Syil X7 drilling and rigid tapping a fixture plate. 

LOL.....shill comments for the win!

ahh i didn't see this reply and re asked you in another thread. This may be a lower end Siemens control, but you pay a lot for it. My biggest complaint with this class of machines is you seem to be paying handsomely for the builders low buying power. Does siemens actually help you out? or do they tell you to call your MTB and let them figure it out? For instance i accidentally wiped my Fanuc control {by buying a cheap chinese membrane instead of OEM}, on a 22 year old machine. I called Fanuc, and the dude held my hand the whole way through it. I'm an eBay trend seller, so I've had more than my fair share of dealings from across the pond. Always the same story, the same guarantees and the same problems trying to get them to fulfill those promises. But i digress Peck tapping seems like a neat trick, but when you come from a lathe background where every thread is cut in multiple passes, you realize its not all that big of a deal. Seems like you could almost thread mill faster than you can rigid tap in these things, and thats just meh. Im still of the thought that a machine on day one should be the best that it will ever be, not halfway configured and let the end user hammer out the bugs.... But i would def put these things in a class far above Tormach. Though for the price there are a lot of asian machine builders with true state side support.

The biggest drawback i can see in the near future is Tariff 301 starting 9/30 will raise the price of these machines 25%.....thats going to pretty much kill their viability.....Unless they are prepared to significantly reduce the price, its going to put these and other machines like them {Tormach etc} slightly ahead of Haas in pricing, on a quality of service level they can't compete with. Or it will make Taiwan the real contender for home gamers, but they don't seem to embrace this market segment. {The taiwan machines are just too big} Id have to say you got in while the getting was good...

When you paid for the laser interferometer, what evidence do you have the work was done? There should be calibrations and compensations in the control to bring the machine from expected to actual position. Have you found these comps? Have you backed up your control since you received the machine? Im not trying to bust your balls, but its real hard to get real honest answers about stuff like this. Ive bought many an item from abroad with "certificates" that were just christmas treed {randomly filled out} Tormach for example is notorious for this.

Thats good to hear. Im a natural skeptic, and super jaded from previous dealings with #1 {we all know China is #1, right? :) } I was looking at Syils instagram, which is actually more comforting than their website. But I'm still not convinced they are a major casting facility... I mean if you had a thriving farm that sold all the bananas you could grow, would you open a banana cream pie store and waste time struggling with that? Thats basically the root of my skepticism. Well, that, and these machines look exactly like a dozen other brands of machines you see for sale on alibaba etc. Ive been waffling on picking up a small mill for my home shop, which really boils down to footprint footprint footprint. The chinese machines really are the right size for the job, but some things are just above my head. Siemens in itself seems daunting enough, trying to learn how to "fix" or reprogram that PLC to do the things it ought to do right from the get makes me shy away. Im still a Fanuc 1's and 0's guy at heart. My home shop is all manual machines, except for my 8x20 turning center. Work is all Haas, but those machines stay busy all 3 shifts these days. Its nearly impossible to sneak work in anymore. My biggest concern is I've seen these guys with an internet presence from about 2006, but I've never seen anyone with a long term review of one of their machines. Certainly someone has something to say after all this time? But then again, maybe they are just too busy making chips to bother posting results. No news can be good news too. I know the only i post is when a machine goes down, and then its usually HHEEEELLLLPPPPP my hairs on fire! Just keep the videos rolling, there are lots of people eager to see the results out there. Ive been of the firm belief one of these china companies needs to step in and dominate the "tormach" market segment. Which shouldnt be hard to do.

lol....which would make it a hobby or side venture, not a prime directive. ;)