For the Surrey / Hants border I would think Guildford would be the nearest, then Basingstoke followed by Andover and Reading but they may be a bit too far away.

Hi welcome back to the hobby. If you are looking for something small for occasional use any of the small Sieg based machines will all work to a reasonable standard depending on the operator. There is a small Sieg in the ads on this page cheap if you want to try one out.

regards

My first mill was a Sieg SX3 and used to mill most of the parts for a 6" Ruston Proctor traction engine. (refer my previous posts). It was a great machine but it starting having problems with the variable speed motor control board which I replaced. The replacement board also starting to have problems.

Our local supplier in Sydney no longer stocked Sieg machines and I sold it and bought a slightly bigger RF-46 type mill with a single speed motor and gearbox drive. Replacement control boards are expensive. Make sure that they will be available if you should need one.

Paul

Hi Ken,

There is a club at Ascot, as well.

John

Welcome back!

Don't worry about not being CNC. Handle twirlers still survive and prosper.

Some othe accessories that you nhad to make can be bought now. But for really bespoke stuff it is still DIY.

In any case there is a lot of job satisfaction in something that you made. It doesn't even have to exactly follow some one else's drawings.

You can up or down scale and use equivalent threads that suit you and your facilities.

Enjoy yourself!

Howard

( YOu could always replace the whole motor unit with one of those industrial sewing machine motor and controller packages. Cheap as chips on t'interweb.)

This may be an option IF you could find one that is flange mounted and similar size. The Sieg uses a 1000W brushless DC motor.

A quick search found ones that are foot mounted and costing more than $500, not a cheap option. https://www.sewingmachinesaustralia.com.au/shop/buy-accessories/motors

Edited By Paul Lousick on 04/01/2023 21:22:17

Just to balance your observations, I believe that at the time you did say that you pushed the machine to its limits… which I would suggest you really meant that you pushed the SX3 to beyond its limits. Perhaps some of the pictures in your albums speak for themselves? I cannot say for sure. At the time, in response to one of your posts, I had said that the original SX3s had control board issues which were rectified, after which dealers like ARC added the machine to our range. This was a clear and long explanation at the time. So I am surprised to read that you continue to make this one sided comment on a regular basis. Whilst I respect your opinion based on your experience, my and thousands of hobby and ‘light industrial’ small workshop as well as ‘blue chip’ industrial users opinion defer from yours… if the machine is used within its limitations.

With regards to your local supplier in Sydney, I believe that they no longer sell SIEG machines based on commercial reasons rather than technical. This is a topic which no distributor will openly discuss… as they wish to protect their profit margins (interpreted in many different ways)

In the U.K., SIEG machines have a good reputation. They are well represented by Axminster and ARC who carry a good stock of spares. For SIEG brushless motor series machines, control board and motor issues are very few, and in most cases are due to user related issues…. And yes… I would say that wouldn’t I ?

It is wrong for you to continuously make the same comment over the years without balance. New users form opinions based on what they read, and it is only correct to present a balanced picture. Ken can read your post as well as mine and many other positive and negative posts about SIEG and any other machines and form his own opinion about suitability of a machine for his purpose.

Ketan at ARC.

Hi Ketan,

I did say that the SX3 was a great machine and replaced it because I could not get replacement parts, otherwise I may have kept it. And yes, I did push it to the limits but not over it. If it is not capable of achieving these, then the specified limits should be reduced. If the latest machines have been upgraded and you can supply spares, well and good. I can only speak about my experience.

Paul