Hi guys, my purchase of a mini-lathe started on my Old guys Simplex thread as brief few posts and it quickly enlarged. So I'll keep expanding here on Tom's thread. After I sold my machine shop a few years back due to some health issues; I've been fabricating with just hand tools: grinders, drills and small flux welder & it's been fun. I wanted some of the less experienced guys to know they could build pretty cool bikes with not much equipment. This past year finding parts which suited me were at times either not available or were slow delivery. Also my go to local guys with machine tools were closed down. Some pieces I ordered over a year ago are still not fabricated. I decided it was time to step up and set up a shop with some basic machine tools.
The Sieg 7"x14" lathe was selected. This is the third such machine I've set up in the past 6 months or so and the first two are performing well to this point. I'll duplicate a couple of photos on this thread for those not signed on to my Old guys Simplex thread. Some of the good things (and there are also some bad) about this Chinese mini are it has really decent metal change gears, plastic used only on the electronic controls, DRO speed indicator, quick lock tail stock, 4" three jaw chuck (quite a few only offer a 3" chuck), 20 mm chuck bore, which clears 3/4" rod. It has power feed only on the carriage. It also has a 3/4 h.p. variable speed/ direction motor.
Some of the negatives, just some. The motor isn't geared & d.c. motors lack torque at low rpm so it lacks low speed grunt that is an irritant when one wants to cut slow when coupled with feed speeds which are determined by the change gear ratios. I have the lowest ratio gear set installed and it's still to fast a feed at r.p.m. levels where the motor has nice torque. Of course this means really thin cuts on tough metals at slow travel.
The tool post wasn't horrible, but I bought a quick change post. It works well & really saves on tool setup time. Tailstock dead center was the only center provided. It's a MT-2 taper. I ordered a 1/2" Jacobs chuck and a live center for the tail stock. I also have a Mt-3 dead center coming for the
drive spindle and "Dogs". Steady rest is also on the way. set of Indexed bits, brazed cobalt tools, cutoff blades, boring bar set ...you get the picture.
I also require a 4 jaw independent adjustment, 5" chuck with a 1.25" spindle bore. This is a back order item and not available till late June. I like to work with 1" thru 1.25" tube so the big bore is a real need. I'll probably fab a face plate, they seem to be hard to find, but I'll keep looking. Ideas are welcome on the face plate. I've checked Grizzly and Little machine shop, but not located yet.
Ok up to speed kinda' ; ordered some tool box's to protect & organize my tooling and measuring/setup.. instruments close to hand
Lathes are needful things and I'm leaving a lot of stuff out, but compared to milling machines lathe tooling and accessories are inexpensive.
I'm not complaining it's more of a warning to those wanting either a mini lathe or mill.
I have a lot of things to address with this lathe to get it ready to make chips. I don't actually need tenths & I don't expect that from any of these small machines, but reliable low thou can be a reality when they are dialed in.
Rick C.
