New Mill and Milling Station

Erin Burke

Erin Burke

Well-Known Member
(I posted this over on BF... thought y'all might be interested as well.)

This is going to be a long, photo-intensive thread.

This year I got a smokin' tax refund and decided to pick up a couple of tools that I've always wanted. The first thing I pick up was a Millermatic 212 Mig. The second thing on my list was a bench-top mill. I decided on the Sieg X3 model sold by Grizzly (G0463). This thread chronicles some of my adventures - so far - in getting this mill.

The first step in the process was finding space, and building a station on which to place the mill. My shop is in the basement of my house and is VERY small (about 9'x21' if I remember correctly). The photo below shows the north wall of my shop before I started.
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You can see my drill press in the far left corner. The roaster on the two horses is filled with Parks 50, and right next to it is my kiln. As you can see, I have some work to do.

So I went to my local recycled cabinetry store and bought 57" of old kitchen cabinets for my new bench. While there, I also found two 1-1/2" tabletops that fit perfectly over the cabinets. I figured I'd double them up to make a nice, 3"-thick heavy-duty bench-top to support the mill's 353lbs of advertised weight. The problem with the two tabletops, however, was that they were only 1-1/2" thick around the edges. In the middle, they were only 3/4" thick. The photos below show my solution to the problem.
4668272770_3271d5e436_b.jpg

That's right... those are 2x4's in the middle. As we all know, a 2x4 is actually 1-1/2" thick... a perfect fit for the hollow space between the two table-tops. They are glued...
4668272926_ede8cb786b_b.jpg

... and screwed together. AWESOME...

And there's also a meaty surprise underneath the new top. It seemed to me that the weak point in the cabinets was between the two big drawers/doors. There was just not much support in there. So I took two lengths of 1-1/4" pipe with flanges on the ends and placed them so that they run vertically between the drawers/doors from the underside of the bench-top down to the concrete floor beneath. I wish I had taken a photo before I put the top on.

I did however take a photo of me testing the bench's load-bearing capacity... you know... just for fun. :D
4668273054_123581cb41_b.jpg

The photo speaks for itself.
 
So then I ordered the mill... and the accessories. Don't get me started on the accessories... :eek:
Packages started showing up on my doorstep yesterday... from Grizzly, Enco, and various Ebay sellers. But today - today the big crate showed up. I took the whole afternoon off from work, because the FedEx freight guys told me they would deliver between 1pm and 3pm. Turns out the truck didn't end up getting here until about 5:30. Oh well.

This is what came off the lift gate of the truck.
4667648223_2b297dd921_b.jpg

This was a much bigger crate than I had expected. :D Thankfully I have this handy red HF hand-truck. No problemo. Nothing me and a couple of friends couldn't handle, right??? Hmmm - one problem - turns out all my friends either were busy or had just had shoulder surgery. I guess when the doctor said "don't lift anything too heavy", he probably DID mean things like 450lb crates.

Still, I'm a fairly big boy. And I got this red hand-truck see.

Unfortunately, I've also got these seven stairs to overcome. Yup... that's my basement shop door down there.
4667648473_2b6531a898_b.jpg
Dang. Time to call the wife. :D

So a couple of problems presented themselves at this point:

  1. My trusty red hand-truck doesn't like to roll very well on soft grass... especially when being pushed toward the top of a steep flight of stairs.
  2. The crate just did not want to approach the stairs at the right angle. I can't really explain it clearly, but wheel divots in the grass kept making the top of the crate bang into the side of my house.
  3. When things don't go right, I get frustrated.
Fortunately my wife has a calming spirit... :rolleyes:
So she went inside while I proceeded to rip the sides off the crate... and then, all by my lonesome, I drove my new milling machine down the stairs. And guess what... I made it. Needless to say, we can never move now. We're in this house forever. :p

The next trick was getting the mill (still attached to the base of the crate) from the bottom of the stairs into my shop. The base of the crate is 30.25" wide (on the short side). My doorway is 31" wide... but only if I remove the door, which I did. With the judicious application of pipe rollers I was able to get the unit through the door. Then, I was able to tip the unit again, so my wife could slip the HF rolling base under everything.

And here is where my new X3 mill is sitting now.
4667648357_8be49e45d9_b.jpg

Now my next big task if to figure out how to get it up on the bench. :confused:

I'm thinking about renting a hydraulic scissor table, since I don't think I have enough head-height (or room) for an engine hoist. Any other ideas?

Erin
 
Go to your local neighborhood bar/ unemployment office and "hire" a couple of acquaintices or freinds (who are hiding from you). I do it every time I have heavy stuff to move. The rates are pretty cheap too. Is moving your mill worth a couple of beers and a possible good time ?:rolleyes:

I noticed years ago that its easier to get people to say yes if there's an audience involved...must be the hero factor. Also, luckily I know alot of people and where they park their lazy carcasses.:D

Good luck,
Rudy
 
I have the HF Mini Mill , I had no problems getting it on the bench as it was only 160 pounds or so , but then after I went to move it the next time , it felt heavier , perhaps it was the 1 1/2" 24" x 20" steel plate I had bolted it to once it was on the bench. :)

When the Index 55 mill left my shop , this is how it went out:
 
get a stack of 2x4s, build a tower tilting the mill back and forth while sticking a board in at a time.
 
Those scissor lifts work pretty darn good! When I built my shop I rented a big honkin' one with a tilting/locking table for lifting the sheets of OSB up and holding them against the wall while we screwed them in place. I think it cost me like $50 for the week, worth every penny. 2thumbs

Of course Rudy and Clancy's ideas will work too!

Anyway congrats on the new toy. Your line about "we can never move now" cracked me up. I feel the same way after wiring/insulating/finishing my garage shop, building my bench and so forth.
 
If it were me,I would first try and find some help,
which you have already done.If that failed,and for
safty reasons,I would rent the lift.
Hope all goes well,and you will soon be using
your new mill.Good luck my brother.

God bless,Keith
 
Before I go through all of the work to get the mill onto the benchtop, are there any final mods that I should make to the bench itself? I imagine that it is best to bolt the machine directly (and securely) to the top to effectively increase the vibratory mass of the unit... but should I also place some sort of vibration-isolating layer somewhere? Like a layer of foam flooring material between the cabinets and benchtop?
 
I think this is going to run smoother than you think. You don't want any cushion. You want it as rigid as possible. I would maybe put a sheet of steel between the mill, and the bench top mostly as kind of a drip pan. Make it easier to clean up cutting fluid, tapping fluid, WD 40, or whatever else gets flung around.
 
{Cross-posted w/ BF}

Just a quick post. I know that I already tested the bench for it's load-bearing capacity; however, in the spirit of overbuilding, I added some additional external steel framing to the end on which the mill will sit (note: as mentioned in the OP, there's already some hidden/internal 1-1/4" steel pipe supports between the two doors/drawers).

4684033776_6d698aa985_b.jpg


This is my first attempt at welding (as mentioned, I bought a welder at the same time as the mill)... so forgive the sloppy beads. I am to welding as Pamela Anderson is to acting... ;) We may be terrible... but we look good doing it. :p


clancy said:
get a stack of 2x4s, build a tower tilting the mill back and forth while sticking a board in at a time.
Click to expand...

Clancy... that idea scares me to death. :eek: I have a video in my head of a Jenga tower toppling to the floor along with my heavy new toy.


BobH said:
I would maybe put a sheet of steel between the mill, and the bench top mostly as kind of a drip pan. Make it easier to clean up cutting fluid, tapping fluid, WD 40, or whatever else gets flung around.
Click to expand...

Sounds reasonable to me. Now I just need to come up with a big sheet of steel. I have a roll of flashing here... but I think it may be a bit to thin (I'm thinking 1/16" would be reasonable).


I did end up removing the table, which I'm guessing has reduced the weight by 35-40lbs. I'm beginning to think that lifting it to the benchtop may be doable with two guys.
 
Erin how do you like your new toy I was looking into buying one myself, have you been able to test it out yet?
 
John T Wylie Jr. said:
You could also remove the XY table and lighten it enuff for 2 guys to easily lift it.
Click to expand...

Already done John. 2thumbs If I had to guess, I'd say that the table weighs in at about 40lbs... so that lightened the load a bit. I figure that the machine weighs in at a smidge over 300lbs now. I figure I'll have it up on the bench this weekend.


whiteeugene said:
Erin how do you like your new toy I was looking into buying one myself, have you been able to test it out yet?
Click to expand...

No Doug... not yet. huh1 There's a lot more set-up involved than I had planned. Right now the machine is still sitting on the floor in front of the bench much like in the last photo of post #2 (except without the XY table). I'm still trying to decide whether I want to drill all the mounting holes for the DRO installation while the unit is on the ground (on the rolling cart) or wait until it is up higher on the bench. :confused: The bench means I don't have to bend down so much, but the rolling cart means that I can spin it around to get easier access to the sides.

I'll let you know when I finally get around to testing the unit.

Erin
 
{Cross-posted w/ BF}

I spent a lot of time on this project over the weekend, and thought it was about time to post an update.

I had a friend stop by my place on Saturday to help lift the X3 up onto the bench. I had removed the table which dropped the weight by ~45lbs. It was still very heavy, but with strategic placement of a 2x4, we had it on the bench within 5-minutes.

Then I spent even more time cleaning off the red grease. I've probably put in three hours work in cleaning alone. :mad:

On Sunday night and Monday I went through the rigorous process of installing the DRO. That, I think, was the worst part of the whole process.

I had purchased one of these 3-axis DRO packages from ebay. The package comes with the mounting hardware and scales sized to fit the Sieg SX3 (which is basically the X3, but with a tilting head). Before buying the DRO kit, I had contacted other folks who had bought the same package to get their impressions. In general, they were all happy with the DRO, but indicated that the installation required a bit of head scratching.

NO KIDDING.

The DRO kit showed up in two boxes. One contained the display, the other held the scales and the mounting hardware. In the display box was an un-labeled CD. Opening it up on my computer, the disk was found to contain user's manuals for the DRO and installation instructions for the kit. The installation instructions consisted of four pages with photos. The instructions were incomplete, and written in poorly translated english. The photos were not much better. Much head-scratching was required.

I started by mounting the X axis scale. The first thing I noticed was that the scale was 1" too short to cover the full X axis travel. This is not a huge deal, simply a minor annoyance. I had to drill/tap a number of M5x0.8 holes on the back side of the table to mount everything... which involved removing and reinstalling the table multiple times.

The Y axis scales were a bit trickier to install - having multiple brackets to install - lots more head scratching. By this time, however, I had really nailed down my drilling/tapping procedure, so things went much faster than with the X axis. I did have to make a couple of extra aluminum spacers to make everything fit.

The Z axis required a bit of trimming of the stock supplied brackets. I think this may be due to slight differences between the X3 that I have and the SX3 that this kit was designed for (particularly where the head and column come together). I mostly just had to trim some brackets/spacers and drill a few holes.

Finally, last night I installed the display and wired everything up. This was easy as pie.

Bottom line on the DRO package:
  • The quality of the materials appears to be excellent. Both the scales and the display are quite nice for the price.
  • The quality of the installation instructions sucks hard. These could be greatly improved by adding an inventory of material provided and a description of where each piece should go. Having a better english translation wouldn't hurt either.
  • Some minor fabrication/adjustment is required to make this kit (designed for the SX3) fit the X3... nothing major, completely doable.
  • Installation takes a newbie like me approximately 8-hours... seriously.
So anyway, here are a couple of photos. Please ask if you have any questions.
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4702684307_b3831ec9b9_b.jpg


Erin
 
Josh Dabney said:
Erin,

I'm thinking that my next MAJOR investment is going to be a mill. My question is what made you opt to go with this mill as opposed to this one http://www.grizzly.com/products/Drill-Mill-with-Stand/G0704 ?

Thanks for any insight ! -Josh
Click to expand...


Hey Josh... I honestly hadn't really given that mill/drill much consideration. After checking it out, though, I guess a person could go either way. Some things that I noticed:
  • The mill that you link to is about 88lbs (from specs) lighter than the X3; and while the table is longer, it appears to be supported by a much smaller base and saddle.
  • The Z axis wheel is located at the top of the column... this seems very awkward to me.
  • The documentation shows that this machine has a 1hp motor that draws 3.2A at 110V. The X3 says that it has a 3/4hp motor that draws 7A at 110V. Something there doesn't jive to me.:confused:
  • This machine appears to be gear driven as opposed to the belt drive on the X3.

Of course, the machine that you linked does come with a stand, and a built-in DRO on the Z axis.

One thing that I did like about the X3 is the established community and experience base with these small Sieg machines. 2thumbs

I'd be interested to know what you end up choosing.

Erin

EDIT: Here a quick LINK that I found on that machine.
 
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