Lathe+Mill package purchase discussion

1

At the AGM we discussed the purchase of a hand operated lathe and mill package with the grant money provided to us by the ACT Government.

My expected use case for such things is shafts and components for weird art bikes and robots: combat, printers, props, computer controlled camera cranes, etc. Maybe even faceplates for eurorack modules.

This thread is to consider options available to us with the understanding that if consensus isn’t reached by the end of June 3, we will go ahead with the purchase of the Sherline 6010 Lathe and Mill package which is $2549 USD (~$3,383 AUD) on the condition that we have a solid plan in place for keeping members safe (see the other thread).

Things to note about the 6010 package are the lathe is their longest model, the 4410 (Swing over bed: 90 mm, Swing over cross slide: 48 mm, Distance between centres: 430 mm) and the package does not include a compound slide for tapers (Accessory part 1280, $216 USD [~$286 AUD]) nor does it include the thread cutting attachment (Accessory part 3100, $235.14 USD [~$311 AUD]).

The thread cutting attachment would be a pretty high priority to add, the compound slide less so, but it’ll be good to know the price to compare it against other machines.

Please feel free to research other options and compile information about them here.

2 Likes
2

So as mentioned at meeting Sieg is an alternate brand that for similar price can provide a more robust (and for the lathe rigid) alternatives.

For example:
Sieg Lathe $AUD1259 https://www.machines4u.com.au/browse/Metalworking-Machinery/Lathe-36/sieg/
Sieg Mill $AUD1590 https://www.machines4u.com.au/view/advert/NEW-SIEG-SU1-HiTorque-Vertical-Horizontal-Mill/321087/

My (small) experience via Men’s Shed is with site below (for a significant number of workshop machines) and the Hafco lathe which shed gossip says is adequate/passable. My view pretty good.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Centre-Lathes
$AUD1529 Hafco
$AUD1969
…
$AUD2442 package

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Turret-Milling-Machines
$AUD1089
$AUD1705
$AUD1749
$AUD2387 package

or Lathe & Mill - all in one https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Lathe-Mill-Drill-Attachment
$AUD2530
$AUD2640

  • is less space required
  • only one machine/operator
  • guess other shortcomings, such as reduced workarea…

Sorry for lack of detail, especially comparing features and all the accessories, but is super busy week for me.

3

I’d be very interested in what Adam thinks the cons are for the Sieg.

From a layman’s perspective, I hear “The Sieg is cheaper, bigger, can do more stuff”. The Sieg sounds like its the right choice but Adam doesn’t seem quite sold on it. And frankly, I think Adam’s opinion is one of the most important ones. He’s the only one that expressed a need for this. So whatever we get needs to be able to build those bike axle thingies.

Adam, what are your thoughts on the Sieg? Why should we not go for the “cheaper bigger option”?

4

I don’t really see a lot of cons with the Sieg. I mostly pointed at the
Sherline package because it looked almost feature complete and from the
reading I’ve done the brand has a solid reputation for quality machines and
upgrade paths. Having said that, I haven’t spent a huge amount of time
looking at the Sieg options and reviews and I certainly haven’t used any of
the machines we’re considering so I’m more than happy to let experienced
people provide their recommendations.

We also had Tristan from minitech engineering
http://www.minitech.com.au/ who’s
a distributor for Sieg and Hare & Forbes in Canberra hook us up with some
kind of package if we found machines from either of them that would suit
our needs.

5

I have a smaller Sieg combined Lathe/Mill - while very handy, the big downside is the reduced work table size for the mill. I thought that it would allow for some work on material in the lathe chuck - but in reality, you need more movement/placement control, so they are really used separately. Benefit is reduced floor/bench space - but at reduced flexibility. For MHV, I would recommend, separate machines if space allows.

6

From my experience with the SIEG (without equiv. on Sherline) is that the SIEG SC3 Lathe comes out of the box with the following:

  • geared lead screw - allows tread cutting and controlled cutter feed (!)
  • SC3 kits includes Compound slide - I think this is essential, as provides finer control and tapers
  • big red Emergency cut off switch on case
  • enclosed drive gears - multi thread gearing kit @ ~$55 (or in ~$255 upgrade kit)
  • Spindle Taper: MT3 - matches spindle of SX3 Mill
  • Tailstock Taper: MT2

Easy to get suitable accessories to match MT2/3 tapers (and some of us will have suitable kit) - The SIEG SX3L HiTorque Mill - also has an MT3 spindle. However - THE first things we will NEED to get is to ensure that the mill has a collet chuck set - the supplied drill chuck is fine for drilling, but is NOT suitable for milling operations!

7

What is the required Milling Table/Bed Size ?

I’m going to Japan in two weeks and know where they sell Milling Machines [Akihabara] that you just can’t buy anything like in Australia. The Hobby units start off at about $400 and go up from there.

Many hardware shop in Japan (afaik) sell Milling Machines, but I’ve yet to see them here at any Bunnings.

8

Guys who’ve used, or know about the Siegs. Would you say the Siegs have less quality and upgrade paths? Are they “feature complete”?

(btw, sorry I’m not actually adding anything new, I barely know what these machines even do. I just don’t see much actual discussion of which one we should go with. If we make a decision we can just go ahead and order these)