Mini-Lathe Modifications and Tooling

My mini-lathe is the Axminster Sieg SC2. It is made by Sieg Industries and is a 7x12 lathe. I bought the lathe in December 2011 (just before Axminster put the prices up by 20% - phew!) and this was my first experience of metalworking.

In general, I've been really happy with the mini-lathe. I've had a few minor problems though:

  • The main control circuit failed after about 3 months; Axminster replaced this under warranty (very quickly) and I've had no problems since, but it did worry me a little.
  • One of the saddle shear plates (that prevent the saddle from lifting from the bed) broke. A friend had a stash of some appropriately sized gauge plate (which is stronger than the cast iron that the original was made from), so I used the original as a template and made two new plates with the pillar drill.
  • The leadscrew support arm that fits inside the apron and prevents the leadscrew from binding when the half-nut is engaged snapped into two pieces. I ordered a new one from Axminster, but they had none in stock so had to get them from China. This took a while, but I was able to make a new one (albeit slightly bigger so I had to remove the leadscrew cover) to tide me over until the new one arrived.

Generally, I find the lathe very good, although I've made quite a few modifications to the mini-lathe to make it easier to use and more capable. If I were starting from scratch, I would consider the most important jobs to do to would be to add a tailstock cam-lock and a leadscrew handwheel. The QCTP would probably follow fairly swiftly on, but you can certainly get by with the four-way toolpost that comes as standard.

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