Lathe:  SIEG C6B (axminster)

My lathe is a SIEG C6B, made by sieg industries, but imported and repainted by axminster, the big uk online shop. The original one from sieg is red and this painted version is more relaxing to work with. I asked axminster staff what colors are those and they replied with these two codes : RAL 9010 and RAL7026. I think this is the best color combination for metalworking machines because fancy colors (red, yellow, green, bue) are not relaxing colors for the eyes. White is perfect, and dark gray is perfect for the bed.

CHOOSING WHAT LATHE:

When I was looking for one lathe I was not sure which one was the right for me. I worked few times on a BV20 , a friend one but I was not shure about the lenght, so the only BV series available was the BV20 L.  The choices were then sieg C6 / C6B,  classic BV20-L or classical 9*20 (like jet or similar). I removed the minilathe from my choices list pretty soon because I don't want to spend the rest of my life telling myself "dave, your lathe is too small, you need a big one"..  

Anyway, during the research I spoke with a friend that is veryhigh skilled (thanks Olly) because he is the boss/worker of an hydraulic workshop and he works everyday with giant lathes and milling machines; He told me to buy the SIEG for two basic reasons: 1 ) variable speed 2) leadscrew cover.

The choice was made and after 2 weeks the truck delivered these two Egyptian sarcophagus

in my driveway. (+- 180 / 200 kg each )

MOVING THE LATHE:

20 /06/2006 : I was ready to move the machines from the driveway to the workshop.... a friend (a good man) borrowed me a 800kg crane , and another good one gave me three steel round rods to roll the lathe inside...

The lathe came inside first, and I just mooved it inside alone because all my friends were busy that day!!

21/06/2006 Now let's talk about the cleaning that you need to do on a new lathe that comes wrapped of a sticky cream, called antirust grease... I spent one full day to separate al parts and to clean averything. At the end of the day this was the lathe... the rest of it I mean!

The second day was spent to mount parts togheter , taking care about shafts, gears, ect.. I sprayed all with VD40 and I applied some grease on gears and screws, I will use sae20 oil for beds surfaces and gibs.

I also made a dip tray made of aluminium, a fine sheet (1mm) , 1250 x 600, with 40mm at 45% sides, welded with TIG on corners. The diptray is important because I am gonna use a coolant system with water (soluble water cutting oil)

The  "thread cutting or milling" power switch that comes from the factory is unusefull because gives you the option to turn on the lathe or the mill machine (if attached) and since we have just the lathe there i no motivation to keep the switch: bin it!

(Photo taken on another C6B lathe, not mine one....)

This switch is in the front lower panel and comes from the factory in both verions of lathe (lathe only and lathe with mill).  I removed the switch and I will use the holes for the halogen lamps switch and then I will make an aluminium cover/panel  for all the frontal panel side.

There are three  SAFE switches that stops the lathe, one is on the clear chuck guard, the other is on the gear box door, and the last is the STOP button.  I already removed them and the only one left is the the emergency STOP button on front panel, I think the others could make me nervous that is why I bypassed/removed  them.

...so after a couple of days the lathe was ready to run, mounted on my tray.

The lathe comes with standard gears for many different tread cutting sizes, mt2 dead center, mt3 dead center, chuck key, 125mm 3 jaws chuck with 3 extra jaws, some crap wrenches and allen keys. The live center in the photo (up here) was bought for few bucks on ebay and is a precision MT2 live center with bearings.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

My first impression was : this lathe is massive, but paintjob is not really fine.

Yes, the lathe is really well made. There is a good bed with grounded Vees, a good headstock case, and a easy to work gear box. The tailstock is good too because there are 70mm of travel, plus a precise tuning system. The saddle is massive, well built, and there is a gib on the rear side and bolts on the front. the Y carriage is good to.The only thing that is not really good is the paint job. The big surfaces are well painted with a  flat finish but there are many parts unpainted especially under or back or in not mvisible areas, and especially in edges or between parts the pain is not clear applied.  I can see the red paint  somewhere, and this means that white was sprayed over it , because red is original sieg color.

Now, I don't want to say that the lathe is completely painted bad, but if you go closer to look for  small details you will be able to see these many small pain defects that show you the fast way of painting sieg used (or axminster).

BUT:   paint is just a coat. a coat over a good built machine!

Also, if you know color codes you can buy (like me) the two paints and make some adjustment at the lathe to make it perfect. I already bought the two colors because I want to have all the machines with same paint scheme and I already painted the band saw and the bench grinder with these two colors (white and dark gray) . At the moment I don't paint the lathe because the small imperfections are not so visible, but I am glad to know that I can do it if I want, in future.

another bad thing is the quality of some bolt. they are iron or crap steel, I suggest you to use only best quality wrenches (snap on, beta) or you will make the bolts roundhead!

IMPRESSIONS AFTER 6 MONTHS (december 06):

The lathe is able to do some nice jobs. there is a good leadscrew that is protected from the dust and chips, and there is a good speed control.

the tailstock is well made but it is not able to move free until a modification on the camping sytem is made (check it on project page).

The threading operations are executed well but the carriage MUST not be disengaged during the thread otherwise the lathe will loose the position of the thread, the best way to do threads is to go foward with the saddle linked at the leadscrew, then stop the lathe, come back 1 mm with the cross slide and move back the lathe (RWD) until the beginning of the thread. all this without disengagind the saddle from the leadscrew.

The precision is also good, runout is close to zero.

the motor of the lathe is also well powerfull but not if you plan to drill 25mm holes in steel. the saddle is well made, carriage too. the only thing I don't like and I think isquite unstable is the topside carriage/ compound. it is only 70mm long and it is not really well made.

I checked many other lathe of this category and all of them are the same crap, probalby I can't have a professional topside carriage on a small lathe as the sieg c6b!

Another thing about the lathe is the quality of materials, I don't think it is all hardened steel. I tried to file a corner of the saddle compound and it cames out like butter: if I do that on the mill vice (which is stainless steel, hrc 55) I can't scratch is, i break the file!!

the bed ways are soft too, I damaged them with a file one very easly (not intentionally)

well, moral of the story is that the sieg c6b is an economical lathe that could be equiped with some nice tools such to make it productive.

I think is more important a good QCTP and good tools than a super hard lathe with basic tools.

tools makes the job, the lathe is only a "holder" of the workpiece and tools.

yes, I think c6b is a good machne but needs some money spent on it after, such as a 6" 4jaws independant chuck, a tailstock camlock, a dickson style quick change tool post and some good 16*16 toolholders (indexable).

on it's category I think is the best lathe, and that is why I bought it!!!, but I am still spending money to buy the tools that I wrote here!!!

IMPROVEMENTS:

The basic lathe is well built , but with some brain and time to work... is it possible to have a really professional lathe. A small list of imporvement that I am gonna make:

completed:

2 halogen spot gooseneck lamps,  saddle traveling stop switch  , tailstock camlock, 160mm backplate with 4 jaws chuck... , carriage lock..,  protections...

to do:

DRO system

digital RPM readout

quick change tool post turret

update december 2006:

I had to replace the topside bolts because the original one are made of butter (chinese soft steel). I bought two stainless stess M8 * 20 .

now it is perfect.

photo shows old soft one and new stainless steel

update january  2007:

plug and socket installed for a better function of one of the external lamps (left side gold one)  ,plus a foot activated SAFE button socket and plug... (right side gold one)

Lathe control box finished.....

check the page...

 ...will continue soon