Mini Lathe Headstock Lube

[Anonymous]

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Being pedantic, I always thought that Chester and Machine Mart (Clark ) mini lathes were produced by SEIG.

My Chester Conquest has 3 mm keys for the changewheels, while, I believe that real Bull machines have 4 mm keys.

If it still available, there was a grease called Marfak ( marketed by Mobil? ) that was reputed to be very sticky.

Now the thread can get back on track

Howard

[egaParticipant @ega]

Posted by Howard Lewis on 12/10/2020 15:15:48:

Being pedantic, I always thought that Chester and Machine Mart (Clark ) mini lathes were produced by SEIG.

…

Being equally pedantic, I think they are made by SIEG! This German word hints, I understand, at the origin of the lathe design.

[John BaronParticipant @johnbaron31275]

Posted by Howard Lewis on 12/10/2020 15:15:48:

If it still available, there was a grease called Marfak ( marketed by Mobil? ) that was reputed to be very sticky.

Now the thread can get back on track

Howard

By gum ! That brings back memories of the "Marfak" advert where to show how sticky it was they hit a blob of it with a hammer and it just stuck the hammer down. I used to have a tin of it with the picture on it.

[Bob StevensonParticipant @bobstevenson13909]

I had a Chester 'Conquest' from 2007 to 2017 and did as little as possible by way of improvements etc……..I have always been much more interested in what I can make on a lathe rather than spend time making the lathe better….kind of a 'vicous circle' thing to my mind!

My Conquest was definately made by the Real Bull factory and had a test sheet apparently proving this also had 4 bolts holding the headstock to the bed (Seig machines of that period had 3) also distinctive Real Buyll castings of saddle etc. When I started to use it I was warned off by several aquaintances who marked these machines down as pure rubbish but I grew to like my mini-lathe and made some interesting things with it over the 10 years including much of my first clock.

After a couple of years use I thought the headstock was getting a bit warm so peered inside using a fibre optic borescope and discovered that there was basically NO grease there so applied some 'Sovereign' lithium grease originally made up for London buses….after this the headstock did not even get slightly warm in use!

The only other 'improvenments' were to remove the dangerous chuck 'safety cover' which was wired directly to the mains! …and to remove the rubber feet, replacing them with stainless steel discs about 4 inches diameter…after this the machine no longer rocked about at higher speeds..

I liked my mini-lathe and it got me back into making things but my WM 180 is a vastly better lathe in every way with very minor diskikes on my part..

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Looks like good result, of which you can be proud.

Should be capable of turning out some good work!

Bravo!

Howard

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by ega on 12/10/2020 16:16:35:

Posted by Howard Lewis on 12/10/2020 15:15:48:

Being pedantic, I always thought that Chester and Machine Mart (Clark ) mini lathes were produced by SEIG.

…

Being equally pedantic, I think they are made by SIEG! This German word hints, I understand, at the origin of the lathe design.

You have the spelling right, but I'm afraid the German link is off

The company was founded in 1988, before mini lathes. The original design was Russian.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

It’s interesting that, according to JUSTIA :

The wording "SIEG" has no meaning in a foreign language.

**LINK**

https://trademarks.justia.com/790/61/sieg-79061554.html

I wonder what the logic was, in choosing it.

The obvious would be Shanghai Industrial Engineering Group

… but that’s not the Company’s name.

MichaelG.

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 11/11/2020 18:25:56:

It’s interesting that, according to JUSTIA :

The wording "SIEG" has no meaning in a foreign language.

**LINK**

https://trademarks.justia.com/790/61/sieg-79061554.html

I wonder what the logic was, in choosing it.

The obvious would be Shanghai Industrial Engineering Group

… but that’s not the Company’s name.

MichaelG.

George Eastman chose Kodak for his photographic business just because it meant nothing in any language and he liked words that began with a K, so it might be intentional!

Words with different meanings in other languages can be an issue – there is the probably apocryphal story that Rolls Royce wanted to call a model the Silver Mist until it was pointed out that Mist in German means dung or manure!

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