Sieg SX4

[dazp1976]

Hi all,

New fish here..... I’m just getting into this arena as I want to end up designing and building custom motorcycles.... then I fell down the rabbit hole of cnc milling!

I quite fancy a Sieg SX4 but when I emailed Arc Eurotrade they said they don’t offer it. The SX3 and SX3.5 just look a tad too small.

Has anyone every ordered one through Alibaba? Is the SX4 a decent mill or is there a reason Arc avoid it?

I’m of course going to look to convert it to CNC once I’ve learnt the manual art of milling.

Thanks for any help you can send my way.

Spaghetti.

Haven't bought from there personally.
I don't like the sound of the Y axis travel on the SX3 at all and didn't fancy another Seig to replace my old X2.
I recently decided on an AMAT25LV from Amadeal that has a Y axis of 185mm. Needed a few mods though to truly achieve that size. I have now expanded it to 205mm and once I fit a 15mm spacer behind the head I can truly use the entire travel. Haven't actually used the machine yet as it's still in the conversion process.

Might be worth considering machines like the AMAT30LV, Toolco WM30B or Warco WM18.
Just to have a look at them like. You could likely expand Y a further 20mm if needed.

[Spaghetti Masters]

Hi Dazp....


Thanks for that.

The SX4 is much bigger piece of kit than the SX3, which is why I wanted one.

Maybe there’s some pent up demand given no one imports them..... was thinking I could buy in bulk!

[dazp1976]

Hi Dazp....


Thanks for that.

The SX4 is much bigger piece of kit than the SX3, which is why I wanted one.

Maybe there’s some pent up demand given no one imports them..... was thinking I could buy in bulk!

I reckon when there's little to no supply there's little demand which is a red flag to me.
Spindle speed lets the SX4 down a bit for cnc use.
The 3 machines I mentioned at the bottom of my post have 210-220 mm Y axis which is fairly reasonable and can likely be expanded a little with adjustments to head and base. The X travels are around the 600mm mark.

[cropwell]

Axminster advertise the SX4. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminste...ll-digi-505108

[Spaghetti Masters]

Hi Cropwell,

I did see the SX4 that Axminster do burn its soooo steep... I reckon I can land a machine in this country for £2.5k.

Thanks for your reply though.

Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree.

Thanks for your replies all.

[hebs]

The SX4 is definitely an upgrade from any of the other Sieg mills, is it much more rigid and starts to cross the boundary from mini mill to decent size bench mill - yes spindle speed is not ideal but that can be fixed to a limit.

Axminster may have a few more of their SX4's without DROs. They have removed them from their catalogue and I managed to pick up one for £2k. They only advertise the version with DRO now. If you give them a call you may be lucky.

The spindle speed is an issue but the stock bearings are good for up to 7k rpm so a pulley change will solve that. If you want to go higher than 7k then there are better bearings available.

I've converted mine with Clearpath servos and Centroid Acorn controller.

So far so good, have managed to make a few parts but still have a lot of modifications to make- including getting closer to the 7k rpm target and waiting for the correct length ballscrews to arrive (got sent a short Y axis and bent Z axis).

I considered AMADEAL and visited them in London - nice people but they didn't have the AMAT45 (SX4 size) in stock and their gear head versions are too noisy (got to keep the wife happy). Thats the same reason I didn't go for the Warco - variable speed is easy to control with the Centroid Acorn.

[Spaghetti Masters]

Hi Hebs,

Thanks for that info; that’s really useful. Great to know someone else is out there converting one.

Would be great to receive updates as you proceed.

I’ve had to pause the mill purchase as I’m moving house but I love the tip about Axminster.

Good luck with your conversion, it looks the part.

Thanks again.

[dlewis69]

The SX4 is definitely an upgrade from any of the other Sieg mills, is it much more rigid and starts to cross the boundary from mini mill to decent size bench mill - yes spindle speed is not ideal but that can be fixed to a limit.

Axminster may have a few more of their SX4's without DROs. They have removed them from their catalogue and I managed to pick up one for £2k. They only advertise the version with DRO now. If you give them a call you may be lucky.

The spindle speed is an issue but the stock bearings are good for up to 7k rpm so a pulley change will solve that. If you want to go higher than 7k then there are better bearings available.

I've converted mine with Clearpath servos and Centroid Acorn controller.

So far so good, have managed to make a few parts but still have a lot of modifications to make- including getting closer to the 7k rpm target and waiting for the correct length ballscrews to arrive (got sent a short Y axis and bent Z axis).

I considered AMADEAL and visited them in London - nice people but they didn't have the AMAT45 (SX4 size) in stock and their gear head versions are too noisy (got to keep the wife happy). Thats the same reason I didn't go for the Warco - variable speed is easy to control with the Centroid Acorn.

That looks nice. I am working on mine now. Mostly up and running Can you tell me more about your upgrades to get higher RPM? I can't seem to find a 8krpm BLDC motor.