Purchasing a lathe, looking for opinions.

[jkrell]

Thazul, thanks for the great thread. I was google searching and i found it. I just purchased the Grizzly 10x22, it arrived 2 days ago but UPS dropped it during shipping, so its junk...I should have another one here by next week. In looking at the pictures of the pm1027 machine they appear very similiar to this grizzly 10x22. The machine you chose with the variable speed and slightly larger bed/throw appears to be superior but maybe we can give some good comparisons of the two machines to help future buyers. I'll post up some pics and info when i recieve my machine as well.

Also, thanks for the PDF, good info for the rookie lather.

jon

[jkrell]

Also,

Part of the reason i went with the Grizzly G0602 to begin with is that it appears to be identical to the King Canada Lathe, and the King Canada lathe had good reviews. Anybody disagree?

http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=116&ID=2369
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0602/images

[Thazul]

Jon,
Sounds like a plan, I almost went with the grizzly as well!
I was real close to ordering it, I kept going back and forth.
I guess the slightly larger spindle bore and all the great pics sold me on the PM.
Can't wait to see your pics and hear your feedback on the machine.


Jess,
Thanks again for the input, much appreciated!


-

Andy

[Thazul]

An update for everyone wondering!

My lathe arrived Thursday, and well apparently the Fedex Freight driver thinks hes Mario Andretti, and managed to roll my lathe over onto its side, off its pallet!

Upon visual inspection, the splash guard was crumpled, and it seems some of the extras, like the live center was bouncing around loose in the crate and chipped/scratched some paint.

I contacted Quality Machine Tools immediately after learning what had happened. They are going to take care of anything thats wrong, be-it ship out some parts, such as a new chip guard, or a whole machine if its totaled.

I was curious as to what I should look for, other than visually inspecting the ways? it seems to be in pretty good shape other than the chip guard and some minor paint chips.

I took the change gear cover off, and there seems to be a fair bit of grit in there. How shoudl I go about cleaning this off? kerosene, diesel ? perhaps something in an aerosol to spray it out?
Where else should I be looking for that grit to wash out?

What kind of lubes should I buy? I already have Mobile Vectra #2 Way Oil. I know I'll need something heavier with no-sling for the gears, Suggestions?

All in all, it seems pretty well made, and everything slides real smooth.
It's gonna be a week or so before I take my first cuts on it, Seeing as I don't have a place to bolt it to yet and have some cleaning up to do on it first.

This weekend I will be framing up and pouring a level slab of concrete in my shop. I am going to imbed a framework of threaded rods for bolting the stand to.

I'll post some pics this weekend.

Welp, Back to reading lathe manuals.

-

Andy

[BobWarfield]

Get the machine set up, cleaned, and leveled, and then cut a test bar in it. There's plenty of places on the internet to walk you through it. Google for "Lathe test bar" or "levelling lathe".

Take your micrometer and measure the taper on that test bar. I don't know what you are expecting from the machine, but I'd hope for as little as possible.

You might also check the spindle runout, which will require a dial test indicator measuring the inside of the spindle. Again, check the internet for procedures.

Those two will give you some idea of the accuracy of the machine. Turning the test bar will let you see it in operation. Next I would go through all of controls and try every position to make sure things are operating smoothly.

Lastly, you might go through and perform one example of each of the standard lathe operations: turning, facing, boring, threading, etc. This will familiarize you with the operation of your machine, as well as giving you a last chance to look for trouble. Operations like threading will require everything to work together in concert.

It's a lot to learn for a newbie, but you and your lathe will be bonded when you're done with that!

Congrats, it looks like a nice machine.

Best,

BW

[Thazul]

Thanks Bob, sounds like a good plan.
While I wait for my concrete to cure more, I'd like to get the headstock cleaned up and re-lubed.
My manual says lithium based grease for the headstock gears, but there are lots of them!
What are you guys using? (perhaps a part # from McMaster?)
I have a tube of white lithium based grease from Home Depot, but this looks nothing like what is on them.

Sorry I haven't uploaded any pictures of the lathe yet, but it's still on the pallet in plastic.

Here are some pics of the stand, and the making of my little slab its going on - Nice and Level






More to come,

Andy

[Thazul]

I got stand bolted down, and the lathe up on it's stand!
This was a piece of cake with a 2 ton shop crane, and a couple of extra hands.
Here are a few pics of the machine in it's new home. No splash guard yet, getting it replaced.

-

Andy

[LUCKY13]

I like the way you have mounted your new lathe, the better the base, the better the machine holds its alignment.


With the shipping mishap, the machines alignment is of question. When you get to where you can make chips, cutting the two juornal test bar is something you should do. If I am remembering right, the PDF with lathe info has the instructions for making this test bar to check the lathes alignment. If not there is info in the site somewhere that explains this.

There is a company that sales a test bar for checking the alingment of lathes, it takes a diff size bar for diff size lathes. This is not a bar like you would cut for a test, but instead one that is ground to be perfectly stright with no taper to be used for measuring alignment of the ways to head, & head to tail, & tail to ways, with the aid of other equipment such as test indicators,lasers,ect,ect ...... They cost around $200.00 for one if you find the need for it.

Making sure the lathe is in alignment is something I would spend some time on, sense it did have the shipping problem. Even without a bit of banging around from shipping it is something to spend time on with a new lathe.




I did not know these lathes came with a RPM indicator, thats pretty cool. I am wandering about the motor they use for the drive? And what they are using for a speed control? It could be a number of diff setups.

I beleive you had ask about the grease to be used, I dont know the anwser to this, but do get it right. With the speed it runs at you want to have the grease/oil that it requires. When it comes time to run the lathe, if you can get a IR temp gun to monitor the head & gear temps to be sure it is running the way it should(no over heating, fooming of the oil, or excessive noise).


I will be looking forward to some of your first cuts, do keep informed of you work.



Jess

[Thazul]

Thanks for the reply Jess, appreciate it!
I will definitely take my time with the alignment.

The manual has a series of tests that were performed, and penciled in measurements.
Each test has a little diagram of how the measurement was taken.
I plan to do all these tests again and see how they compare, is it possible that they might even be able to be made tighter?
I'd scan these pages to let you see but the scanner is out of commission at the moment.
Here are just a few of the test results out of the manual:

The run-out of internal taper of spindle was A: 0.015mm and B: 0.025mm (A near spindle, B not sure how far out?)
Run-out of spindle was 0.008mm
Run-out of spindle nose was 0.007mm
Periodical radial slip of spindle was 0.009mm
Parallelism of spindle axis with carriage movement (A = Vertical plane, B = Horizontal plane) over 250mm, A: 0.025mm B: 0.03mm

Any comments on these numbers?
Anyone have some numbers to throw at me for a comparison of your lathe, and which lathe you run?

As to the lubricants, my manual says a lithium grease on the leadscrew/change gears. and for the gear oil vessel, it says Mobilgear 627 or equivalent.
I looked up Mobilgear Oil 627 on Mobil.com and it says it has an ISO Viscosity Rating of 100, at Mcmaster doesnt carry 627, and they only have standard gear oil, and synthetic gear oil in ISO 100.
If I get synthetic, will I have to do anything special to flush all the old oil out?
I can't run it yet until I add, or completely replace the oil because the oil shows that its low on the glass vial.

Thanks again for the replies,

Andy

[in2steam]

Originally Posted by Thazul Thanks for the reply Jess, appreciate it! I will definitely take my time with the alignment. The manual has a series of tests that were performed, and penciled in measurements. Each test has a little diagram of how the measurement was taken. I plan to do all these tests again and see how they compare, is it possible that they might even be able to be made tighter? I'd scan these pages to let you see but the scanner is out of commission at the moment. Here are just a few of the test results out of the manual: The run-out of internal taper of spindle was A: 0.015mm and B: 0.025mm (A near spindle, B not sure how far out?) Run-out of spindle was 0.008mm Run-out of spindle nose was 0.007mm Periodical radial slip of spindle was 0.009mm Parallelism of spindle axis with carriage movement (A = Vertical plane, B = Horizontal plane) over 250mm, A: 0.025mm B: 0.03mm Any comments on these numbers? Anyone have some numbers to throw at me for a comparison of your lathe, and which lathe you run? As to the lubricants, my manual says a lithium grease on the leadscrew/change gears. and for the gear oil vessel, it says Mobilgear 627 or equivalent. I looked up Mobilgear Oil 627 on Mobil.com and it says it has an ISO Viscosity Rating of 100, at Mcmaster doesnt carry 627, and they only have standard gear oil, and synthetic gear oil in ISO 100. If I get synthetic, will I have to do anything special to flush all the old oil out? I can't run it yet until I add, or completely replace the oil because the oil shows that its low on the glass vial. Thanks again for the replies, Andy

Andy I use mobil extra heavy DTE, its a nice 100iso synth, its more of a way oil but should be fine on the gear box. Vectra is also good, but seems to be hard to get SHC 630 is thicker but also nice. Since the lathe has not been run all that much, I would not worry about flushing the gear oil, as long as you have a comprable vg rating you should be fine. Most oils are compatbile, so its not worry about to much. Your better oil suppliers can provide you with 5 gal pals cheaper then Mcmaster and grainger and they have compatblity charts.

I use Fuchs renolit st80 its great and sticks like glue, I think thats from mcmaster.

I like your concrete mounting pad, but in time you may have to shore that up with motar to keep the base form shrinking some, concrete shrinks, motar (can) expands.

[LUCKY13]

I would not think there would be any problems with the oil needing a flush. Syn oils mix well with others, so as long as there is no trash that needs to be got out (grit,shavings) you should not have problems with that.


As far as the specs of the lathe you meantioned, they look very good. For a lathe of this price I am almost impressed with those specs. So I would say you are good there, if it still meassures up to the specs.

One thing I am real interested in, is the finish of something you turn on this lathe. With the VR speed & the belt drive it should be a very nice finish. Hopefully it want be to long before you get to enjoy using it & can show us some of your work. Although I understand, like most of us, you will have a bit of a learning curve to go through. But heck, thats part of the fun to.


Jess

[Thazul]

Thanks again for the replies guys, I really appreciate it.

I will definitely keep you all updated with pics of everything..
Bare with me though, like you said Jess, I have a learning curve to go thru.
I am taking baby steps with everything, I don't want to damage my machine due to my lack of knowledge/skill.

Back to the oil, I got a quote locally for some synthetic equiv that is compatible (ISO 100), and is actually a superior oil than mobilgear 627.
This stuff is $158 for 5 gal pail, and I can't buy it in a smaller quantity from them.
But I may not need too right now anyways, after looking at the glass vial more closely, maybe it's totally full.
I don't think I was seeing it right, I'll post a pic tomorrow and you guys can decide

Thanks again!

Andy