My new Lathe

[brianhabby]

Got this yesterday. I had an old SABEL but had to get rid as it was far too big but I still want to have a go at some metalwork.
It was second hand but virtually new, it still has some of the sticky factory grease all over it so is currently in bits while I give it a good clean and lubricate it.

regards

Brian

 

[woodpig]

Looks to be in good condition. Do you have tooling for it or is that next on the list?

 

[RogerP]

Looks nice, have fun.

I'd not thought too much about getting into metal working until, quite out of the blue, I was offered a Chinese 9x20 in newish condition with a huge amount of tooling and stock metal bar at a very low price.

It wasn't until I'd used it quite a bit that I read of all the problems and faults with these machines and all the modifications necessary. Maybe I'm not enough of a perfectionist but it seemed to do all I want okay. Might have been best not to have read all this stuff and just got on with using it

 

[Water-Mark]

I think there is quite a bit of unnecessary tool snobbery when it comes to machines.

I was always taught to buy tools appropriate for the task expected, hence i have a stock of lidl/aldi chisels for various tasks that means they have a very short life span.

I'm sure it'll do all you need with a bit of getting used to.

 

[Wildman]

Brown and Smart Sable was a nice solid lathe pity you had to sell it.

 

[AES]

That looks very nice & tidy Brian. I'm not familiar with the "Sable" ("Sabel?") but apart from the colour your new machine looks very much like my Einhell 3000 (as I'm sure you know, there's a helluva of badge engineering in this market. Many (but not all apparently) come from the same Chinese factory.

As you've had a lathe before you won't need me to tell you that you'll be spending AT LEAST as much on tooling as you did for the lathe itself, but personally I've found that with a few sensible additions my little lathe now happily does all that I can throw at it. And it's really useful for re-making specials like collar bolts, etc, etc for machines that come fitted with hardened cheese ironmongery as standard.

I even (purists, please stop reading now) turn up wooden bits & pieces on it and find it works fine provided I clean all the shavings off the ways as soon as I've finished).

I've found mine very usable as delivered (after I got all the "chicken fat" grease off it!) but without going to town there are some simple/cheap improvements you can do to make using it more convenient and enjoyable. For example Little Machine Shop in the USA sell a kit to change the nut-type tailstock lock (which I always found a fiddly PITA to use) into a single lever over-centre cam lock system. There are all sorts of other goodies too, the 2 sources I would recommend being Little Machine Shop and Arc Eurotrade. Both very good to deal with and have sensible prices. Usual disclaimers.

Links for both of these (and several other good places too) are at the sticky right at the top of this General Metalworking section.

Have fun

AES

 

[brianhabby]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I do have some tooling to start me off so am not too worried about that at the moment. Yes I have had a lathe before but am still very much a beginner.

As well as the instruction manual the lathe also came with a book 'The Mini-Lathe' by David Fenner. He describes one from Arc Eurotrade and it is virtually identical to this one. He describes a procedure for stripping it down to clean and lubricate it, which is my first task. I have now started to re-assemble it so should be able to turn something fairly soon.

I agree there can be a certain amount of tool snobbery as far as tools go. I don't always buy the cheapest but the best I can afford at the time (and sometimes that is the cheapest if I'm skint at the time ). I am confident this machine will do anything that I want it to do, at least for the foreseeable future.

regards

Brian

 

[AES]

Brian, I have that David Fenner book too and found it very useful (I'm also not exactly an experienced lathe user). :?

I've also heard that Fenner has a 2nd book (sequel to the 1st?) out on the mini lathe. Might be worth a look?

Enjoy it mate, as per my last post I've found mine both useful and enjoyable.

AES

 

[Harbo]

It's very similar to my Warco one - all clones from Sieg?

Rod

 

[CHJ]

Just concentrate on getting it dirty rather than pimping it or it's support tooling, if you have had a day in the shed and it takes you half an hour or more to clean up the machine and surroundings then you are on the right track.

Most folks with 'home workshops' would be appalled if they walked into my shed and saw the well used 9 X 20 mounted on a crude bench and the limited assortment of tooling, some of which is has stayed with me since I was 16 but it regularly produces what is needed for new shop tooling or fixes other peoples malfunctioning equipment.

Only this weekend it was used to put a tailstock assembly from a far more expensive lathe back into usable condition for someone after the supplier failed to sort it out.

In the last few years it has even been known to batch produce components in the hundreds when a company was let down by poor quality supply of urgently needed parts to meet retailer stock commitments.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very envious of a workshop when I walk in and see pristine good quality equipment and loads of support tooling all neatly racked and housed but more often than not leave with despair in my heart that it is just sat there looking pretty and not producing anything.

 

[RogerP]

.............
Most folks with 'home workshops' would be appalled if they walked into my shed and saw the well used 9 X 20 mounted on a crude bench and the limited assortment of tooling, some of which is has stayed with me since I was 16 but it regularly produces what is needed for new shop tooling or fixes other peoples malfunctioning equipment.........

Well I wouldn't be, sounds like my own!

 

[brianhabby]

Just concentrate on getting it dirty rather than pimping it or it's support tooling, if you have had a day in the shed and it takes you half an hour or more to clean up the machine and surroundings then you are on the right track.

Well, I got it good and dirty yesterday after re-assembling it.
I turned a small spigot for a friend's mitre saw, he had broken the original one due to being too heavy handed and it looked like a simple first project.
I did have some problems though:
I found that when the tool touched the workpiece the carriage and slides would move. I thought this might be due to the gibs not being tight enough but after tightening everything, it was still moving.
Chester have their annual open week next week and I plan on popping over, so if I'm still having problems I might pop it in the back of the car and see if they can offer a solution.

regards

Brian

 

[CHJ]

I found that when the tool touched the workpiece the carriage and slides would move. I thought this might be due to the gibs not being tight enough but after tightening everything, it was still moving.
..

It was not by any chance due to backlash in the leadscrews, not unknown to have to make sure that the tool advancement on the cross and compound slides is in the correct direction and hold a hand gently against the carriage slide wheel to maintain positive positioning.

 

[AES]

@brianhabby:

CHJ has it exactly. At least he has as per my machine. There's quite a lot of backlash on both slides, but it can be taken out to a certain extent (if I remember, the Fenner book tells you how, if not look it up on line at a couple of the websites shown on the sticky at the top of this Metalworking section). In practice though, because the backlash does creep back in again, I tend not to bother too much - just make sure when turning that you always turn the handle one way only - again Fenner or those sites describe.

It's not ideal I know, and wouldn't happen on a decent machine like a Myford or Boxford, or Colchester, but if you're sure you've got the gibs correctly adjusted (nice and tight, but so that you can still turn the handles through their whole range without any stiffness/binding) then personally I find it's easier to just work round it, as above. (Then when I get fed up with it I re-adjust to take most of the backlash out again - then carry on working again and wait until it gets annoying again).

@harbo:
Yup, I believe most but not all of these machines come from Sieg. In my case I THINK my machine (badged Einhell and coloured blue) comes from another manufacturer, also Chinese, called Red Dog or Red Bull or something like that. But I've also heard, again I'm not sure, that they have gone bust or at least just don't make lathes any more. But all the bits & pieces I've bought, which are mainly aimed at Sieg-sourced machines do fit mine - albeit sometimes with a small amount of modding.

AES

 

[woodpig]

If you need a parting tool these are good and the price is right.

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/New- ... balt-.html

I've had several types but this is my favourite at the moment.

 

[brianhabby]

I am aware of backlash and accept that it may well be more than ideal on a cheap machine such as mine. I did think I had allowed for it but will try again and see how I get on.

regards

Brian

 

[AES]

+1 for woodpig's parting off tool. All the books I've read (+ the little turning "experience" I got during my apprenticeship - much too short for my taste!) led me to believe that parting off is one of the most difficult and problematic tasks.

My PO tool looks v similar/exactly the same as the one woodpig shows (mine came from Little Machine Shop though, together with 3 other tools) and with that tool I've found parting off to be an easy & problem-free experience - just about as simple as "standard" turning to size.

AES

 

[johnbaz]

That looks a cracking machine, I almost bought one locally that was cheap-ish at £250, Ended up not buying after an argument with the wife!!

Had to buy a Myford ML7 as a consolation!! It cost a little more though at £380 (She'll probably keep quiet in the future!! :lol: :lol: )

The lathe came with some change wheels for screwcutting but it appeared that some were missing so I noted which were missing and bid on some on ebay! Of course straight after I bid on some, It hit me that there may be one fitted to the lathe so I looked, There was a 65, a 70 and a 75 toothed wheels fitted! I won the wheels on ebay so I now have a spare 65 and 75 wheel, The other was a 25 which I didn't have!!


John