Sieg X2 convertion advice

Hey guys.

So a while back i did ask about off the shelf kits, however a lot of people seem to be converting these machines themselves.

I mostly cut aluminum and would like to do light steel and my CNC 3040 just ain't/cannot cut it (pun intended)

Right now funds are VERY limited due to the MRS losing her job, but I want this to work for me to help balance out funds.

So does anyone know what the cheapest way of going about this would be?

Thanks

Craig

The cheapest (and therefore probably the worst) way to convert it would be to simply put a pulley on each axis and use that to connect stepper motors via timing belts, without changing the original leadscrews. There will be a lot of backlash and the maximum feedrate will be fairly slow, however it would still be use-able and enable you to CNC mill the parts for a better conversion using ballscrews. I put stepper motors on my mill this way, but never got round to changing to ballscrews since the router does most things the mill can do:

CNC Mill, Motor / Driver testing - YouTube

Hi craig

limited funds...
i know the feeling, i would have to admit that im in the same sort of situation. although those x2 mills have been converted by countless people and there is a hell of alot of information available regarding cnc conversions

first of all i think some more info would be useful

1) is it a standard x2 or another variant (eg sx2p etc)?
2) how confining is your budget?
3) do you have access to a lathe?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jonnydeen

Hi craig

limited funds...
i know the feeling, i would have to admit that im in the same sort of situation. although those x2 mills have been converted by countless people and there is a hell of alot of information available regarding cnc conversions

first of all i think some more info would be useful

1) is it a standard x2 or another variant (eg sx2p etc)?
2) how confining is your budget?
3) do you have access to a lathe?

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Hi there.

Its actually the Clarke variant but is identical to the base.model x2. Just colour.

Budget is actually non assistant so I'm scraping the penny jar as I go
I do own a small lathe, a hobbymat md65

Preferably either ball screw or some kind of anti backlash for the current screws is ideal

Thanks in advance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonathan

The cheapest (and therefore probably the worst) way to convert it would be to simply put a pulley on each axis and use that to connect stepper motors via timing belts, without changing the original leadscrews. There will be a lot of backlash and the maximum feedrate will be fairly slow, however it would still be use-able and enable you to CNC mill the parts for a better conversion using ballscrews. I put stepper motors on my mill this way, but never got round to changing to ballscrews since the router does most things the mill can do:

CNC Mill, Motor / Driver testing - YouTube

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I would really like to do it with ball screws but if costs rocket then some sort of anti-backlash for my current setup would be great.

My mill has quite ALOT of bacl lash i would say at least a full turn of the handle so its quite dire!