Arceurotrade New Sieg SC4 Lathe.

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

A few months ago a friend and myself clubbed together to buy this new Sieg SC4 Lathe from Arceurotrade.

Apart from a quick look and check that it worked when it arrived we still haven’t got round to doing anything with it, so it is still sat in its packing crate waiting to be removed and lifted onto a new steel stand which has yet to be made.

But today I lifted the lid off the crate and had a closer look and fiddle with it. I noticed that this lathe does not have the thick raised pad with four threaded holes on the back face of the bed casting to mount the vertical milling head attachment., so this is a big disappointment.

All other SC4 Lathes I have seen do have this mounting surface for the milling attachment, our lathe does still have the deep set back splash guard to allow fitting of one, plus the lathe spindle gear drive which can be disengaged to allow the use of power feeds when milling without the lathe spindle rotating, both of which now seem somewhat redundant.

I am well aware of the limitations of a milling attachment on a lathe, and this is not an issue at all. So I wondered if anyone else out there has bought a new SC4 lathe fairly recently that also does not have the mounting surface on the back of the bed casting. I don’t know if Sieg have stopped including it, or if we just happen to have an odd lathe that does not.

The other item I noticed is the very bad 4 inch 3 jaw chuck the lathe came fitted with. It is an unbranded chuck with a nice ground finish, but unfortunately the guide slots cut into the chuck body have been machined oversize, so both sets of jaws slop about fromm side to side and rock backwards and forwards. Also the internal gears mesh and rotate very roughly, even jamming at times as the key is rotated, even with the jaws removed. It really is the worst I have ever come across, and all other Chinese lathe chucks I have tried have been absolutely fine.

So it looks like a new replacement chuck will have to be purchased, and I think I would like to stick to a 4 inch chuck. But I just wondered if anyone has fitted a 5 inch chuck to the SC4 lathe and if the lathe has coped with it OK. While the SC4 is a more substantial machine than the SC3 type mini lathes it still has a similar size headstock spindle and bearings to the mini lathes, but a 5 inch chuck is quite a bit heavier than a 4 inch item.

 

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Contact Ketan at Arc. I am sure he will replace the defective chuck and comment on the lack of mounting holes for the steady.

Andrew.

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