Searching for a mini lathe

[Andy Stephenson]

It looks more like something that should be exchanged by the supplier.

[Andy Stephenson]

Jon, on the gear noise, my mini lathe is identical to yours but a well used second hand one and the noise is perfectly acceptable. I think after a period of break-in it will quiet down.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Andy Stephenson

[Andy Gates]

Jon

Check you tail stock alignment before you use it.

Mine was quite a bit out, useful for tapers but not much else.

[Alan Hilton]

5 hours ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

 

Yea i will have a go at sorting it out but in truth a quick change tool post is more my style. Having to faff about with shims on multiple tools is just a pain

I’ve got a quick change tool holder ,it’s worth it’s weight in gold well worth getting one

[Jon H]

2 hours ago, Andy Gates said:

Jon

Check you tail stock alignment before you use it.

Mine was quite a bit out, useful for tapers but not much else.

 

was it the tail stock that was out? i checked mine and it seemed very good but so far i have not done anything very long so it would not show up anyway

[Andy Gates]

Yes it was. It was off centre relative to the chuck & slightly skewed too. Took some tweaking.

[Jon H]

8 hours ago, Andy Gates said:

Yes it was. It was off centre relative to the chuck & slightly skewed too. Took some tweaking.

 

I will double check mine but it seemed ok. The weather this weekend looks like its going to suck so a day of metal mashing sounds alright to me. Hopefully my boring bar arrives so i can get on to making the long list of piston rings i need. If i make enough, my lathe will owe me money!

[Jon H]

Send Amadeal photos of the tool post, new one on its way FOC. Cant say fairer than that. 

[Chris Walby]

Didn't even know that you could get tools that didn't need shims under them to get the right height. Then again my 1940's Myford does everything I need it for.

• No guards
• Open belts
• No pesky self ejecting chuck key 

Still not sure about forward and reverse with a screw on chuck, but then again I have never turned anything where I have needed reverse!

[Jon H]

I took the spring off my self ejecting chuck key as it irritated me

[kevin b]

36 minutes ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

I took the spring off my self ejecting chuck key as it irritated me

That's invalidated the warranty.     😁

[Andy Stephenson]

1 hour ago, Chris Walby said:

Didn't even know that you could get tools that didn't need shims under them to get the right height. ...

My Amadeal lathe takes 10mm square HSS cutting tools which exactly match the centre so no need for shimming.

[Jon H]

10 hours ago, Andy Stephenson said:

My Amadeal lathe takes 10mm square HSS cutting tools which exactly match the centre so no need for shimming.

 

Mine takes 10mm tools and they supplied a lovely set of carbide tip jobbies but they were about 3/32 too low and needed a shim. 

[Jon H]

I have spent the last few days turning metal into swarf and generally things are going quite well. 

 

First job was to make a few upgrades. I treated myself to a quick change tool post, grabbed a big die handle as i needed it for my M11x.75 die, and i also got some boring bars to aid with other jobs

 

 

 

 

Some fiddling and faffing had these fitted and my first job was a new exhaust header for my Enya 155

 

 

Next it was time to make some piston rings. I needed one for an OS 52 surpass and my RCV120. 

 

This went quite well and i got 2 for the OS and ended up with 4 for the RCV 

 

 

 

The 52 now runs much better but the RCV still gave trouble despite the upgrade. 

Compression was strong but the mixture was hard to pin down. Examination of the carb showed significant end float in the barrel so i decided to make another barrel screw....

 

And here we hit a snag. I had cleaned down the lathe after making the rings last night and it was today that i ran up the engine. Finding a 3mm cap head to modify into a new barrel screw i turned everything on ready to get to work. I started the lathe and was met with a loud electrical pop, blue flash, and all power in the shed shut off. Reset the breaker in the house, try again. Lathe powers up, runs for 3 seconds, another pop and blackout. 

 

I reset the breaker again and remove the cover that holds all the electronics. Its full of swarf... Yep, the sensitive electronics have nothing to keep them safe from pieces of swarf and i suspect this is what caused my problem. The lead screw for the autofeed runs through this bay and had no protection round it. Some of the wires have also been rubbing on the lead screw as it rotates. To say i was unimpressed was an understatement. 

 

 

This is a clear design issue as these components should be completely sealed and i am fortunate that no lasting damage seems to have been done. I will be reporting this to Amadeal and i will not be using the lathe again until i have been able to make something to prevent swarf getting into this area. Its possible i didnt help myself by using an air line to clean the machine down, but this is not exactly an unusual way to clean down a lathe and the machine should be able to withstand it. 

 

Having found the suspected cause i blew the area out with my air line and gave it a blast with some contact cleaner before another blow. With great trepidation i fired it all back up and it seems to be working. I then set about making the new barrel screw for the RCV but forgot to take any photos given all the drama. 

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

Jon,

I just noticed that lead screw issue with my Amadeal lathe, I think I'll make a rubber seal/guard for that area and possibly mount some sort of brush to keep the threads clear.

I need to dismantle the controller box as the previous owner probably never looked in there plus there is a dirty pot on the speed control which causes the speed to waver.

[Jon H]

I am thinking of gluing a plastic pipe or channel into the housing to keep the lead screw separated completely. I just need to make sure the jumble of wires dont get in the way. A brush is a good idea too and perhaps some old draught excluder would work? Not sure, but it needs to be done. 

 

 

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

I just looked in mine and there's a Mylar sheet as some sort of deflector mounted across the circuitry. I cleaned it then folded it back, there was a small amount of swarf but not enough to cause a problem but not the best solution.

[Jon H]

interesting, mine had nothing in there at all

[Barryorbik]

Jon, I have and elderly Clarke CL300 (which is the same as a Sieg C2) and many other Chinese mini lathes. The first modification I did was to fit the leadscrew grommet from Arceurotrade.co.uk  The part number is C2-256.  I believe later lathes had some kind of lead screw guard fitted too, which helps prevent swarf getting into the threads, but I have not seen one with these on a lathe yet.

 

Barry

[Jon H]

That looks spot on Barry, thanks for that. 

 

Could you do me a favour and measure the o/d of your lead screw? Mine is 17mm if i remember rightly. 

[Engine Doctor]

These tools are supposed to have a safety certificate when sold in the UK. 

I recently bought an Ultrsonic Cleaner off a seller on ebay . A few days later I received a message from eBay saying that that the item had been withdrawn from the listing as trading standards had deemed it electrically unsafe due to defective earthing. Their recommendation was that the consignment should be destroyed ! A bit drastic as the earthing issue was simply addressed.

Your lathe Jon sounds like a candidate for a partial refund due to the work you are doing to make it safe to use. 

Like myself many of us a capable of sorting these problems but many will use them with no idea what could happen be- it fire or eletric shock even death.

I know most of us would say " yes but at least he died doing what made him happy " but seriously this imported stuff needs safety issues addressed.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Engine Doctor

[Jon H]

The first thing i did when i powered it up both when new and after the power tripped was to get out my multi meter and make sure the bed wasnt live. It was fine, so i continued. 

 

The thing is, clearly the design of the lathe has changed as Andy and i have the exact same machine from the same seller and yet his has a defence against this swarf ingestion build into its design and mine has the screw posts to hold it, they are just empty. One of the main issues with chinese manufacturers is they just change stuff without notifying anyone. They probably worked out that not including that plastic screen saves them 50 cents on every one they make so they cut the corner to save money. Unless the importer decides to dismantle and inspect every single machine how are they doing to know? 

 

I do agree though. Allowing metal shavings to enter the electronics is poor no matter how it has come about. I will be speaking with Amadeal tomorrow to raise my concerns as i do not fancy getting lit up like a chirstmas tree while i am trying to make a piston ring. Even if the earthing works, the machine is covered in oil and grease so an electrical fire could easily get going to burn my shed to a crisp. Which would be inconvenient. 

 

I will see what Amadeal say about it all. So far they have been very helpful and seem to have a good attitude. Certainly i am glad i bought the machine from them rather than my original plan as this issue could easily have fried the control board and i would not have accepted that as an on cost to me to replace it. 

 

I am considering a three pronged approach. 1, get the rubber thing Barry pointed out. 2, make a screen like the one Andy's machine has. 3, seal the edges of the box with silicone sealant before i bolt it back on as its not a brilliant fit and swarf could get in round the gaps as well. 

[Gary Manuel]

Scary!

 

This is the same country that exports the likes of motor cars, encrypted communications equipment and nuclear reactors to countries around the world.

[kc]

To me it's appalling that items are sold in UK that don't meet UK safety standards - and therefore undercut British manufacturers who then go out of business.   This rubbing of the wires on leadscrew should be reported to Trading Standards who should surely require the model to be withdrawn until corrected.    Report it Jon - don't wait until you read in the papers that someone less savvy has been electrocuted......... or perhaps just had a workshop fire.

 

 

[RottenRow]

That is rather worrying, and lucky that you had your workshop protected by your house RCD.

If the lathe is sold in the EU then it must have a CE marking on it, which means that it is designed and built to comply with applicable standards, in this case probably the low voltage directive and the machine directive. It should also have been supplied with a certificate of conformity stating which standards it does comply with, and that should be signed by somebody in authority. I know we are no longer part of the EU but most new items are still marked.

I would certainly check for good earth continuity from the earth pin in the mains plug to the metal frame of the machine.

If the housing where the electronics are mounted is somewhere beneath the bed it will also need to be sealed against possible ingress of any cutting lubricant that might be used.

Apparently there was a worldwide shortage of clear plastic sheet (it all went to make covid visors), perhaps the lathe manufacturer didn’t have any so just didn’t bother.

Brian.