The KX-1 and KX-3 are Sieg's benchtop purpose-built CNC machines. Despite the names I don't think they share much iron with the X1 or X3, just roughly similar dimensions. They're carried by a variety of sellers but LittleMachineShop.com in the US is the first that comes to mind.
I've built 5 small CNC machines over the past few years and am sick of it. Next time around, I want someone else worrying about where to put home switches so they don't get bathed in coolant and chips. I could be tempted into EMC'ing an older VMC with a dead control though, that's more the sort of work I enjoy. But building the first few from scratch was a good education for a recovering liberal arts major like me. If you're looking to carve wood, are you planning to mount a router on the head? You really want 20k RPM for those carbide bits to give optimum results. Also, do you have the CAD/CAM side figured out at all? You're looking at 3D toolpaths at minimum, and maybe simultaneous 4-axis ones, and that takes you out of most of the simple/cheap CAM options. Simultaneous 4-axis the cheapest thing I know of is Sprutcam, and it starts in the thousands and isn't exactly famed for ease of use. At least that's my understanding--more experienced folks may know better. On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM, gene heskett <ghesk...@wdtv.com> wrote: > On Thursday, February 24, 2011 02:07:22 pm Colin K did opine: > > > $5k sounds like a good guess. At that point I'd start looking at a KX3 > > instead, and get a machine with the hard work done. > > Link? > > > > > I upgraded from an X1 micro mill to an X2. It was the biggest thing I > > could squeeze in and significantly smaller than the G0704. It was a > > meaningful upgrade for me and took the pucker factor out of aluminum > > work. The Grizzly fixes the stock X2's biggest sin which is the > > minuscule Y travel. It won't push as many chips as an Rf-45 type, but I > > think it will still be a real quality of life upgrade for a micro mill > > owner. > > > The X3 family doesn't have the X travel I'd like. I want to be able to > mount a rotary facing the x direction, lay an extension on the bed for the > far end of a gunstocks dead center, and carve each end of the stock in 3d. > With 18+ inches on the 704, I can balance the motors weight with the rotary > table on the other end, and maybe get by with it. > > Prefitted with ball screws would be nice though. > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > On Feb 24, 2011, at 12:02 PM, gene heskett <ghesk...@wdtv.com> wrote: > > > On Thursday, February 24, 2011 07:27:41 am Mark Wendt did opine: > > >> On 02/24/2011 06:45 AM, gene heskett wrote: > > >>> On Thursday, February 24, 2011 06:33:57 am Mark Wendt did opine: > > >>>> Gene, > > >>>> > > >>>> Grizzly is selling it on their web site "with" delivery for $1089. > > >>>> > > >>>> http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704 > > >>>> > > >>>> Mark > > >>> > > >>> I know that Mark. The price seems to be reasonable too, till you > > >>> check the weight. At about 300 lbs including the stand, and a table > > >>> that sized, I'm afraid it will have rigidity problems when carving > > >>> metal. I have enough of those with my expanded table micromill now. > > >>> Just a little chatter& a solid carbide mill is history, shattered > > >>> edges. > > >>> > > >>> How about the ZX45? At about 2 grand& 600+ lbs, no stand, what are > > >>> its weak points? > > >>> > > >>> How hard is fitting a decently accurate Z drive to that one? > > >> > > >> Gene, > > >> > > >> Dunno about the ZX45 much. I've heard chatter about it, but didn't > > >> really pay that much attention to it. > > >> > > >> I guess you could always bench mount the G0704 instead of using the > > >> stand. > > >> > > >> Mark > > > > > > The stand isn't going to effect column rigidity, or table sag when the > > > x is a long way off center. That is a problem now with the micromill > > > and the bigger tables. The ways are so short it gets somewhat bound > > > when the motor end is way out there. I keep them swimming in vactra, > > > and its getting better with mileage though. > > > > > > I did some googling, and it seems the ZX/RF45 are very poorly > > > finished, needing the ways lapped to remove 75% of the machine marks, > > > and everybody puts ball screws in them. One even went so far as to > > > fill the castings with epoxy granite to add mass & dampening. But he > > > used gravel as the filler, and if adding mass was the idea, a few > > > bags of lead shot would have been 2x heavier than gravel per cube. I > > > also didn't see anyone fitting air springs or just springs like on my > > > micromill to counter balance the heads weight. That seems like a no > > > brainer to me else screw wear would rapidly become a problem. But a > > > $2k ZX45, ball screws, tools and such sure seems like I'd have 4 or 5 > > > grand in it, which makes it a very expensive toy for no more time > > > than I may have left. I'd probably have the GO704 CNC'd for 2G's & > > > that makes more sense. Sure, I'll be stuck taking light cuts, but I > > > guess I'm sorta used to that now anyway. I think the motors I have > > > can probably run the GO704, and if I put wheels on the computer, it > > > can run whichever machine whose motors are plugged into the 4 axis > > > xylotex. The xylotex seems to run the 425's just as well as the > > > 262's, and I have 3 of the 425's I haven't used yet, the 4th of that > > > kit is on the micromills Z. I used the 262 I took off on the rotary > > > table. So I guess I go with the GO704, as much as I'd druther get > > > the **45 sized machine. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ------ Free Software Download: Index, Search & Analyze Logs and other IT > > data in Real-Time with Splunk. Collect, index and harness all the fast > > moving IT data generated by your applications, servers and devices > > whether physical, virtual or in the cloud. Deliver compliance at lower > > cost and gain new business insights. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-dev2dev > > _______________________________________________ > > Emc-users mailing list > > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > > -- > Cheers, Gene > "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: > soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." > -Ed Howdershelt (Author) > <http://tinyurl.com/ddg5bz> > God gives us relatives; thank goodness we can chose our friends. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Free Software Download: Index, Search & Analyze Logs and other IT data in > Real-Time with Splunk. Collect, index and harness all the fast moving IT > data > generated by your applications, servers and devices whether physical, > virtual > or in the cloud. Deliver compliance at lower cost and gain new business > insights. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Free Software Download: Index, Search & Analyze Logs and other IT data in Real-Time with Splunk. Collect, index and harness all the fast moving IT data generated by your applications, servers and devices whether physical, virtual or in the cloud. Deliver compliance at lower cost and gain new business insights. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
