My new used Mini mill Seig x2 and Mods

[R.Anderson]

New to me a used Mini mill Seig x2 I know its not a Bridgeport like I really want but one has to live with in there means (I have no room for a real mill, yet)

I kinda feel like I paid too much for it but I had a spot for it and I wanted it. The guy was asking 450 for it I after checking it out I offered 250 bucks SOLD. The ways had very very little wear but there was alot of slop (gibs and the brass nuts were loose) This is why I feel I paid to much, I should of talked him lower cause after I got home with it I got to thinking and realized the guy had very little knowledge about this machine or any milling machine at that matter. Adrenaline/buying a new tool rush that clouds the mind I blame this on, live and learn I guess.

 

[R.Anderson]

I bought this in October so time to post a bunch of pictures, been taking pictures of the progress just have not started the thread on the mill till today.

One reason I decided to get this mill is it has a R8 spindle so when I do get a Bridgeport Ill have most of the tooling I need/want when that time comes.


Another reason I feel like I paid too much. The original motor control board has been replaced with a Dayton motor control, not a bad thing but darn ugly looking.

 

[R.Anderson]

7 R8 collets off of ebay for 21 bucks free shipping

First mod is for the base I don't like the idea of picking up/ tilting the machine to clean under it as well as there being no leveling feet. So with some 5/8" x 2 1/2" bar four hockey pucks and some nuts and bolts made leveling feet and raised the machine off the bench top.

Second mod, that darn ugly makeshift motor control and ugly e-stop. A toggle switch with a aircraft style safety snap cover some aluminum, and relocating the control board fixed this.

Third mod is for the tiny uncomfortable handle solution golf balls

 

[R.Anderson]

Tool drawer top had a little give in it had to beef it up a bit used some 2" x 1/4" flat for the front and 12" x 3/4" board for back and some 6" or 8" sides.

Replace the plastic box on the column with a aluminum one and added a plug for the power cord. There will be a better pic of this.

I move the gear rack up about a 1 1/2" to allow the head to move to the top of the column creating more z travel.


Rotary table top made from some aluminum I had laying around still need to drill and tap the hold down holes.

 

[R.Anderson]

Picture of the motor control board enclosure and power cord plug.

The column had too much give when making heavier cuts and chattering due to the stupid design of the tilting part of the column. Added a 4" x 3/8" plate with a 1" hole for the pivot bolt and welded the bottom end to the 2 1/2" x 5/8" bar with the leveling feet so every thing is bolted on and remains square. This took most of the give out taking care of the chatter and still allows the column to tilt.

The nut for the tilt. I don't have a wrench large enough for this and did not want to buy one just for this. Solution I came up with for this is to weld on three lugs for a lever to slide onto for tightening and loosening. Works great.

next soon to be mods and upgrades: DRO for each axis, so once those are installed Ill be posting on that as well. Also the piece of **** vise I have for it needs to be replace with a more suited milling vise, before I spend the money one one I'm going to attempt to cast and machine one out of aluminum.

 

[R.Anderson]

First project on the mill. Cut to hold a 1/4" lathe bit or carbide holder. 7/8" shank

 

[Garage Coffee Roaster]

Nice looking fly cutter.

Stiffening my x2 is on my list.

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

 

[JoeFin]

Nice Toy

 

[Shadowdog500]

That looks great!!!

When I bought my mini lathe the guy on the Cummins truck offered me a package deal on the mill. I kind of wish I took the deal.

People joke about these mini tools, but my mini lathe is great for small projects and has never failed to produce the parts I wanted.

Chris

 

[sasquatch12]

Agreed on the flycutter. Good thing about the mill it is R8, lots of tooling and resonably priced.
I think your'e doing ok with this mill, there are different forums on here with owners of these mills, some pretty nice work has been done on them.

 

[R.Anderson]

Nice Toy

Thanks I think not sure on how to take this your ether saying its a POS machine not worthy or you call all tools and machines Toys. Ether way I do enjoy playing/working with all my Toys/tools.

Its going to work just fine for my small projects. I Like I said its not a Bridgeport like I really want but price and size/space dictates what I can have. Also for the size, make and price of this mill it functions way better than I had expected.

 

[Cedge]

RAnderson
Don't let em get to you. These little machines don't get a lot of love. I built quite a few respectable projects, using the Seig x2. I'll admit that the day I upgraded was a very happy one, but learning on the x2 made it easy to work with better equipment. If you can hold tolerances with the x2, you will be able do wonders with a better machine. It's definitely a cheap means of seeing if you like metal and machine work. Patience, sharp tools and pre-planning your cuts are key requirements. Check the tram often.

Steve

 

[R.Anderson]

Nice looking fly cutter.

Stiffening my x2 is on my list.

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

Thanks

That was the best mod I did to this mill was stiffen the column and recommend it if you haven't.

Agreed on the flycutter. Good thing about the mill it is R8, lots of tooling and resonably priced.
I think your'e doing ok with this mill, there are different forums on here with owners of these mills, some pretty nice work has been done on them.

I would not have bought the mill if it didn't have an R8 spindle.

That looks great!!!

When I bought my mini lathe the guy on the Cummins truck offered me a package deal on the mill. I kind of wish I took the deal.

People joke about these mini tools, but my mini lathe is great for small projects and has never failed to produce the parts I wanted.

Chris

Thanks

I do say this works well with my mini lathe.

I agree alot of people say these are not worth getting and or joke about em. I'm betting most of em machine larger projects that these small mills can't handle and or have the shop space to have one.

A couple of my other exaggerated theories are:

Made in the USA tool diehards that believe USA made tools are the absolute best and believe anyone who owns tools that don't bear the stamp -MADE IN THE U.S.A.- are beneath them so they should die and burn in hell.

Everything they own is excessive in someway to compensate for something smaller (pinky wiggle) Most people in this group own a large amount of snap-on tools showcased in shadowed tool boxes and the tools they own are hand polished regularly but never used.

Remember these are exaggerated theories and NOT to be taken seriously even if they are true

 

[R.Anderson]

RAnderson
Don't let em get to you. These little machines don't get a lot of love. I built quite a few respectable projects, using the Seig x2. I'll admit that the day I upgraded was a very happy one, but learning on the x2 made it easy to work with better equipment. If you can hold tolerances with the x2, you will be able do wonders with a better machine. It's definitely a cheap means of seeing if you like metal and machine work. Patience, sharp tools and pre-planning your cuts are key requirements. Check the tram often.

Steve

What did you upgrade to?

 

[Cedge]

R.A
I started out with the x2 and the 7x 14 mini lathe from Micromark. I later upgraded to the Seig SX3 mill and C4 lathe. Both are substantially heavier, stiffer and more accurate than the smaller machines. I'm so limited on space that old American iron simply was not an option. The upgraded machines fit nicely into my work space and really made machining a lot more fun. Since both are variable speed DC motor driven, there aren't many materials they can't easily machine.

I've made surprisingly few mods to the new machines. Both the lathe and mill now have variable speed powerfeeds. I added a DRO system to the SX3, plus a spindle work light and a quill stop. The lathe got a QCTP. Not much else to do to improve their performance.

One mod you might consider for the X2 is the belt drive conversion offered at littlemachineshop.com . It made one heck of a performance difference, as did the extended Z rack and a powerfeed. I still have the modded x2, which is used for occasional secondary milling jobs and serves extra duty as an extra drill press. I wish it was R-8 instead of MT3, but the R-8 wasn't offered when I made the x2 buy.

Steve

 

[R.Anderson]

R.A
I started out with the x2 and the 7x 14 mini lathe from Micromark. I later upgraded to the Seig SX3 mill and C4 lathe. Both are substantially heavier, stiffer and more accurate than the smaller machines. I'm so limited on space that old American iron simply was not an option. The upgraded machines fit nicely into my work space and really made machining a lot more fun. Since both are variable speed DC motor driven, there aren't many materials they can't easily machine.

I've made surprisingly few mods to the new machines. Both the lathe and mill now have variable speed powerfeeds. I added a DRO system to the SX3, plus a spindle work light and a quill stop. The lathe got a QCTP. Not much else to do to improve their performance.

One mod you might consider for the X2 is the belt drive conversion offered at littlemachineshop.com . It made one heck of a performance difference, as did the extended Z rack and a powerfeed. I still have the modded x2, which is used for occasional secondary milling jobs and serves extra duty as an extra drill press. I wish it was R-8 instead of MT3, but the R-8 wasn't offered when I made the x2 buy.

Steve

I considered the belt drive upgrade from LMS but I don't think the mill is all that loud when running in high gear and I'm fine with the RPM. The Z rack I raised so the head moves all the way to the top of the column. When its down far as it goes the end of the spindle is about 3" from the table so with a vise or the rotary table its more than close enough. Power feed I may have a take at making one. I have not done any boring with the mill yet and I'm thinking I may need/want to add a handle to the Z fine feed to make it easier and smoother.

I have the QCTP from LMS for my 7"x10" and like it. I have been looking at the 14" bed extension kit from LMS https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1928&category=1070498684
I also been thinking about a independent four jaw chuck.

Its nice to know that I'm not the only one limited with space for machines.

By any chance have you look into changing out the MT3 spindle to a R8?

Thanks for the feedback Steve.

 

[R.Anderson]

More mods with some parts laying around (leftover brake line air HVAC air solenoid, adjustable air flow valve, and other misc parts) I made this for blowing chips away and for cooling. I wired it so I can turn the air ON with the mill off, "AUTO" turns on when I turn the mill on, or OFF. A Tee handle Allen wrench for the vise and a spindle lock pin chained to a draw bar wrench.

 

[R.Anderson]

Installed IGaging DROs. Only have the X and Y axis ones installed so far. Working on coming up with a way I like to install the Z axis DRO. The X and Y DROs work great, tested em on 1-2-3 blocks and were dead on. I also finally got myself a decent vise to use, I just need to make proper hold down clamps for it.

 

[69supercj]

Great thread, keep it coming!!

 

[zoltank]

Any updates?

Since you already have the iGaging DROs installed, you may want to look into the Android DRO project. It uses an Arduino or Ti Launchpad to manage the iGaging scales, and output the data on an Android device of your choice (I use my old phone). It makes for a very nice setup.

You may also want to consider getting the solid column upgrade from LMS as it's stiffer and a lot harder to knock out of tram:
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4483

 

[Troutsqueezer]

My question is what have you made on this machine?

 

[ADSR]

Those are nice little machines.

I'm still looking for a used one myself.

 

[R.Anderson]

Any updates?

Since you already have the iGaging DROs installed, you may want to look into the Android DRO project. It uses an Arduino or Ti Launchpad to manage the iGaging scales, and output the data on an Android device of your choice (I use my old phone). It makes for a very nice setup.

You may also want to consider getting the solid column upgrade from LMS as it's stiffer and a lot harder to knock out of tram:
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4483

Made the vise hold downs and thats it so far. Time for working on it is very limited between taking care of my two 19mth daughters, work, and getting the house and property ready to sell next year. Bought some land and planning on building a new house and a much larger shop (40'x50' vs one car garage weld shop and half a basement Machine, tool, electronics shop) next year as well.
So time is going to be limited for a while for hobby projects. The good news in all that is I be getting a NEW BIGGER Shop all under one roof

Still have the z-axis scale to install yet. Have searched a little to see if anyone has done kinda similar with a PIC microcontroller, have all the hardware for that just not the programing skills yet. Has for the column considered it but far as I can tell only have +- .0015" when I have the head set at the heights where I have done most of my cutting so far. For now what I need thats plenty good.

My question is what have you made on this machine?

The vise hold downs, fly cutter, plate/jig table for grinder for lathe bits, some surface jobs on a couple of name plates, custom wire bending, and crimp pliers and alot of sample/test cuts for practice and to see what I can do with it. Time for hobby work is very limited and seems when I needed a mill for making parts for other jobs I did I didn't have one, now I have one and have not needed it since strange how that works.

I plan on making some plastic injection molds with it after I get the z-axis scale installed and thats when I get time.

 

[Nelson58]

Notwithstanding their size, these small machines are capable of doing very nice work. Congrats on the new shop. Don't forget to post some progress photos.

 

[Troutsqueezer]

I've shown these model engines and others on several threads here already. They were made using Sieg (HF) mini-mill and lathe. Like any major tool in the machine shop, the tooling costs much more than the lathe or mill.

 

[R.Anderson]

I've shown these model engines and others on several threads here already. They were made using Sieg (HF) mini-mill and lathe. Like any major tool in the machine shop, the tooling costs much more than the lathe or mill.





Fantastic work someday I would like to take on such projects, maybe when I retire. I really like the looks of the two tone fly wheels, steel and aluminum.

Is that a phono plug boot and a banana jack bezel for your ignition wire assembly?

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Start simple, like I did with this oscillating steam engine. Then work your way up. No hurry.

 

[R.Anderson]

Start simple, like I did with this oscillating steam engine. Then work your way up. No hurry.

How many have a made so far?

 

[Troutsqueezer]

How many have a made so far?

Around a dozen. I thought I would produce more after retiring two years ago but the opposite has occurred. I still keep the rust off the machines though.

 

[Troutsqueezer]

Fantastic work someday I would like to take on such projects, maybe when I retire. I really like the looks of the two tone fly wheels, steel and aluminum.

Is that a phono plug boot and a banana jack bezel for your ignition wire assembly?

Thanks. You have a good eye, that's exactly what they are. The phono boot was replaced with something more appropriate after the pic was taken.

I needed the steel on the wheels for momentum since this is a hit and miss engine. The weight of the wheels need to carry the piston and valves through six cycles or so without combustion.