Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Continuing the upgrade to the mill
A 3 inch wide by 2 5/8 throat swivel vice
And a optimum DRO  with magnetic readers

Dro can be set to,2 or 3 decimal points  metric or that new fangled American imperial,

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

I found the X2 great at first but as time went on it was to small . So more power would be good
Gears versus belt. Well if more power then-belt would be better .
I never stripped  gears but killed the electronics twice .
As for a different brand with a bigger table i would suggest go for it many  a time I found Y axis to small on mine which is why i grew up,
 The tilting column i never used but i did have to shim the column from to back to get it squared to the table

The X2 was great for repairing tin toys but once i got into cast engines etc it shrunk

Hope this helps

Cheers
Dennis

Dennis:

What brand of vise did you buy for your mill?

I am looking for recommendations for one that I recently acquired (the EMCO that @parallelmotion listed in the For Sale Section).

https://www.officeofsteamforum.com/classifieds-for-sale/emco-maier-mini-milling-machine-for-sale/

Hi Dennis, just a little update to my questions earlier...

I settled for the SIEG SX2 "Super" or "Plus" all depending on retailer.
Since i have ample access to larger mills, and on top got a nice discount on the machine, i figured it will assist me nicely, with the minor tasks i intend to use it for.

Have a little 7x12 China-lathe here, but somehow forgot how costly it was to equip that when it arrived...just got reminded 

As far as that stupid tiltable column goes, you´re experience matches mine completely...
Mine here was way off as well, and eventhough i swiftly managed to tune it in side to side, the forward/backward tilt will have to be shimmed, to hit that sweet spot.