X3 Mill Spindle Lock and Tooling Compatibility Issue · Jul 5, 18:50
We fired up the X3 mill and put some different cutting tools to work ranging from the 2 and 4-flute endmills to radius cutters and finally face mills.
We ran into an interesting interference issue.
On the X2 mill, the spindle lock is located on top of the head. On the RF-40 clone mill, there is no spindle lock; you just grab the large pulley to “lock it”.
On the X3 mill, since it has a quill, there’s no place atop the head to install a locking mechanism:
Instead, what Sieg did was to put two locating holes in the bottom of the quill where a spanner-type wrench is used to hold the spindle still while you wrench away at the drawbar nut. A positive-locking system would be nice to have, but this will do.
The problem then arises when tools are used that cover up the two holes like we experienced with this 3-tipped 2” face mill from Kennametal:
Too bad we can’t use this tool with the X3.
Instead, you have to use tools of different designs like this Hardy 2” face mill:
As you can see here, the head of the face mill slopes away from the spindle thereby creating some room to use the lock wrench.
This is an interesting note we wanted to share with you when selecting larger diameter tooling for your X3 mill. End mills of 1“diameter and less such should be fine. Tools larger than that should be checked for clearance first before you buy them for use with the X3 mill.
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