How Many C6 users out there

[JDsto]

I have looked at the CNC C6 at the Syil site. I'm just wondering how many real guys are out there using this lathe. I would like to know how well it would fit my needs turning plastics 1 1/2" diameter as well as wood stock of the same size? Please advise.

[Journey_Man]

I have a C6 Lathe and it is worth the money. If you know what you are doing,you can turn anything.I just finished boring a piece of 303 stainless 4.00o.d.X3.5 long the bore was 3.125 i.d X 2.750 deep. No incidents just a long cycle time. The lathe will do what you want and it will hold size if you have it Tooled up with Good tooling and a rigid setup.
There is a thread somewhere in this forum where I posted some pics. Hope this helps.

[HimyKabibble]

I've had a Grizzly G0516 (basically a C6) for about 4 years now, and it's been great. It's much beefier than the more common 9x20 lathes. Very nicely made, worked great right out of the box.

[gn3dr]

Originally Posted by Journey_Man I have a C6 Lathe and it is worth the money. If you know what you are doing,you can turn anything.I just finished boring a piece of 303 stainless 4.00o.d.X3.5 long the bore was 3.125 i.d X 2.750 deep. No incidents just a long cycle time. The lathe will do what you want and it will hold size if you have it Tooled up with Good tooling and a rigid setup. There is a thread somewhere in this forum where I posted some pics. Hope this helps.

Hi Journey Man. I saw your post and pictures - looks good. Di dyou ever get your video uploaded. Would love to see a few C6 Lathe videos.

[Journey_Man]

Originally Posted by gn3dr Hi Journey Man. I saw your post and pictures - looks good. Di dyou ever get your video uploaded. Would love to see a few C6 Lathe videos.

The videos that I had tried to upload were made with my Sony Mavica Camera. They are only 1 minute long. I have been looking a Canon ZR-850 Mini DV Camcorder. I think I will get it and then I can make a High Quality Video and learn how to upload it. That was the problem that I had was getting the short ones uploaded...I think I can Zip a larger Video and upload it. ***The lathe itself is very simple and a breeze to run*** Thanks Bob

[JDsto]

I need to do some boring with this setup on cast acrylic rod. Will a boring bar on a quick change tool post work out well. Also is the repeatability good with the quick change tool post good once you have made a skim cut with each tool and entered info into Mach 3 or will I have to repeat this which each part? Yeah I'm a newbie to all this but a guy has to ask to learn.

[MadMax]

QC tool posts are pretty consistent if you keep the registration surfaces free of chips. I keep a toothbrush handy to brush off fine chips from the tool holder dovetails and the dovetails on my toolpost.

I suggest a wedge style toolpost over a piston type. Moving wedge toolposts have a tapered wedge which exerts a diagonal pull on the holder towards the toolpost block and and away from the headstock. This pull direction registers the holder in all of the important directions.

Piston style toolposts have a centre piston which pushes the toolholder away from the toolpost against two dovetails. Because the dovetails have to have clearance with the toolpost, you can get inconsistent registration where you get a bit of holder rotation in the vertical axis.

With typical short tools like parting/facing you can get inconsistent fixturing around 0.0015". With long boring bars, this error can work out to being a fair bit higher.

I seem to be getting sub 0.0005" repeatability with my wedge toolpost with typical short tools.

Acrylic is chemically sensitive. Do not use typical machining coolants as they'll promote crazing (surface fractures). I think light silicone oil is ok.