Just pondering the easily available options and looking for opinions...

Sieg X1, for anyone who doesn't know: http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...Super-X1L-Mill

CNCing this little beast was a fun exercise resulting in quite a tough and willing little machine. But it does flex, the head droops, the gibs and screws are not designed for the relentless movements encouraged by CNC making adjustment a constant necessity and the spindle is limited to 2,000 rpm. As such I don't want to spend too much more money on it but since the next step up will cost something over £1,500, well, this is where your all important opinions come in

I want to mess with some higher spindle speeds up to 24k - 30k appears reasonable, partly for PCBs but with a view to machining aluminium in less time than it takes to watch the entire first season of Game of Thrones - slight exaggeration here. The options so far considered...

In an ideal world I'd find a ER20/ER16 (8mm shank is a nice size) spindle exactly 50mm in diameter which would be a drop in replacement for the entire existing motor + head + spindle. It would drop right into this hole:
http://littlemachineshop.com/product...ory=-166688942 . It leaves me the question of how much spindle power I'd need and at the end of the day I'd still be left with a slack and wobbly machine.

Dremel
Haha, just kidding. From what I read even if the bearings are good, fixing the tool is not a repeatable process. Also highly unsuitable for side milling?

Proxxon IB/E
http://www.proxxon.com/us/html/38481.html
Repeatable tool mounting, low runout, not so expensive, light weight so could be used as a second spindle. Low powered, limited shank diameter, but may be ok for light milling? Not something I can move on to a bigger machine, at least not with any real value.

Chinese 0.8KW water cooled
Worst value, at lease size wise, for money out of the three common Chinese spindle options, getting costly but a viable device for a future machine, ER11 so limited shank size. 65mm diameter is a nice size, if I remove the X1 head etc and side mount on remaining spindle housing or even chop the end off the housing and do a proper job. Also weighing about 2.5kg (?) it fits well within the approx 15lbs weight of the existing assembly.

Chinese 1.1KW water cooled
Priced about the same as the 0.8, larger and therefore not quite so comfortable a fit at 80mm diameter, still ER11. In the end all I gain is more weight at approx 4.5kg. Still, perhaps more viable for a future machine.

Chinese 2.2KW water cooled
Not much more expensive than 0.8. I have no idea how much electrical noise this would put into my domestic mains, though I doubt I'd ever be close to its full power. 80mm diameter may be worth the hassle for the sake of the ER20 collets, here I guess I'd need to buy a 7mm collet to take 1/4" tools. Weight, about 5.5kg so it fits into the 15lbs limit I'm imposing, still I don't know if the X1 would like that kind of weight side mounted onto the existing spindle housing. Also, 2.2kw on an X1, are there any safety concerns?

As for the future machine? It's in progress, but I admit, it always has been :whistling:. At the moment it's a 500x500 fixed gantry :)

All ideas welcome