Thread: My Sieg C4 lathe after some clues

Hi All
I have just bought a Sieg c4 lathe I have very little machining experience
I am normally a woodworker/ toys/models and still learning there as well.
I am just setting up my lathe I now have it all level on the X & Y axis.

I have put a number 3 morse taper in the spindle holder and put a dial gauge on the cross slide and measured the run out, the dial gauge is about 25mm out from the lathe head and the machine is running at 100 revs.
The smallest measurement is 0.001 inch on my gauge, and my gauge reads half of that div which I think would be 0.0005 inch keep in mind I am only a woody and not even a very smart one at that!. Its normally one or two fingers wide so this is a big learning curve for me.
I am now about to see how the spindle holder lines up with the tail stock when I bring the two dead centre points together and look with a magnifying glass they seem to line up I read once that if I used this method and put a razor blade between the points when the razor was parallel it was line up I am not sure if this is right or wrong
Anyway besides all that I think the lathe is working ok some feedback would help me greatly to know if I am going in the right direction with things thanks
Colbra

Hi and welcome to this side of the forum,
One tip is to not run your machine with the dial indicator touching as it will ruin the tip of it by giving it a flat spot. If you have only done it once or twice it will still be OK though.

As for run out that sounds fine for that machine. You are going about it the right way using the razor blade, but a feeler gauge or anything like that will do as well.
You shouldn't need a magnifier to see, just see if the razor blade stands 90 degrees both vertically and horizontally.

Dave

Where did you get your lathe Colbra?

I bought one a few years ago and I noticed they now have instructions for left hand threading. When I bought mine it was said that the lathe was unable to do this.

Did you get these instructions with your lathe? If not is there anyone else out there that has the instructions??

Originally Posted by slhouetteV8

Where did you get your lathe Colbra?

I bought one a few years ago and I noticed they now have instructions for left hand threading. When I bought mine it was said that the lathe was unable to do this.

Did you get these instructions with your lathe? If not is there anyone else out there that has the instructions??

Hi SlhouetteV8
This may help Year of the Basement: Can lefthanded threads be made on the SIEG C4?

Are you happy with C4
Cobra

Originally Posted by Dave J

Hi and welcome to this side of the forum,
One tip is to not run your machine with the dial indicator touching as it will ruin the tip of it by giving it a flat spot. If you have only done it once or twice it will still be OK though.

As for run out that sounds fine for that machine. You are going about it the right way using the razor blade, but a feeler gauge or anything like that will do as well.
You shouldn't need a magnifier to see, just see if the razor blade stands 90 degrees both vertically and horizontally.

Dave

Thanks Dave for the advice have taken on board.
Dave I see you are a Newcastle boy did you work at the Dock Yard or BHP I to am a old Newcastle Boy UP THE KNIGHTS
Col

Hi,
Plenty of good advice on this board. I never worked there myself, but worked a Titans in town. My grandfather worked in there most of his life as a boiler maker ship builder, but he is just going on 90 year old now. Both my uncles worked there as well and are around 55 year old now, though they left after there apprenticeship.

I see you are in the central coast, I have gotten to know the guys at the moriset mega marked tool stalls and get good discounts off them. I recommend them to you if you need to buy tooling or measuring gear as they are cheap.

Dave

PS
There are 2, 1 down stairs and one up stairs.

Thanks Colbra, certainly does help.

Yeah I'm happy with the C4, when I bought it I needed a lathe that was portable but still not a toy so it served it's purpose well. I mostly use 10mm insert tooling and it drives everything I throw at it.

It's 50/50 though, for the same money you can get a decent used lathe with tooling or something along the lines of the AL-320G with accessories but overall, I'm happy with my decision.

How are you finding the lathe?

Originally Posted by Dave J

...the guys at the moriset mega marked tool stalls and get good discounts off them.

I've bought a couple of things from Morisset Mega Market, and found the quality very variable. In particular, I set of adjustable reamers were pretty much crap - one blade ground wildly different from the others, and folding under the slightest ajustment. The seller wouldn't touch it, wouldn't even listen to me once I mentioned refund or replacement

CTC Tools in Hong Kong have high quality gear, great service, and pricing half or less of what Hare & Forbes charge.

I've got a Sieg C2, and just cut my first thread the other day. Woo-hoo!!

Cheers,
Andrew

Originally Posted by colbra

Hi All
I have just bought a Sieg c4 lathe I have very little machining experience
I am normally a woodworker/ toys/models and still learning there as well.
I am just setting up my lathe I now have it all level on the X & Y axis.

I have put a number 3 morse taper in the spindle holder and put a dial gauge on the cross slide and measured the run out, the dial gauge is about 25mm out from the lathe head and the machine is running at 100 revs.
The smallest measurement is 0.001 inch on my gauge, and my gauge reads half of that div which I think would be 0.0005 inch keep in mind I am only a woody and not even a very smart one at that!. Its normally one or two fingers wide so this is a big learning curve for me.
I am now about to see how the spindle holder lines up with the tail stock when I bring the two dead centre points together and look with a magnifying glass they seem to line up I read once that if I used this method and put a razor blade between the points when the razor was parallel it was line up I am not sure if this is right or wrong
Anyway besides all that I think the lathe is working ok some feedback would help me greatly to know if I am going in the right direction with things thanks
Colbra

Hi All I posted this on the forum in January this year the response I got was great and helped me a lot.
I am still happy with my C4 lathe although the manual was useless!
I had been looking around, and found this one, I am not sure how I came by it now, maybe someone on the forum sent it to me anyway here it is; or more to the point I shall try to upload it.
Hope some of the Siege C4 owners can make use of it as I have.
As well as giving at detailed description of how to set up and look after your lathe it has some basic exercisers on turning, facing,drilling and thread cutting.
I am now going to mount a rear parting tool on the lathe any input would be
greatly appreciated thanks.

Colbra

PS I am sure the manual was not written in China