Are all those Chinese mini lathes made in the same factory ?

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I see many of those Chinese mini lathes (7 X 14”) like the Sieg C2 all seem to be the same machine except a different colour. They can be red, green, blue, silver and grey ; all have different brand names.

Are they all made in the same factory ?

Has anybody ever bought one direct from China ?

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

Different factories,  one design, with variations. Plus one factory may make lathes for several brands on contract.

[HollowpointParticipant @hollowpoint]

I believe that there are two main factories. “Sieg” and “Real Bull”.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Factory might be a tad generous.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I think things have moved on a bit Mark, have a watch of this

[JAParticipant @ja]

Never think about back street workshops. We had them!

I think that there are two basic sets of designs which may have originated in the USSR and/or Soviet Eastern Europe. One of the main mainufactures is on Taiwan. I also believe that there is no trademark or other such protection in China so near identical machines from different manufactures are on the market. The distributers in the outside world choose the best manufacture that they can find and, in most cases, hone the product to suit the market.

However I could be wrong about all this.

JA

[Chris GunnParticipant @chrisgunn36534]

The Chinese have some really tidy factories, and can produce much better lathes than they sell to us modeler’s at a relatively cheap price. Just look at the Chinese built machinery used to produce the lathes they sell to us. We should not underestimate them. If our UK suppliers asked them to supply machines at a higher quality/specification, they would do so, but at a higher price.

Chris Gunn

[Hollowpoint]

On Hollowpoint Said:

I believe that there are two main factories. “Sieg” and “Real Bull”.

There’s also Weiss.  They seemed to previously supply Warco but it seems Warco now have a different supplier.

Weiss I think, also supply Precision Matthews their Chinese machines in the US (PM also offers Taiwanese models, at obviously a higher price).

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

That Sieg factory is very impressive. I am a bit puzzled that many of the basic improvements that people do to their lathes upon purchase are not done at the factory ? Surely it cannot cost that much ?

1. replace headstock ball bearings with tapered roller bearings

2. install a carriage lock

3. replace steel gibbs with brass/bronze

4. tailstock cam lock

5. replace those small hand wheels

I would certainly be happy to pay an extra few hundred dollars and have this installed as standard in the factory. When I get my new machine, I think I will be doing 2-5 but I might leave number 1 for the time being as it looks quite involved.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

As with all kinds of consumer durables, people love to tinker with their purchases and ‘make them theirs’ – gold-plated speaker wires, gizmos that ‘Save Fuel-Increase Power’, having a house with more toilets than there are bedrooms…

Whilst there is often scope to make genuine improvements to any mass-market product, there’s a whole host of others that may just fulfil a desire for the consumer to feel that they have transcended being a mere ‘user’ of a machine, or occasionally (especially since the invention of the internet) just take on a life of their own having started as a comment, opinion, or even a marketing ploy that has become a ‘fact-by-repetition’ or an easy way to create content.

Some of the improvements in your list do come as standard features on various supplier’s models – it might pay to make a shortlist of machines/suppliers and start to research specifications and sales literature in detail.

 

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Indeed, your mention of the C2 is quite a dated design, the main UK supplier stopped doing that about 10years ago and went with the better spec SC2

 

Warco still use Weiss for most of their machines

 

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

There is not much available in Australia in the way of smaller lathes. The Sieg C2 does not really have any competition. There are a couple of similar looking lathes on Ebay but some of the reviews are not too good.

[Brian John]

On Brian John Said:

That Sieg factory is very impressive. I am a bit puzzled that many of the basic improvements that people do to their lathes upon purchase are not done at the factory ? Surely it cannot cost that much ?

1. replace headstock ball bearings with tapered roller bearings

2. install a carriage lock

3. replace steel gibbs with brass/bronze

4. tailstock cam lock

5. replace those small hand wheels

I would certainly be happy to pay an extra few hundred dollars and have this installed as standard in the factory. When I get my new machine, I think I will be doing 2-5 but I might leave number 1 for the time being as it looks quite involved.

Largely down to cost.

Except brass gib strips are no improvement over properly made steel ones. And will wear faster. Steel on cast iron is a very good bearing combination, used on most lathes including top end stuff. I’m not sure why minilathe websites recommend it?

[Brian John]

On Brian John Said:

There is not much available in Australia in the way of smaller lathes. The Sieg C2 does not really have any competition. There are a couple of similar looking lathes on Ebay but some of the reviews are not too good.

Not so sure about that. take a look at Aussie

C2, C3P SC3 and SC20 are all 7″ x “minilathes” or 180mm swing if you prefer. Various motor and bed length options etc there to get the features you say you would be happy to pay for.

The more upto date spec machines have better handwheels, lever tailstock, better bearings, better motors, no plastic gears to strip, etc

 

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

Yes but the C2 is out of stock. Still another month away according to his last message unless I buy from another seller on Ebay who still has some. I am thinking of doing that as Ausee has not replied to any of my messages for well over a week now ; no phone number either.

The other lathes are much bigger and heavier but I am considering the C3.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Brian I posted to suggest alternatives to the C2 so why does it matter if the C2 is out of stock. You said there wa snot much choice and they did not have features you wanted to pay for but they do.

The other three lathes I mention are not much bigger, it is only the length of the bed that varies but only by 50 to 100mm so hardly “much bigger and heavier”

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Hare & Forbes list an Optimum (er, ?Weiss?) minilathe..

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/l687

 

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I found their phone number easy enough on their website

As for the small weight increases between the machines I mentioned anyone with a bit of common sense should be able to work out that replacing small plastic handles with larger metal ones will increase the weight. Same wit a cam operated tailstock, add the cam, cross spindle and the lever aff from steel and again you are going to add weight. The more powerful motors also add weight but worth it as they are less troublesome than the old Brushed DC ones in the C2.

[cedric 1]

On cedric 1 Said:

 

Except brass gib strips are no improvement over properly made steel ones. And will wear faster. Steel on cast iron is a very good bearing combination, used on most lathes including top end stuff. I’m not sure why minilathe websites recommend it?

I suspect the ease of machining is the key factor in the use of Brass. While I do not advocate this as a Gib material where Cast Iron is concerned, it is more stable after a machining process than Steel and this is why it is probably recommended.

The system of adjustment is not the best in the world and this again is down to price. Some in the USA have resorted to a Taper Gib adjustment and even Stepped Gibs with a known clearance.

Regards

Gray,

 

 

[Brian John]

 

On Brian John Said:

That Sieg factory is very impressive. I am a bit puzzled that many of the basic improvements that people do to their lathes upon purchase are not done at the factory ? Surely it cannot cost that much ?

1. replace headstock ball bearings with tapered roller bearings

2. install a carriage lock

3. replace steel gibbs with brass/bronze

4. tailstock cam lock

5. replace those small hand wheels

I would certainly be happy to pay an extra few hundred dollars and have this installed as standard in the factory. When I get my new machine, I think I will be doing 2-5 but I might leave number 1 for the time being as it looks quite involved.

1 & 3 are only necessary in cases of wear or poor machining.

In a world where clicks mean income there lots of people trying to invent extra content that may not be worth anything to the watcher. Don’t forget to subscribe

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Part of the function of the gib is to distribute the pressure of the adjusting screw over a wider area along the length. Brass would need to be a lot thicker to do this. A better upgrade might be to add more screws, actually applies to most lathes except the myford that has that big block of a gib.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

1. My apologies : I was looking for the phone number under ”contact” whereas it is under ”store location and hours”.

2. Yes, I will have a closer look at the slightly bigger C3P.

3. Optimum lathes : no way, I am not going there again. See the saga from years ago !!! Now I probably just got a dud (it was the smaller model) and the larger models (TU-4004V) look really top quality but…no.

[Brian John]

On 23 January 2026 at 14:31 Brian John Said:

Has anybody ever bought one direct from China ?

Nothing as big as a lathe, but I’ve followed threads elsewhere when people have bought machinery direct from China.

There can be substantial savings, but at a fair risk.  You’ll have none of the normal safeguards of buying from UK dealers.
You need to engage in good dialogue with them to establish exactly what you’re buying in complete detail, how it will be shipped and how they’ll expect to be paid.  Check if they carry spare parts that they’re prepared to forward to you in case of problems. Also consider insuring it transit against loss or damage.
Then find out what handling costs, import duty and VAT will need to paid in the UK before you get hold of the machine.

Shipping will almost certainly be by sea, so may take a long time.
Plus you’ll be on your own if there are problems with it. Warranties based in China can be effectively useless.

For me, those are all risks too great for major purchases. Only send what you can afford to loose.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Indeed, your mention of the C2 is quite a dated design, the main UK supplier stopped doing that about 10years ago and went with the better spec SC2

 

Warco still use Weiss for most of their machines

 

Well, it certainly looks that way, all Warco’s machines look very much like Weiss machines.

However, something like two years ago, I asked one of the Warco telephone support guys and whilst they were a little vague (and fair enough, their suppliers are commercially sensitive information), the impression he gave was that they used to use Weiss but were switching to another supplier.

Also, quite recently (this month I think), either on a Facebook group comment, or on a YouTube comment thread (I honestly can’t remember which) there was someone who claimed to be a Weiss rep, who swore up and down that they did not supply Warco.

Now I know that, the above is hardly something that you’d want to rely on in…well a drunken chat in the pub just before last orders, let alone court, but it does make me question whether Weiss are supplying Warco these days.

All that said, if it’s not Weiss, I don’t know who the supplier would be, because as I said, Warco’s machines do look just like Weiss’s products.

If you, or anyone else for that matter, knows for sure that what I’ve said is incorrect, I will absolutely delete the above as I definitely don’t want to be promulgating misinformation.

[cedric 1]

On cedric 1 Said:

On Brian John Said:

That Sieg factory is very impressive. I am a bit puzzled that many of the basic improvements that people do to their lathes upon purchase are not done at the factory ? Surely it cannot cost that much ?

1. replace headstock ball bearings with tapered roller bearings

2. install a carriage lock

3. replace steel gibbs with brass/bronze

4. tailstock cam lock

5. replace those small hand wheels

I would certainly be happy to pay an extra few hundred dollars and have this installed as standard in the factory. When I get my new machine, I think I will be doing 2-5 but I might leave number 1 for the time being as it looks quite involved.

Largely down to cost.

Except brass gib strips are no improvement over properly made steel ones. And will wear faster. Steel on cast iron is a very good bearing combination, used on most lathes including top end stuff. I’m not sure why minilathe websites recommend it?

Absolutely.  Steel/cast iron is a much better friction pair than brass/cast iron.

I do wonder if people mix up bronze with brass.  Phosphor bronze/cast iron is a well known good friction pair.

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