Amadeal XJ12-300 Milling Machine

I've been looking for a milling machine for some time and have been surfing the web. This can drive you insane as their are a number of machines on offer, some just a variation on a theme with a common source based in China (Real Bull Machine Tool Company realbull-machine.com). I narrowed my choice down to Warco or Amadeal and after being messed around by Warco went for the Amadeal XJ12-300. I paid £412 plus carriage at £45 so a total of £457 and it arrived a few days later in a wooden crate.

The delivery man was not so polite about the weight of the machine, the crate ended up dumped on the front drive. It was a case of taking the crate apart and then dismantling the machine so that I could lift the parts through to my workshop.

Review

So this is the machine after I cleaned it up. Whilst it was in pieces I took the cross-slides off, covered them in Gunk and cleaned all of the parts.

I re-greased the slides and threads and reassembled. So the basic specification:

550W Motor (~3/4hp)

Drilling Capacity : 13mm (1/2")

Face Milling Capacity : 30mm (1.2")

End milling Capacity : 16mm (5/8")

Longitudinal travel : 300mm (12")

Cross Travel : 130mm (5.12")

Working table size: 460mm x 112mm (18" X 4.5")

Max distance spindle to table 200mm (7.88")

Spindle taper : MT#3

Spindle Speed: 50 - 2500rpm

Spindle Rotary Angle -45°/+45°

OK, I've mounted it on two pieces of chipboard to raise it off the bench and to get clearance for the cross-slide handle.

At the moment the chuck guard is still in place, but must admit that this is something I will probably remove.

There is a vertical fine feed with a graduation of 0.6mm per revolution (a bit strange and painful, but could be worse).

The main vertical travel moves the complete head up and down the slide with a rack and pinion. As you can see in a later image there is a spring assist for the main head vertical travel.

The longitudinal and cross-slides have leadscrews with 0.75mm pitch - again a pain, but will resort to a multiplication table pinned up on the workshop wall.

Later I think I might change the leadscrew or just attached digital readouts.

There is a rule and marker fixed to the slides. A useful addition if a tad flimsy.

Rubber bellows cover the leadscrew and cross slide.

They are simple to remove to get access to the leadscrew for cleaning and oiling and do an effective job of keeping it clean.

The whole vertical pillar can be tilted over +45° or -45° - the downside is that this results in a less stiff pillar.

There is a locating bolt to get the head in the upright position, but the head does need some fine adjustment to ensure an accurate 90° to the bedplate.

The fixing nut is large, however, a large spanner is provided in the toolbox.

The complete head is wound up and down the slides with a rack and pinion. This works very well as the effort is quite well balanced with the srping assist.

The spring assist.

Reading other reviews of similar machines there are options out there to replace this sping assist with a gas strut assist - will look into this and provide some links here in the future.

A stop start button is provide under this large emergency stop button, a bit clunky, but appears to be the norm on a lot of the lower cost machinery.

The speed is varied by twisting the knob, however, there is no feedback as to what speed the spindle is rotating at.

A shift between high and low range can be made once the machine has stopped and is done using a lever located under the fine feed.

I must say that on initial use the gear noise is quite severe - again something to look into.

The drawbar is accessed by removing the plastic cap on the head. Again a spanner is provided for completeness.

The drawbar is 12mm.

Have just bought some collets and will report on those in a seperate page as they do transform milling as they significantly increase the stiffness of the mill - Collets.

Four 12mm T-nuts are provided.

One problem with the free T-nuts is they are very weak and of the 4 provided 3 have cracked - best to treat yourself to a proper clamping set.

Price: approx £412

Conclusion

Sturdy construction and sized just about right for most model making requirements. The odd divisions on the traverse, cross-slide and vertical adjust are a pain that I might just have to sort out as they may drive me mad. The noise from the back gears may drive get on my nerves as well.

I′ve previously been using a Unimat 3 with a mill attachment, a great machine if you are gentle and take your time. However, you really do need to take your time as cuts have to be quite small to reduce the chatter. This machine is capable of taking much larger cuts with no complaints and that is quite rewarding.

All in all though you really cannot complain for this price and I'm sure I will be using this for years to come.

The service from Amadeal is superb.

I will update this page with any changes, hints or tips.

See also: Tools.