I went down the ArcEurotrade Route with a Sieg SX3 and an SC4 lathe. Not the best in the world, but ok for playing around with.

@leeceeworkshop

3 ай бұрын

Yes they looked good to me. Bit more modern than the weiss style mill. However they were a little more expensive for the size when I was looking.

hello lee. b uy british ! the centec milling machine is a bench mount mill,, solid in all aspects. sturdy and rely able.. for both vertical and horizontal milling just look for centec mills .theres plenty to choose from and are more accurate than any eastern make . YOU WONT REGRET IT ! regards laurence

@leeceeworkshop

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info. Not heard of them. I will check them out.

i bought the warco version...i regret my choice. high cost delivery to eu, no proper outside uk warranty, not tested by warco as promised, came non functional ...fixed it myself. hope you had a better buying experience.

@leeceeworkshop

3 ай бұрын

No issues with mine so far. So I can’t comment on support as I’ve not had to use it. The buying experience was great. Amadeal kept me informed on the delivery times and it arrived only a few days after coming off the boat. Amadeal even threw in some cheap tooling to get me started.

I bought a mini lathe CJ18 from Amadeal few years back. Im from Estonia (EU) and the lathe was shipped with DHL if I remember correctly. The backplate corner was bent a bit in shipping but no other damage. It was DHL fault. Other than that no problems. Amadeal shipped my lathe very quickly and sent me tracking codes etc.. Took like 1.5 weeks or so and DHL guy gave me a call. For the bent metal problem, Amadeal gave me discount coupon for my next order. I havent made any upgrades to lathe, but Im planning now, as im more in my garage now in my free time. Lathe works fine but obviously needs lots of mods/improvements to cut steel by at least 2mm per cut.

@leeceeworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear Amadeal seem good to deal with. I will let you know my experience when my mill arrives.

No mention of Chester?

@leeceeworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yes I for got to mention them. My lathe is from Chester! Main reason I forgot is they didn’t do the R8 on the smaller milling machines. Only the larger ones came with R8 so I didn’t consider them.

Hello Lee I am in exactly the same situation as you and have found you by searching for reviews on Amadeal mills I notice that you make no mention of Chester Hobby store who stock a large range of these types of mill and lathes may be worth a look for you, did you know that Harry uk on eBay are selling the mill you intend to get complete with a package of all the tools you need to get started at what seems to be a very reasonable price. Have you received your mill yet and if so what do you think of it, I wish you all the best with your purchase and will be interested to hear how things have worked out john

@leeceeworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yes this was a silly oversight on my part. My lathe is actually from Chester hobby store! I have their Crusader lathe. The reason it slipped my mind is because their version of the small mills only seem to come with MT3 and not R8. Also they don’t mention a factory fitted DRO on their website. I think I may have changed my mind on the mill model from amadeal. I think I will go with the vm32 with Dro but not the power feed (instead of the vm25 with both) The power feed seems so overpriced that I would prefer to spend that £400 on a larger machine. Amadeal site now suggests beginning of Feb for stock. Will keep you posted on updates.

@gladsaxisme

Жыл бұрын

@@leeceeworkshop Hi Lee Have found any videos from people that have an Amadeal mill and what they think of it I haven't been able to but I have found some about Sieg mills and the seem to be impressed with them Wonder if the Amadeal are the same as the Precision Mathews as sold in America there seems to be quite a few vids about those

@leeceeworkshop

Жыл бұрын

@@gladsaxisme not found any useful videos of specifically amadeals machines although if you search WEISS VM18/25/32 i think a couple of videos are available. As far as I can tell the precision matthews PM25 may be based on the Weiss vm25 casting (looks almost identical) but can’t be totally certain. I think how it might work is each reseller (or regional distributor) can put an order into Weiss and request changes and features. So Weiss make the castings then build the final run to the requested specification. Eg..I want it blue with x motor, y bearings and an accuracy runout of no more than z microns. The best most accurate castings with the best components command the highest price. Purely guesswork on my part.

@gladsaxisme

Жыл бұрын

I think your spot on it's a bit of a minefield in that you can't be sure what lengths the seller goes to to make sure they have a good reliable product and what spec they demand from the manufacturers and there are so many variations,I'm not sure what the R8 spindle does but it does seem to be the way to go,I think that if the Amadeal mills are identical to the Precision Mathews then they must be high quality as I believe the PM's are held in high regard in America.The Chester machines seem to do a lot with tilting heads which I believe is looked on as not a good thing because it can throw the tramming out.I think personally I am being drawn to the Cieg mills due mainly to price,You seem to be able to get a 32 model for about £1800 as opposed to £3,400 ish for the Amadeal with all the extras and it wouldn't cost £1,600 to add the motor and DRO to the Cieg mill and they seem to be well liked by the people that have one I think I might wait and see what you think of the one you end up getting John

@leeceeworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Hi John, The R8 spindle is the taper (shape and design) for the tools to fit into the spindle. On hobby machines this is usually either Morse Taper (MT2, MT3) or R8. R8 is was made popular by the Bridgeport Mills (and many others) from years ago. The reason this is the way to go is there are so many old R8 mills still around, it's cheap to find tooling that fits into this because plenty of tooling manufactures still make products to fit R8. Also the R8 system has a 'drawbar' which holds the tool in from the top, whereas Morse Taper uses friction alone. (really not a problem on hobby machines though!) The smaller Chester machine tools also look identical to Weiss machines, so I think they may also be Weiss. The amadeal version also has a tilting head. Maybe its just coincidence but it seems more mills are coming in stock with different UK resellers - makes me think a ship has arrived from china in the last couple of weeks...

I went for Amadeal. VM25L with DRO and power feed. Not regretted one minute. Does everything I need to and really easy to use.

@leeceeworkshop

8 ай бұрын

Great to hear. Enjoy your machine 👍