Sieg X2 / X3 Compare

Author: Dave
Date: 01.14.13 - 6:49am

Years ago I had purchased a Harbor freight mini mill (item #44991). It was all I had room for at the time and knew I would be moving so it made sense. Something is better than nothing. Its actually quite a useful machine, but it really is built on the light duty side (most noticeably the crap plastic speed change gears buried in the headstock, and the 1/2" drilling capacity):

One thing that kind of annoyed me, is that all the vendor pictures for these things dont show any objects in the background, or a person to help you determine the scale of the object. After carefully comparing a whole slew of mills from Grizzly and other sources, I ended up upgrading to the X3 mill (Grizzly model number G0463). Again it was hard to judge the scale, but I in the end I took a bit of a risk because I wanted a dove tailed column, variable speed, 110v, has CNC kits readily available, and weights in at under 500lbs. Really its the only one I found with those specs so I just went with it. Now having just received it, I am very pleased by the dimensions of the thing. The most misleading dimension between the two is the 30" height. On the X2 that figure includes the motor which sites on top of the mill, where as on the X3, the motor is mounted underneath. I have not been able to find explicit reference if the X3 gears are metal, but to be rated to drill a 1" hole in steel they must be.

So below I have placed them side by side. To try to get a good comparison. (I blacked out the noisy background behind the x2 to try to get a clearer shot)

The X3 is really twice the machine of the X2

I also included a pict of the work table I built for the X3 at the bottom. its made from 2" x 1/8in wall steel tubing, 2 gussets per joint, 1/4" thick plate for pads and 3/4" bolts as leveling feet. Took about 12hrs and came out really nice!

Edit: I cant remember what year, probably 2-3 after this post first went up I ended up biting the bullet and buying the next sized up mill. It is yet again twice the size of the X3. I would not recommend anything smaller. The smaller machines werent worth having. The beam trolly was able to get it into the basement with the head and base removed allowing me to get it down there all by myself. Not easy but doable.

Comments: (1)

On 02.12.13 - 7:44am Dave wrote:
After completing the work bench for the mill, I was kind of second guessing myself wondering if I should have made it larger or not. After having used it some, I think my intuition was right. Vibration from the mill can shake stuff on the table off, so a dedicated table for just the mill is probably better than a big one that will invariably have tools on it. I will just buy a rolling table to position next to it for tooling and parts. Since I also have space limitations, this setup will also fit better with my available shop space.

Leave Comment:

Name:

Email: (not shown)

Message: (Required)

Math Question: 88 + 2 = ? followed by the letter: R