John, asto reliability, cynics say that Seig C3s often don't work that well straight out of the box. They do sometimes need a bit of fettling to get everything working right. If you buy one from Arc Euro Trade, you can pay them to do this preparatory work for you, or if you are reasonably confident, do it yourself; they very sportingly show what is involved here.for the standard C3 and here for the Super version.

As Neil says, the Super version has its advantages. The motor is more powerful and more capable of delivering torque at low speeds, so the High/Low gearbox hidden inside the headstock of the standard version is not needed. The gears in there are made of Delrin, a type of enginering plastic, and have been known to break.

If your budget rules out the Super C3, you might consider the Real Bull (I kid you not!) mini-lathe sold by some UK suppliers under their own names – Warco and Amadeal spring to mind. This is very nearly the same as the standard C3, and indeed most of the parts you might ever want to replace are interchangeable between C3s and Real Bulls. Some say RBs come with a slightly better standard of fit and finish, and they do have various little oil ports to help you lubricate most of the bits which need it. They use an American (KB Electronics) speed control dircuit, rather than a Chinese one, and KB controllers have a better reputation.

Don't forget that buying the lathe is only the beginning of wallet drain. By the time you are finished, you can easily spend half as much again on tooling, though at least most of that can be bought as and when needed, which reduces the pain somewhat.

Andy

I started out with the Clarke mini lathe, and was very pleased with it (once it was setup). It was surprisingly accurate and easy to use. I used it alot for making small bits and pieces, but found the tool post not rigid enough for larger work. Also the motor wasnt powerful enough for screwcutting, therefore I upgraded to a bigger (Chineese) lathe which allows me to do alot more.

I now have a Chester 920, which although isnt vari-speed is a more capable bit of kit.

Del.

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Andy,

If I understand correctly; they no longer offer this service

… Ketan has explained why, on other threads.

MichaelG.