# Improvement to mini lathe



## misfitsailor (Nov 20, 2014)

I bought this lathe new over ten years ago, but hardly use it since getting a Logan last year.  The one thing I have always hated about this mini lathe are the cheap plastic handwheels.  After a long internet search I settled for these chromed cast iron wheels from Amazon.  The holes were too big, so I bored them, pressed a piece of brass pipe inside, then bored to fit the shafts.   I drilled and tapped the hubs to reuse the old set screws, then painted the wheels to match the lathe.  (the lathe _was_ yellow, which I could also live without, so a couple of weeks ago I painted it Logan grey.)


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## Swifty (Nov 20, 2014)

The new handles suit it much better.

Paul.


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## prjones76 (Nov 20, 2014)

The chromed cast iron hand wheels look really nice. I did something similar but could not find any hand wheels in a smaller size like what you found on Amazon. I will check this out and thanks for the source. I purchased from Enco.com and all they had was the larger handles. I also purchased the revolving handles with a 10-32 thread that go with the hand wheels. Please see the attached photo. FYI - the Hall Effect tachometer was a $15 eBay Buy-it-Now purchase (see http://www.homemadetools.net/mini-lathe-digital-tachometer) and a really easy installation on the 7" mini lathe.


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## bazmak (Nov 20, 2014)

What is the OD of the new handwheels.The only ones i can find are 5" dia
but the existing are nom 4". Regards barry


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## Swifty (Nov 20, 2014)

Barry, here's a link to some handwheels, by memory they have a distributor in Queensland, the Google search did mention an Australian office.

http://www.elesa.com/scheda_en_2_7162_1_4.aspx

Paul.


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## misfitsailor (Nov 21, 2014)

I settled for 3.2" handwheels, a little smaller than the original.  I was worried that 4" wheels would be too big.


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## misfitsailor (Nov 21, 2014)

prjones76 said:


> The chromed cast iron hand wheels look really nice.



Thanks, I see I'm not the only one to take such action.  I will look in to the tach, great tip.


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## Blogwitch (Nov 21, 2014)

Misfit,
If I could make a suggestion if you think you are up to it and also if you have a mill.

The best time and effort investment you can make to a mini lathe is to fit tapered gibs.

I did one a few years ago for a friend and transformed it from a bent and banana shaped basic lathe to one that was superbly accurate and smooth operating.

The text is still on a website where I showed it, but the pictures aren't there any more, but I do still have in archive all the pictures that went with the article if you really want to have a go.

John


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## Lathejack (Nov 21, 2014)

Hello

Sieg produce an upgrade kit for the C3 type lathes, these are available from some of the dealers that supply the lathes, such as Arceurotrade here in the uk.

This kit includes nicely made replacement metal handwheels and levers plus, I think, other parts that I can't quite recall. They should fit straight on most of the C3 type machines.


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