Hi Nathan

If you are in the UK give Arc Euro Trade a ring, I have always found them helpful. Although they show the boards as out of stock, they may be able to confirm which board you need and when/if they can get one.

Brian G

My Sieg 3 has two speed ranges, Hi and low. Check the knob on the side of the head.

I have not found any Torque problems on mine using the two speed range, perhaps get a hand book of user instructions?

Question, then, is which is faulty – board, motor. Or maybe both. Don’t just assume – you could easily be wrong.

Board can be checked by connecting an incandescent light bulb across the load terminals instead of the motor – the bulb should illuminate and dim/brighten as the motor control knob position is varied.

Motor can be checked by applying 12V across its terminals – it should motor slowly if a brushed motor. Not sure about a brushless type.

Dunno whether there are internal fuses or not. Dunno what the response is to protection circuit failures.

Seems like one or both is/are in need of replacement/repair.

It is a common operating fault of over-loading the system. These machines are only hobby machines, not for heavy commercial use.

Drilling large holes is achieved by step drilling – a pilot is recommended, along with sharp drills.

Personally, I would be hard pressed to entertain this type of drive – lathe or mill. But many have run these drives for many years without any problem. I think it is often a case of operator expecting more than the machine is capable of.

I can easily tell when my drives are reaching their limit. Possibly not so with the electronic drives?

I think the hi-torque description implies a brushless DC motor, so the light bulb test, and motor across 12V, will not work. To see what is going on one would really need an oscilloscope.

My bet would be that the electronics is phut. Unfortunately one of the ways to cut costs is remove overload protection circuitry and/or use components that are only rated for normal use, not overload conditions. It may just be that a fuse has blown, but it's difficult to know without seeing a picture of the board in question. A definite sign would be any component, or part of the board, that is darkish brown or otherwise discoloured, meaning that something has got very hot.

Andrew

I'm fairly sure it isn't possible. A brushed DC motor uses brushes and a mechanical commutator to switch current between colis. So to test, simply apply DC and the motor should turn. A brushless DC motor dispenses with the brushes (!) and commutator and relies on external electronic switches to switch current between coils. So if one applies DC direct to the coils nothing much will happen except there's a good chance of overheating the coil(s).

The Hall effect devices are there to monitor the rotor position so that the coils can be switched at the appropriate points in each revolution. A speed reading can obviously be derived from the output of the Hall devices but it's not their primary purpose. it is possible to dispense with the Hall devices and use backemf from the non-driven coils to determine switch timing. Of course that doesn't work when the motor is stationary as there is no backemf. So on starting the controller starts at an arbitrary position and if the motor doesn't run properly it makes adjustments until the motor is running correctly, with a bit of luck.

Andrew

Hi Nathan,

Normally, we aim to respond to emails within 24 working hours. Your email was received at 06.49 GMT on 19 October 2021, and replied at 09.21 GMT on the same day. If the reply has gone to your spam folder, you may wish to check there. Copy of the same email has also been sent to you today by Ian.

We also received a phone call replicating the contents of your opening post, and a member of our team spoke to the person, and at the time, we presumed that person to be you. We also presumed the call to be made from within the U.K., as no indication is made in your original email that the enquiry is from NZ .

If we were wrong in our presumption, and If you fail to receive the email again, you can call and speak with Ian, after 09.00 GMT.

Now that we are aware that this requirement of control board is for NZ, we are unable to ship electrical components such as the control board to your destination, for a variety of reasons. You will need to refer to the NZ dealer or the Australian dealer for your requirements for this machine.

For other points raised in your opening post, I will respond with further posts below.

Ketan at ARC

It all depends on the age of the machine, combined with user related issues.

The first SX3 was sent to ARC for testing over ten years ago. It had serious torque issues. During tests under a controlled environment wearing a gauntlet – not something I would suggest anyone to do – it was very easily possible to stop a running spindle at low speed. This was due to incorrect programing of a chip for torque on SX3 and SC4 lathe. ARC refused to take on said machines. They still appeared on the market trough certain official dealers, as well as unofficial dealers. So this explanation deals with some of the machines which are over 10 years old.

ARC started selling SX3 only after above problem was fixed, probably around 9 to 10 years ago. Whilst these problems were fixed, some issues appeared with control panel for a short time, which were fixed. Then came issues with the e-stop, which was a combination of E-stop switch performance in itself, as well as user related issue, whereby some users were using the e-stop to stop the machine, instead of the on/off switch. Too much use/abuse of the e-stop switch resulted in various faults developing. Unfortunately incorrect training offered by a particular distributor – promoting the incorrect use of the e-stop in the training course – also contributed to this problem.

The above machine related issues were dealt with and ironed out in the majority of cases over 7 odd years ago, and it is rare now a days for us to come across this – machine related issue. Due to its positive torque performance over time, this was one of the first machines for which ARC provided warranty around 5 years ago for hobby as well as light industrial use for an individual user. For most smaller SIEG machines, ARC provided warranty for hobby use only. The SX3 still remains one of the most popular SIEG machines in the ARC product range.

With reference to your second hand purchase, it is difficult to say if the fault you have observed results from a machine related issue or a user related issue. If it is a very old machine with the original poorly programmed board, perhaps the original user didn't know any better, or, if the machine was used/abused to deal with work beyond its capacity/capability, fault/s developed…. as was the case with Paul Lousick's SX3 to which he refers in his post… as far as we are concerned.

So, it is wrong to paint an 'underwhelming' brush on the SX3s without really knowing what is the real story with the second hand machine which you have purchased… probably at a knocked down price…. as many in your situation do.

Age of the machine is determined from the serial number. in the case of the SX3, this is to be found on top of the column casting. You will need to get on top of a stool and then look on the top. We can figure out the built age from the serial number.

Then you need to look at this page link on our site to figure out all the things you will need and ask for said parts from the SIEG distributor in Australia – if he can supply.

Nobody really knows what is the cause of your particular fault. To the best of my knowledge, the board is not repairable.

Ketan at ARC.

As usual a comprehensive and, as far as possible helpful, response from Ketan.

Jim

Interested to know the truth as I am planning on spending some money with him and don't want to lose it.

Nathan,

I am a little confused.

You state that you contacted the closest distributor in another country.

• Which dealer did you contact? Was it AUSEE?..
• if you saw the parts on AUSEEs site, they appear to be some of the older parts rather than the newer parts as shown in the page link which I posted earlier.
• Depending on age of machine – based on serial number of the machine, you could replace old part with old part, and hope that the problem resolves and doesn't come back again. Or, you can refer to ARC page I have linked to, read it carefully and ask the supplier to give you the newer parts.
• If you have the old arrangement/board, and if you decide to consider to replace with the newer board, you will need all the components stated in the link. Check the control board currently fitted to your machine.

What ever you decide to do, take plenty of pictures before/during the dismantling/change over process, or ideally get a competent professional to carry out the work. As these are electrical components, they will not carry guarantee or warranty. There is no wiring diagram, and no supplier will be able to hold your hand or assist you through the installation process. There is next to zero knowledge or assistance on the Internet/forum to guide you through the process.

If you buy the wrong things without looking at the pictures of the boards/components, or without clear understanding, then chances of fizz, crackle, pop will be high. If things go wrong, this thread will then turn into a long discussion between you and others to figure out what went wrong,… a kind of situation with 'the blind leading the blind'…, especially as no one really knows which version of the SX3 you have… and quite frankly, with the greatest of respect… I honestly doubt that anyone on this forum is realistically qualified to be able to offer remote support or comment on the electrical assembly of the SX3…. and it is nothing to do with the machine being 'Made in China'… and the components are not cheap!

Ketan at ARC