Building a big brother for my X2

[mhackney]

Has anyone heard from Crevice Reamer since October? I was reading his thread and it looks like his last visit to the zone was on 10/22/10. I hope everything is OK.

[cornbinder23]

I was wondering the same thing myself

He was pretty active on the forum, so it feels kinda strange to not see him posting any updates to his lathe conversion lately

JTCUSTOMS

[mhackney]

Well, the lathe is stripped of all easily removed parts and ready to be moved. Removing the chuck was the biggest PIA. First, it was 0° in my garage this morning. I waited until it got to 15°*then used a heat gun to warm the chuck and inside the spindle. What worked for me was a piece of 1/4" drill rod in the spindle hole braced agains the side of the ways. Then I used a big adjustable wrench on 1 of the chuck jaws. I stretched and warmed up the old muscles appropriately (can of beer) and then with 2 grunts it broke free. Even after it was free it was a PIA to unscrew because of the cold grease.

Anyway, I now have a manageable hunk of steel. I need to figure out how I am going to get it around to the bulkhead (about 50' of level frozen grass & snow. Once I am at the stairs, sliding it down won't be a problem. Once in the shop, hoisting up on my cart should be straight forward. It's that 50' that will be the PIA.

cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

Just received a big, heavy box of steppers, power supply, drivers and other stuff from Keling for my mill! Now I just need my mill!

We are getting blasted with another storm today. My G0602 is still sitting in the garage but I have a "plan" to get it in to the basement tonight. I have everything ready to go.

cheers,
Michael

[cobmachine]

my backsplash pan was off too. I thought i did it when i lifted it up. go to know. easy fix.

Ok, since I am not planning an immediate CNC conversion of my lathe, I'll just post some sidebar info about it here and create a dedicated thread for it when I'm ready to convert.

Firstly, now that it is sitting in my garage and I can bask in its full heft, I really wish that I had not traded my Super Strength in exchange for finding a cute wife! I guess I'll just have to pick away at the part removal until it is light enough to convince my brother-in-law to help me move it. It's my turn now anyway after he had me help him move a huge armoire up a gawdaweful staircase!

So, here, is the Unboxing of the G0602!

The Box


The corner that was tweaked


The coffin lid fasteners opened up


First peek! no immediate obvious damage


A bit more to see


The front panel looks good


The damaged crate corner was on the back left at the lathe head end. It looks good with no apparent damage.


The obligatory toolbox shot Every Chinese tool I've bought has at least a few allen wrenches. There are none with this lathe. Did anyone get allen wrenches with theirs? I had to run down to my shop to get some allen wrenches to start disassembly.


Ahh, August 2010 Vintage - a good month and year


Ok, here's something. The backsplash bracket is a bit tweaked.


As you can see in the way the backsplash is slightly splayed. No biggie.


I have a photo album with a few more photos here: Grizzly G0602 Lathe.

Somewhere I read that someone broke in their lathe while it was still in their garage. I think I might give that a shot.

Cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

Yes it was. I've repainted my pan with Rustoleum crinkle black. I am trying to decide about the back splash. Black might be too dark? The lathe is going to sit on a bright red cart and all of my other machines are black and white (boring, I know) so the green just didn't cut it!

We got a miserable ice storm last night so I was not able to move the lathe downstairs. I'll try again tonight. Do you think it would be possible to strap it on a hand truck with the motor end "down" and then ease it downstairs. Completely stripped of the easy to remove stuff it doesn't seem too heavy. I could easily lay the truck down flat next to the pallet and slide the lathe (still attached to its wooden base) on to the truck, strap it, lift the end, and go. The truck is rated at 700# and has 10" fat tires so moving over frozen ground is easy.

cheers,
Michael

[photomankc]

That's exactly what I did. Just used ratchet straps to make sure it was locked down well. Just don't lift the dolly up too straight or you may be taking a ride with it when it topples.

[mhackney]

That's good to know, thanks! Now, of course, it is raining again. I just can't get a break! With my luck, Grizzly will email me saying my G0704 has shipped

cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

My BOB and the rest of my electronics came in from CNC4PC came in today. All I have left to order are ballscrews. I'll do that after I have my lathe operational.

Cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

in my basement shop! Finally, the weather and schedules cooperated. Here is a photo sequence. My wife thought she should document the event^*.

On the dolly:


Peering into the abyss:


Houston, we have liftoff:


The easy part:


"Walking" it down. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. One thing I had not taken in to account was that the stairs were slippery. I had a difficult time keeping traction. I had to spread eagle and lock my legs agains the sidewalls. Not pretty...


One step at a time. Those big tires really raise the center of gravity of the machine. I am not sure if that was a good thing but it was just barely stable on the stairs before rolling over the next one. My steps are 1:1, so pretty steep.


"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."


Now to make ready the stand and chain hoist and put it in place.

cheers,
Michael

* I only show this sequence to show the possibilities. This is a dangerous operation and you or your machine could be seriously maimed.

[cobmachine]

Now thier is a face of a happy man!! That snow just dont help much hu? Glad to see it made it safe to the basment. Did you break it in befor you brought it down to the basment?

--CoB

[hoss2006]

I thought I had a lot of gray hair.
Measure your door frame, you might be able to slide the mill crate right down in there too.
It fit through my front door.
Hoss

[mhackney]

Yes, I broke it in in the garage but could not change the headstock lubricant - too cold and I had to order the DTE oil (which came in yesterday).

Hoss, 3 teenage kids (including an 18 y/o daughter) will do that to you!

I had the widest bulkhead and door put in to my basement that I could when we built the house. I can get another 3" by removing the door and frame (which I designed to be removable).

Michael

[mhackney]

Here is the hoist sequence.

Attaching the hoist with straps (make sure to go UNDER the Z axis screw). The hoist is hanging from a strap that is wrapped (twice) around 4 2x10 floor joists supported by the column you see in the photo:


The Eagle has left tranquility base:


"Cheese" shot:


and up on to the cart:


This is the HF 13 drawer cart that gets the great reviews. I can see why, it is rock solid and well built. I put a 3/4" plywood top covered in black formica on. The front edge is wood and has a lip to keep stuff from rolling off. I did put the Grizzly pan (painted with Rustoleum hammered black) under the lathe but I am not sure that I want to keep it there.

Anyway, now I am cleaning everything up and once it warms up I can change the oil and oil everything up. Once it is good to go, I am going to anchor the cart to the concrete wall (just right of where it is sitting in the photo past the end of my workbench). I like the height of the HF cart on wheels. It's comfortable standing in front of the lathe or sitting on a stool.

Michael

[photomankc]

Good deal on the move. Looking forward to seeing it sitting up on a stand looking cool.

[mhackney]

He he, I was posting it on the cart while you were posting photomankc.

Michael

[mhackney]

Ok, I ran it in for another 5 minutes to warm the oil for changing. I'll do that in a minute.

1) change gear oil
2) oil all ball oilers - but what about the spindle ball oilers? I thought I read somewhere that you shouldn't oil those bearings since they are greased but I can't find the reference now.

Michael

[mhackney]

I have to say, seeing the G0602 next to my MicroMark 7x16 I feel "all growd up"! This thing is a brute! I can hardly wait for my mill now.

cheers,
Michael

[cobmachine]

I really like that box as a stand. I went with the shop fox stand from grizzly because I need the storage space. I need to weld together a rack to put the rest on.

[hoss2006]

Yeah, don't oil the spindle bearings or the grease will run out of them.
The grease will keep them happy, if you start oiling them you'll have to keep at it all the time
to keep them happy.
Hoss