initial thoughts:
bigger than i thought
much heavier than i thought
covered in nasty red grease
i think it'll work
i needed a good mini drill press, and i can't really afford the one i want right now. i hit the web to research what my other options might be, and i came up with this chinese made mini mill that is equipped with a levered handle for drilling. the seig company makes this tool, as well as several other models of varying sizes. several american companies rebrand these and sell in them in the US. this one is the smallest, the "X1" model. they get decent reviews. i'm not really counting on much from the milling side of things, but if i can do precise drilling i will be happy. right now i have to try to get all this slop off of it...
5 comments:
Got to love those Cameron Drills. Wow spindle runout within .0001" - that is some precision.
Does the Seig mill/drill take collets? Hard to tell from the photo if it has a draw bar?
Looks like a sturdy piece of equip, should be rigid enough for some good drilling, probably not the spindle speeds you want for small holes but hey - beats a cordless drill hands down.
Let us know how you like it when its up an running.
Enough with the sick already - hope you are feeling better fast. I know I am looking forward to your behind the scenes Coraline photos and armature work.
Is it covered with the greasy blood of little Chinese children?
-m
we had a cameron at work and it was pretty sweet. it is just small, simple, nice and dependable. and about $1000 with the variable speed box! at about $300 the seig made more sense for me at this point in my life. maybe if i get some steady work in the next year or two i'll splurge on the cameron.
the seig does have a draw bar, and the chuck/tapered attachment come off easily enough, i just don't know what collet size it is... just focusing on the drilling right now though. i hope to do some testing tomorrow.
-v
the grease didn't taste like blood...
Looks like a good little machine. The nasty red grease is there to stop it getting rusty in storage, it should be fairly easy to clean off. Many people recommend a complete strip down and clean to get rid of that and things such as sand from the casting process but that sounds quite scary to me. According to my catalogue its a 2MT taper and you will be able to get collets for it
i've also read the reports of people stripping these machines (or at least the X2 style) before use, and i think it just boils down to me not wanting to screw the whole thing up before i even get it working in the first place. maybe in a few weeks, after i've "figured it out". thanks for the heads up on the collet/taper size. is that listed in the harbor freight catalog? i guess i should have looked there first, huh?
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