Sieg C2A mini lathe - gearbox making squeaking/ grinding noise
Hello, I've got a SIeg C2A mini lathe which I've been using on and off for a few years. Today she started making a horrid grinding/ squeaking noise every few seconds or so at irregular intervals.
Here's a link to a video I took of the problem - link
I took off the gearbox cover so that I could see the gears moving. Everything seemed to look okay, plenty of grease, the gears didnt look worn out and all the bolts are tight.
The smallest gear that is in the middle of the gear arrangement had a little bit of play back and forth along its axle, I am not sure if this is normal or not.
Any help resolving this issue would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Jack
Re: Sieg C2A mini lathe - gearbox making squeaking/ grinding noise
As they don't have a 'gearbox' to speak of - just a gear array, each of which is either fixed to a shaft or idles around one, any noise should be obvious with machine running and case door open.
But I suspect it is more likely a bearing on the spindle has gone bad / broken.............upgrade time!
Re: Sieg C2A mini lathe - gearbox making squeaking/ grinding noise
I'd try the divide and conquer approach. take out a gear in the middle of the drive train, is there still a noise? Yes, take out gears further up until it goes away, No, put it back in and move further down the gear train and take out another gear, check. repeat until problem is found.
Also, hard to tell but seems from the video its once per rev of the output to the lead screw. Any loads on it?