Member postings for Mark Rea

Hi Ketan. I followed your advice and the problem is sorted. Thank you so much for your help and advice.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ketan will probably be a couple of days before i get in the workshop again, but i will follow your advice thank you.

Hi guys. When i start the chuck on my sieg SC3 i get a clunk noise, the chuck kicks but nothing else happens. It started as i was drilling a 6mm hole in some steel bar, it went clunk and stopped. Turned it off and back on and it started, ran a couple of minutes and did it again. Now it just goes clunk when i turn the speed control to start the chuck. I always use the speed control knob to stop and start the chuck. Anyone got any ideas?

Only had it a few weeks and am loving it, it is a pretty good machine. Hope you guys can help again.

This is it. Totaly agree.

Have read this and no one has mentioned tool height. It is important especialy when screwcutting

Order placed for the SC3.

Bearing in mind I have spent most of my life using lathes I am surprisingly excited about receiving this.

Johnson matthey easy flow flux powder (mix with a small amount of water to form a paste, but only mix what you need)

Easy flo silver solder rods

Needs a higher temperature than normal plumber's solder.

The threads on japanese motorcycles are metric.

M4 x 0.7

M5 x 0.8

M6 x 1

M8 x 1.25

Anything above m8 will have either a 1mm or 1.25mm pitch.

The diameters of all threads will be a nominal size, so allowing for clearance/wear/damage etc a thread od not measuring a whole number will probably be the next highest whole number.

If you want to measure the pitch measure across the tops of 5 or more threads then divide the measurement by the number of threads.

Again guys, thanks. Very helpful. I did look at the SC4 and would love it, but would find it hard to justify the price to myself, let alone my better half. Lol.

Ketan you, and indeed the guys on this site are a mine of information for which i am very grateful. Fettling and adaptation would be part of the fun i think. Most of what i would be machining would be nylon 6, brass and occasionally stainless steel which i know will present its own issues to a small hobby lathe, but who wants an easy life.

As for a category, i would be a "d", but with a tendancy to fix it myself.

Again guys thank you for taking the time to post,

Hi all. Thanks for your input, it has been invaluable.

Ketan, thanks, brilliant post. Was looking at amadeal coz they are based in london, i am in kent but they dont have the reputation of sieg. Not sure about your comments on taper needle brgs needing more power to drive them. Properly set up they should require no more power than a ball race. I am not a beginner, I am a time served turner who has worked mainly for sub contract machine shops for most of my life, turning components for nuclear submarines, power stations and formula 1 racing cars to name just a few. I have been using chester chinese lathes to reverse engineer components for about 10 years now. Chester are chinese made, a bit rough around the edges, not as refined as european manufactured lathes but are very capable machines. Colchester outsourced their manufacturing to china for many years.

I am conversant with machining on an industrial level but have no knowledge of mini lathes. I have enough room in my garage/workshop for one and think it a useful addition. My hobby is building custom motorcycles. I have read that a 0.25mm cut would be classed a fairly heavy cut for these machines, is this so? Is not an issue but a usefull bit of knowledge. I am leaning towards an sc3 at the moment, do these take 8mm square max tooling?

Again, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post. We can only learn by asking questions.

I did not see any indication of whether it was a brushless or brushed motor, and from what i have read you have to push it hard to overheat the brushed motor, which was the major problem with them.

The sieg, according to the downlaodable review does use nylon gears to drive the leadscrew.

The ebay one has a cast iron bed, the aluminium would refer to the gear/ main shaft housing. Looking at the weight of the sieg i would expect a similar construction.

As i understand their are two manufacturers, sieg and real bull, both using the same russian design.

The parts diagram of the sieg sc3 shows ball races on the main spindle shaft, as opposed to tapered roller, which are a superior bearing in terms of load bearing and alignment.

Hi guys. Having done some research i ended up looking to buy a sie SC3 mini lathe from arceurotrade, the only reservation is the price. It is £250 more than this

Link removed see C of C

From that auction site. (have included postage from arceuro)

Now i know you get what you pay for but what exactly will i get for the extra cash?

Fleabay's one has 550w dc motor. Tapered roller bearings for the spindle, so i thought i would ask the folk who knew about mini lathes. An ancient myford etc is out as i do not have the room in my workshop for it.

Thanx in advance for any advice.

Edited By JasonB on 05/10/2020 13:07:31