SIEG SX3L Milling Machine Stand

[ruxu]

Finally I got tired of trying to mill on a lathe vertical slide and invested in a Sieg SX3L milling machine. The machine stand that is available for the mill did not satisfy me because it must be bolted to the floor and the cabinet with one shelf is not ideal for storing the large number of accessories that goes with a milling machine. So I decided to make an own machine stand design.

As a base for the stand I purchased a CoCraft tool cabinet that can carry a weight of around 380 kg. The caster wheels were however too near one another for the cabinet to be stable enough and the final milling table height would also have been slightly too high. To overcome these small issues I made a frame of 80 x 80 mm angle bar and 80 mm flat bar that extended the castor wheel positions and also lowered the cabinet by around 50 mm.



For final levelling I also needed four adjustable machine feets. As ready made were quite expensive I made them of M12 threaded rod and ice hockey pucks.



Because of the Z-axle hand wheel position on the Sieg mill the swarf tray top was a little bit complicated to make as it needed a 60 mm high frame for mounting of the mill.



To save space in my garage I made the tabletop only 650 mm deep. In order to still be able to access the electric cabinet of the mill I made the back splash guard removable and with a cabling opening.



Today I borrowed an engine hoist from a nearby car repair shop and lifted the milling machine from the transport pallet onto the machine stand. The hardest part was to get the heavy duty hoist down from my trailer and back on again - lifting and bolting the mill itself was a piece of cake.



So now I have the mill ready for fitting of the X-axle power feed and storing of some accessories in the drawers. I only bought the most needed accessories and intend to learn milling by making some accessories myself. As I am new to “real” milling I will start with some simple projects - e.g. some workpiece clamping devices. Maybe make some useful projects from Harold Hall's books. Then when I am comfortable enough with milling I probably start a sheet metal bender project...

If anyone can point to a table with proven speed and feed rates for common materials for a small mill I would be grateful...