New X1 mill

[crab]

Hi all.Awhile back I suffered a bad stroke that allmost did me in.I am fighting my way back ;D but I still can't do much in my shop where I have my large machines so I am going to set up a small shop in a spare bedroom.With help from my brother I got my 618 atlas lathe set up but my mill is to big so i bought this mill from LMS.

http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=4291&category=1387807683

I have never used one of these small mills before and was hoping you could give me some tips and mods for it.I have a lot of MT2 tooling(collits,end mill holders,chucks)for the 618 that will work with it.
Thanks,Bill

 

[Lone Watie]

Hi - my first post, been lurking around a couple weeks. Glad you're still in the game.

 

[firebird]

Hi Bill

I have an X1 (mines white in colour) and absolutely love it. When purchased it was exactly the same as yours. They are great little machines as long as you stay within its limits and don't try and force it. A couple of years after I bought mine I came across this one

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/Milling-Machines/Model-Super-X1L-Mill

As you can see it has a longer table which is available as an extra (see further down the page) I bought one for my mill and it absolutely transforms the machine. If you can get hold of one I strongly reccomend it.

The next must have is DRO's. I fitted this type to mine

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=600.0


Cheers

Rich

 

[crab]

Lone Watie ,thanks.I'm a tuff old fart and I will beat this. :big:

Rich ,I have bookmarked your link to the DRO thread .LMS selles the long table conversion and I orderd it.Thank you very much.
Bill

 

[Captain Jerry]

Crab

There are a couple of gears that you might want to have on hand for backup. LMS will know which ones they are. They are inexpensive and not very difficult to replace and the need to replace them is a signal that you may be pushing it a bit. I have one of these machines as well as an X2 and there are some features of the X1 that I like better than the X2. No tilt column and quill spindle to name two. If raising the headstock gives you any problem, you might think about rigging a counterweight.

Jerry

 

[BillH]

I bought an X1 mill from Harbor Freight in the USA on sale about 8 years ago? Paid 199$
As others have said, when used within its own envelope and limitations, it works just fine! I wish I had it here, it would complement my Taig lathe very well.

 

[rleete]

Crab, I recently sold one of those after getting a Grizzly minimill. Works nice, as long as you remember to take light cuts and not push it. But I made several engines using it, and it was a nice machine. I didn't know they even sold them anymore. Not many mods for it that I know of.

One really nice thing is that it uses MT2 tooling, so the same stuff you have for a minilathe will work in the mill.

 

[crab]

Jerry,I did not know about the gears.I went back to the LSM site and they have a gear and fuse kit for it so I bought one.The headstock might be a problem.If it is I think I will try to rig up a airspring on it like I did my old Morgan mill drill or maybe a small DC gear motor I have.

Roger,BillH,I'm mostly going to be using this little mill for therapy.I am going to try to build some small steam engines but if all do is cut a grove in some metal at least I will be making chips!

Thanks,Bill