Lathe recomendations please

[MattT]

Nothing yet!

Been checking out youtube vid's and for me a Seig SC4 or the one in my first post are the two front runners.

A large part of the decision is the weight of the thing. Around 100kgs is ok 150+kg's at the moment isn't, which narrows it down somewhat.

Of course I could just forget it until we move to a house that has better access, but that's years away.

I want one to knock up a 2" shaft pillow block mount at some stage in the future and the SC4 does fit the bill on a few fronts.

I know it's Chinese etc but it's a heck of a step up to the way I build stuff now.

Matt

[garymck (Gary)]

Hi,

I have a Sieg sc4 lathe purchased from here:
http://www.ausee.com.au/shop/
Was able to negotiate a package deal on lathe and tooling to get a decent discount.

The lathe was the biggest I could get into my workspace. Two people are just able to lift it!!

The lathe needed nothing other than a clean up and has worked perfectly from the get go. Using a diamond tool holder I can get a mirror finish on aluminium with no effort.

I have previously owned an AL51G lathe and believe me, it is not in the same league as the SC4. Needs to be upgraded before it is even useable (4 bolt toolpost mod)

I have no regrets and the Sieg will last me out. Happy to answer any questions about it.
cheers
Gary

[torana68 (Roger)]

they do some funny stuff (machines imported from "over there") ie I hear the cross feed markings are just numbers not measurements, something to be mindfull of. Once it comes down to low price/low weight there probably isn't much else, seems to be a lot of Seig stuff around.

[John0z (John)]

I have an older model of the AL51G - actually it is an AL50GB, does metric and imperial thread cutting. I got it in 2007 when I thought I was going to be making a lot of stuff for telescopes. Other comments are right, the lathe is just a start, and to make it useful - eventually I spent about $7K including a small mini-mill and universal dividers, etc. The other lathes you mentioned are too small. With the benefit of hindsight, this lathe was probably the right one to start with, big enough for most of my tasks, easy to learn to use, not too big that if something goes wrong (and it does) that things break etc. Lately I have been thinking of upgrading to a bigger lathe, and definitely a bigger mill.

For threading, I use a spindle crank handle as the motor low speed is not low enough. It works well. The largest work I have done on this is about 4" diameter. Bear in mind, this is a small lathe. My suggestion on a mill when you are ready to decide and have settled on the one that fits your bill, buy a bigger one.

[MattT]

Thanks John. Like your comment on choosing a Mill.

It's going to have to wait til tax return time so until then I'll have lots of time to dig around.