A few questions...

Thanks. I forgot my lathe came with a steady rest. Is it worth upgrading the gears to metal ones if there are any available? I thought the plastic gears are a type of mechanical fuse, designed to break to save the machine or workpiece
 
Pcmaker said:
Thanks. I forgot my lathe came with a steady rest. Is it worth upgrading the gears to metal ones if there are any available? I thought the plastic gears are a type of mechanical fuse, designed to break to save the machine or workpiece
Click to expand...

There are plastic gears inside the headstock. They will break if the lathe suffers a crash from the tool or carriage. I replaced mine with all metal gears from LMS. I also replaced the plastic change gears with all metal from LMS. I would say it is one of the best modifications I've made. I replaced the gears when my son crashed it by accident and broke one in the headstock. The plastic gears are a mechanical fuse as you describe. A big pain in the keaster fuse inside the headstock. If the belt is properly tightened it should be able to absorb some of the shock of a crash. You just need to be careful with either setup.

Just some info for you, not trying to influence you.
You can spend a lot of time and money modifying these little machines.
I also changed the spindle bearings to tapered roller bearings when I had it apart. That is not a required modification but is really helpful when parting. Angular contact spindle bearings are also a popular upgrade. They are a direct replacement for the standard deep groove spindle bearings and are also helpful for parting. The tapered roller bearings require some minor modifications of the spindle and spacers.

A carriage lock is another add on that you would be advised to make or purchase. LMS sells one that you could look at as an example. This is almost mandatory when parting. Rigidity is very important.
A camlock for the tailstock is an other good upgrade. LMS sells a kit or the whole tailstock with camlock. You could also make your own.
LMS sells a carriage stop that really comes in handy. Once again you can make your own.
LMS sells parts for just about all Sieg based machines like yours. If you are like me you will eventually be replacing parts and doing modifications. Spend some time on their web page, you'll find a wealth of information and goodies. They are great people.
The mini lathe really likes HSS tooling. I use the A.R. Warner indexable tools with HSS inserts, however they are expensive. They have three cutting surfaces and are easily sharpened by just running a wetstone on the top. For special stuff you need to grind your own. Mikey on this forum has written tons of information and how to's on that. He is a gold mine of information for us beginners, as are all the members of the forum.

I have also installed an LMS 16" bed kit to make my HF 7x10 into a 7x16. I also use a 4" chuck, both 3 jaw and independent 4 jaw. I installed the LMS extended carriage on my mini to get clearance for turning larger diameter parts. There are many upgrades to these little machines. I purchased a Machtach tachometer/surface feet per minute meter kit for the lathe. I also made and installed tapered gibs on my lathe. There are other upgrade on my mini also.

When adjusting the change gears backlash the easiest way I have found is to place a sheet of copy paper between the gears, then pull the gears together as close as you can and tighten up the adjustment nuts. turn the gears to remove the paper and you should have .004" to .005" backlash.

Change gear calculator:
CGTK - Mini-Lathe Change Gear Calculator

Fell free to ask questions. All the forum members enjoy helping each other.

Roy
 
I'm a novice at this but I will pass on a few tips I have figured out so far.

Google youtube whenever you are looking to try a new technique that you are not sure about. There is an excellent chance you will find at least one video covering it, most of the time you could spend 2 days watching videos on the subject and just be scratching the surface.
If you still don't feel comfortable ask here, people are very nice and 99% follow the "there is no stupid question" concept. Doing this has saved me from making some potential costly mistakes. Much like measure twice, cut once the extra time to verify will save time, money and frustration.

Be careful about buying stuff, it is very easy to buy everything that you might need, someday for that one thing, or more often replacing something that isn't broke (yet). Not at saying not to buy stuff just because you want it (I'd be a huge hypocrite if I said that), but I try to sleep on it before hitting the payment button, often that time to reflect helps me to realize it was excitement driving the thought rather than a practical need.

Related to this, it is also very easy to spend a cheap machine into an expensive one. Lots of stuff will transition to another machine if you later upgrade but not all will. This seems to be a particular issue with the smaller machines whether it is putting bigger motors and risers on a Sherline to make it act like a bigger machine or buying lots of upgrades for the Sieg machines. By the time you are done, you are probably pretty close to the cost of a bigger more capable lathe which might have been money better spent. However there are advantages to small machines so I'm not at all dismissing these upgrades, just consider whether it is really the best way to get where you want.

When it comes to upgrades / accessories unless you are running a really obscure machine, somebody here has probably already done it. These is rarely a need to be the guinea pig.
 
Pcmaker said:
Thanks. I forgot my lathe came with a steady rest. Is it worth upgrading the gears to metal ones if there are any available? I thought the plastic gears are a type of mechanical fuse, designed to break to save the machine or workpiece
Click to expand...

Personally I’d stick to the plastic change gears – sure I did strip one when I first got my mini lathe due to a binding leadscrew. However if the gear had not stripped I may not have noticed and ended up damaging a more expensive / difficult to replace part. Plastic gears will run a little quieter too. The gear in the headstock (for the Hi-Lo speed change) is worth the upgrade but only if you strip it. It was a bit of a pain to do. Not so much difficult however it requires near enough a full machine strip down to do so you’ll have to ask yourself if it is really worth your time and effort. I’d only bother replacing it if and when you strip the plastic one.

As for facing (or indeed any cutting with the workpiece unsupported) be careful here. Experience will tell you what you can and can’t get away with. Larger diameters of stock deflect less so you can push the boundaries a little more than with thin stuff (assuming the chuck has a good grip on it of course!). Smaller diameters can and will flex when cutting and this can lead to the work piece moving off centre and digging into the tool. This can easily rip a part from the chuck or bend the workpiece so care does need to be taken. As has been mentioned before, we’ve all done it and it’s just one of those things that comes with experience. If you’re in any doubt make sure you are standing at the tailstock end so if the worst should happen at least you’re not in the firing line!
 
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