Review of my New Sealey SM27 Metal Lathe (also badged by Clarke & Warco)

A metal lathe is central to any metal wortking machine shop.

I have lost access to my brother's lathe - which is what I have been using to make my plastric injection molders. So I decided to buy a second-hand lathe on EBay.

This is my initial review of that lathe.

I bought this Sealey SM27 metal lathe locally. This is a Chinese lathe, also badged as the Clarke CL430 and Warco also badged a version with a milling head.

The lathe currently retails from £12,00 to "1,800 new. I paid £565 at auction, but with that I also got the steel stand, an upgraded quick-change tool post steady rest, rotary table, Colette chuck, an as-new 4-jaw chuck, lots of as-new cutting tools with many spare inserts, a no-key tail stock chuck and some HSS tooling blanks.

The lathe operates wonderfully. It feels more solid than the more modern lathe I've been using, and it can take 1mm cuts in stainless steel on auto-feed without a murmur. It might do better - I haven't found it's boundaries yet.

Downsides? Well, there are a few:

1. It's a manual speed change involving moving belts on pullies which take time.

2. The saddle is moved up & down the bed with a handle on the leadscrew. This makes it very solid (the other lathe would wander on a heavy cut unless locked) but it takes an age to move the saddle form one end of the bed to the other. There is no half-nut. Turning must be done when standing close to the tailstock end of the lathe in order to reach the handle.

3. The screw-cutting gear set - 13 wheels - was not included and will cost £180 + VAT new.

4. There is no rule on the tailstock.

Still, so far, I'm very pleased with it, and I've already used it to machine the beefy stainless steel parts for my next plastic injection moulding machine.

Next step is to fit a modified digital caliper for a tail scale.

After that DROs.

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SAY THANKS WITH PATREON:

MUSIC:

[stef]

Have had the Clarke CL430 now for a couple of years. On the whole, its a great but basic machine. I have added a quick change tool post, VFD and altered the drive pulley sizes which gives me a range of around 100-1200rpm. The rpm could go lower but i have a minimum frequency set so it retains enough torque. Also fitted a 2 axis DRO kit. I have made up an electrical cabinet which controls 2 emergency stops, the door open switch (as an emergency stop), relays, inverter, power supplies and an RPM readout. The control box on the lathe has buttons for start, stop, coolant, RPM, emergency stop. Next up is a half nut and apron modification which will give me a means of adding a hand wheel to move the carriage.
What started life as a basic lathe from Machine Mart quickly lost any warranty it might have had, but to make it usable without spending all day faffing with the belts it had to be done.

[aceroadholder]

That belt adjustment will be a never ending pain. Besides that, the belts will slip as the motor pulls up under a load. My lathe, though bigger, was stuck with that same miserable system as a cost cutting measure by the builders in the late 80s.
I finally built a simple, but effective, belt tensioning system. I added an angle-steel bar out from the outer bolt holes in the motor mounting base plate. From that I used ball swivels (used on the steering gear on riding lawn mowers) to connect to a crank on the front of the lathe. Not shown in the photos was a rod added later from the angle-steel up to the jack shaft carrier with swivels mounted on the ends of the rod threaded for adjustment.
Now, the motor belt and jack shaft to spindle belt can be adjusted to the correct tension for running. When the lever is raised, both belts are slack for ease of movement from one sheave to another.
You will soon see the need for a motor cover to keep the chips out... you will note the sparks generated will remind you. I made one from a one gallon paint thinner can.

Cheers from NC/USA

[ann]

Upgrade it with a VDF (inverter) and the speed adjustment will be like the other lathe. Rely good investment and it is able to run relay slow, and switch from forw, to rev instantly. Perfect when threading. I have a couple EMCO lathes but maybe get one of this with millhead in the weekend.
BR // Janne

[daveys]

I have the Clarke CL430 version of this and will be keeping an eye out for mods for the Sealey SM27 and the Warco WMT300 (I think) from now on. As others have said, there’s a guy called Stuart who has designed and built a halfnut for the Clarke version and that looks like a cool modification to do.

[pS-eowi]

I prefer the leadscrew feed to a rack feed. The leadscrew is a finer feed and allows smoother operation..but then again most of the work i do is relatively short with lots of steps and shoulders etc so fine control is my priority.. Once set up these lathes are very nice to use and allow the production of good accuracy

[dukedez]

That machine looks totally identical to my 3in 1 lathe mill drill. Except you don’t have the mill head post on the column.

[BarMagnet]

Any issues with a sloppy lead screw bearing or that spindle speeds are nothing like as stated in the manual?

[ann]

I got the one i was bidding on. Got it for about 550E and it has mill head. I will pick it up on tuesday.

My plan is -to mod this with inverter and maybe as you said electric feed for the crosslide.
Maybi a separate motor for the mill.

Well, im not even sure what i bought so i have to see how it goes. :)


Are you still sattisfied with your?  



BR //

[samrodian]

I have the Warco WMT 300 which is the same machine and has the vertical milling head. In the comment below the person advocates using a verdict and obviously a 3 phase motor, well I've done that already and it works beautifully a well worth upgrade to s reasonably good lathe

[raphaelalbaladejo]

bonjour monsieur pensez vous que il serait possible de trouver un pignon de 63 dents et un de 32 dents pour ce tour j'ai cassé les miennes merci cordialement

[briancarruthers]

The nuts are to set motor tension not the weight of the motor

[briancarruthers]

See Stuart cox's videos for modifications which are I think essential for this machine

[Rich]

All that for the price you paid is a bargain