# Sieg C1 Micro-Lathe headstock aligment? Has anyone ever tried it?



## Rimbaldo (Dec 28, 2019)

Hi! I need to adjust  the headstock of my Sieg C1 Micro-Lathe. Has anyone ever done this? Is it difficult to remove the headstock and shim it? 

Has anyone ever tried it?

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Wizard69 (Jan 5, 2020)

Never even seen a C1!     However back in the day (35 years ago now) I did work in a machine tool rebuilding operation and worked with a very talented machinist / tool builder to align milling machine heads to  rebuilt mills.  

to put in the kindest way possible you want to be absolutely sure that you need to align this head.   We hand scrapped everything into proper alignment and frankly it is a lot of work!!!!   Shimming is less than ideal so you will want to consider that carefully.  

On some of the really cheap Chinese lathes they are known to have headstock alignment screws as the primary alignment method.   If this lathe is so made then you might be able to better the alignment with a few screw turns.  Even alignment screws can be tedious.  

so no matter what method you choose I can suggest one thing, write everything down as far as what you are trying to correct and each step you made to correct the problem and how your measurements came out. Basically you end up in one big loop of adjust, measure and repeat.


----------



## fcheslop (Jan 5, 2020)

From memory , the headstock is held onto the bed with four M8 bolts .These are inside the casting so you need to remove the covers
The headstock is  held in alignment with a key,  on the lathe I repaired it was a very sloppy fit
The tailstock is usually the culprit


----------



## goldstar31 (Jan 5, 2020)

Hi Frazer- hope Hogmanay went well. And that you are well two, too, to- and all steamed up!

I'm not into baby Siegs but  recall that Arceurotrade in the UK dis a write up on changing and improving  the headstock bearings  for the smaller ones. No idea whether there is a charge for the write-ups.

Me ? I'm farting on with a MJ-189( A Unimat 3/4 clone ready for collection. Trouble is worsening sight. Right eye is almost gone and the other  needs an hypodermic in the better one.

Gone to drink whisky meantime  and play dominos to keep the mind mildly  functioning


----------



## Rimbaldo (May 5, 2020)

fcheslop said:


> From memory , the headstock is held onto the bed with four M8 bolts .These are inside the casting so you need to remove the covers
> The headstock is  held in alignment with a key,  on the lathe I repaired it was a very sloppy fit
> The tailstock is usually the culprit


It’s been a long time since I asked this question! As I’m changing the stock motor for a  BLDC one, together with all the electronics inside, I disassembled the C1 Lathe.
There’s really 4 M8 bolts, but in mine there’s something else to align the headstock laterally. There are 4 M5 allen headless screws at the casting base, perpendicular to the M8 screws. These screws touch the key where the casting slides over the ways. So, by locking and loosing the front ones and back ones, you can rotate and align the head to make it parallel to the ways. It took my two hours to align it the best I could! But it worked!


----------



## mapp (May 6, 2020)

It would be worth your while to check out  RotarySMP on youtube.
He does everything you could possibly do to a Mini Lathe. Quite amazing really,


----------

