Hi from a Southampton novice

[nevilletParticipant @nevillet]

Hi all,

My name is Neville and I live and work in Southampton and have recently purchased a second-hand Sieg S4 lathe. I’m a complete novice to lathe work and am hoping to pickup some advice from fellow SC4 users.

 

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Welcome to the party Sir, you will find plenty of help from a largely happy bunch here. I have Myfords but in general a lathe is a lathe. Join a local club there is one in Southampton. There are several books that will give you some ideas, the Workshop Practice Series are good and not alot of money at about £8, No 34 Lathework – a complete course, would get things moving. Whilst many will vote for tipped cutting tools, tool steel is fine and both cheaper and you will soon get the hang of grinding tools to suit your job. Do not worry about working to the nearest thou or .025mm  if the job does not need it, 5 thou may be fine for many jobs. To this end you will need something to measure with. A mike or calipers will do, be they electronic or much cheaper mechanical.Best wishes and good luck. Noel

[nevilletParticipant @nevillet]

Hi Noel,

Many thanks for the welcome and No34 Lathework is now on order!

Regarding questions regarding lathe work is there a sub forum that people use?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome to a useful and rewarding hobby.

+1 for what Noel says.

Now that you have a lathe, all sorts of new vistas will open up for you.

Your choice of a SC4 sounds good to me, based on the spec and the little that I’ve seen of them.

Having been a long term customer of Arc Euro Trade, who import them, if you have a query, or want accessories, go to them  Ian and Ketan will be most helpful.

If you are new to lathework, an alternative book that would help is Stan Bray’s “Basic Lathework”

.(Workshop Practice Series 45)

As you gain experience, you may find a need for other books, if only as reference books.

A set of Zeus Charts will be a good investment. I still frequently use mine, bought in 1958!

Take time to become familiar with the machine. To start, learn how to rotate a handwheel steadily, using both hands (Although the SC4 has power feed in both planes)

Practice just cutting metal, to get a feel of different depths of cut, and then different feed rates. (If you are roughing out, you can use higher feeds, with finer feeds for the finishing cut.

Make your mistakes on mild steel, rather than castings which will be expensive, or items that cannot be replaced.

You may want to use carbide tipped tools, but you can’t sharpen them, other than with a diamond wheel.  High Speed Steel can be ground, and into shapes for which no carbide tip is available.

Then, start making simple tools for yourself.  This will give you practice, and give you confidence and satisfaction with every successful product. And you will have items that you can use for years afterwards.

My hobby horse is to make a Centre Height Gauge for setting tools, first.

Unless it is set on centre height, no tool will cut properly!

Don’t be afraid to ask!

If I can help, just PM me with an E mail address and i will give any advice, (FWIW) and send any pictures that might be useful. Bear in mind that although a retired Engineer, I an not a time served machinist, and there are people on here who are far more skilled than I

Howard,

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Welcome to the forum

H

[nevilletParticipant @nevillet]

Hi again,
I’m in early retirement from a career in medical electronics (patient monitoring) and about 5 years ago started a repair shop business from home. Customers bring me mostly electrical items and some mechanical items that I endeavour to fix. It’s a hobby that’s turned into the most enjoyable job I’ve ever had. For many years I’ve longed for a metalworking lathe and a month ago a customer looked around my workshop and said, ‘you could do with a small lathe…’ and he put me in touch with a local seller.

Just before Christmas my father in law passed away. He spent his working life as a centre lathe turner. If only I’d got the lathe 20 years ago… He was a lovely chap who would have been a great teacher but I feel he’s still next to me on the lathe saying things like ‘take that bloody chuck key out!’

My wife and her sister are in the process of clearing his house and in the garage are boxes of custom made (what looks like) HSS cutting bits – more than I’ll ever need.

I’ve been watching YouTube videos which have been a great help and I’ve bought Neil Wyatt’s ‘Lathework for Beginners’ from ArcEuroTrade. Neil’s book is great as it’s written around the SC4 and its left me with lots of questions.

I’ve been working on the lathe trying to do the basics like getting the tool to the correct position, facing off and parting. All of which are a challenge at the moment. The lathe came with lots of accessories and steel and brass stock and my practice work has mostly been on the brass.

I have a couple of side issues, one of which I guess is a common one: space or lack of it – everything is very tight. My garage workshop is small and every bit of space is utilised with custom storage.

The other is related to my repair business. The most popular item I repair are coffee machines and this work requires the use of various acids which make steel items rust like hell. To mitigate this on the lathe I’ve been keeping a good layer of oil on the exposed surfaces and invested in a cover and I’ll see how it works out in time.

I’ve noted your book recommendations and will track them both down.

If you’re interested to see some of my repair work, please take a look here:
http://www.bassettrepairshop.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/bassettrepairshop/

Many thanks for your kind words of encouragement.

[Author]

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