inconsistent power supply, where we have seen one or two problems, and we suggest people to get a surge protector at least. Unfortunately, we cannot regulate the power supply.

Thanks, Ketan. Arc Euro Trade Ltd.

Hi John,

Funny you should say that. Will be driving a 7.5 Tonner on Thursday to Bristol Model Engineering Exhibition, and back on Sunday night.

Not really looking forward to driving it...

Ketan Arc Euro Trade Ltd.

Seven and a half tonner? that's not a truck, that's a hand barrow.

If you can't overload by a factor of three it's not worth driving

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

Maybe he _will_ be overloading it by a factor of three :-)

Mark Rand RTFM

If he has a good weekend only on hte way there!

Regards

Kevin