Problems with Busy Bee Lathe.

[383IROC]

I bought a CT089 13x24 lathe less than a week ago and upon unloading/ uncrating it I noticed that the tool post cross slide had been run into the chuck…that’s the first problem. After unloading it and cleaning it up I started the break in process... 15-20 minutes in each gear setting. The problem is when I try to start it in any gear higher than 600 rpm the motor just pulses and doesn’t get up to running speed. I cleaned out all the junk oil it came with and replaced it with ISO AW32, stuck a magnetic block heater on it (my shop is around 10-15c) and it still won’t go over 600 rpm… actually it did once but than it tripped the 20amp breaker after running for only 2 minutes.

I phoned the store I bought it from and they told me to talk to the central office. Over a few phone conversations the tech at the central office told me to:

Keep breaking it in in the lower gears.

Check pulley alignment and belt tension… its fine.

Change the oil… I did that already.

Make sure the bearings aren’t running hot… barely warm

Disengage the lead screw gear so only the spindle is being driven.

Take the chuck off… less rotating weight.

Check the run capacitor… wasn’t able to give me any specs to look for (ohms).

I did all these and it still has all the same problems. I asked him about the chuck grooves in the cross slide and he agreed that it most likely happened at the factory because the nylon gear would have broken and the worker most likely just replaced the gear because he didn’t want to get into trouble.

Now it looks like my only option, as far as the tech has told me, is to borrow a pickup truck and engine hoist again, and drop it off at there central office. Let them have a look at it and either go back and pick up my repaired lathe or a new one. For a total of 4hrs of driving.

If anybody has any advice on anything else I could try or check before bringing it back I would appreciate it. As far as my advice for others before you fork over your hard earned cash for a tool from Busy Bee, make sure you thoroughly visually and mechanically inspect it. I wish I would have done that and maybe I would have saved myself a lot of frustration.

[383IROC]

Heres a picture of the damage... its about 3/16 at the deepest.

[vlmarshall]

Take it back! I'm not a Busy Bee user, but I'd help you load it if I were closer.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, those two symptoms sure do seem related.

[ClintonH]

Yep I'd take it back, even if you get it working it's not the brand new lathe you bought. If you able I would uncrate it in store and try it before you load it up and take it all the way home. I just finished returning the mill I had payed for, nothing to do with the mill just the tooling I bought with it and there crap return/customer service. I'll buy my machinery else where now and only buy tools that I can take a look at in store.

Clinton

[ataxy]

take it back and thats it you should not be responsible for repairing new machinery, actually in my point of view this is what he should have told you in the first place.

[383IROC]

More frustrations today.

My day began with phoning Busy Bee and stating that I was fed up with this lathe and just wanted to bring it in and get a replacement. So I load the machine up and get ready for the 1hr drive there. When we get the machine unloaded from my truck the man incharged of qaulity control hooks it up and proceeds to try and show me that there is nothing wrong with the machine… “it just hasn’t been broken in properly“, “its too cold“, “those grooves can’t be from the chuck”. 45 minutes go by and they are still breaking it in and trying to prove a point… I go for lunch. After running the machine for well over an hour its fails at running at the higher RPM’s… finally I’m now deserving off getting my new, working, undamaged lathe. I tell them I wont accept the replacement lathe unless they can prove to me that it works… they agree and begin a full break-in. 45 minutes to an hour go by and I finally see a machine do 1900rpm. I ask them to turn it off and restart it, they do and upon restart there is a slight pulse but the machine does get up to full speed. I tell them I would like to let it sit for 20min and see it the problem gets worse. Sure enough after sitting the new machine refuses to restart up to full speed in the 1900rpm setting and instead does about 500rpm (estimate) with a lot of clunking and clanging, even worse sounding than my first machine. At this point I am just speechless… what are they chances of getting two bum machines in a row. I tell the service manager that I have no faith in these machines and want my money back. He says I have another option, he takes me to the show room and shows me the next model up, which is $1000 more. I tell him that if he can give me that lathe for $500 more than what I paid for mine I would consider it… I didn’t mention that I really need a lathe asap. He says the best he could do would be $100 off. I tell him I have more than that out of pocket (gas money, changing the oil) for all the inconveniences trying to get the first one working not including my time and the frustration… he says he’ll see what he can do and I leave telling him he will see me tomorrow. Here’s the kicker I wasn’t expecting to not get a working replacement lathe so I left the stand at home, it wouldn’t have fit assembled in the truck with the lathe anyway. So now I have to go back there again ( 2hrs drive) to get my refund.

Here is a conservative break down off my experience.

2hrs driving to BB Mississauga store to purchase lathe.

8hrs unloading, assembling, cleaning, breaking-in, changing oil, and trying to fix the not running problem.

1hr drive to CT to get ISO aw32

2hrs driving to Concord BB store to get replacement lathe.

3hrs waiting in the store while they prove to me that in fact my original lathe is crap and that there replacement for that one is also crap.

2hrs driving to Concord BB store to return the stand to get my refund.

To say the least I’m very disappointed with the poor customer service and product I received from Busy Bee. Hopefully by sharing all this it will save someone else the aggravation and frustration I experienced.

[ClintonH]

Sounds like the same crap customer service they have in Edmonton. I'd print that breakdown off and bring it down with you the next time and let them know what they need to do to make it right. I'd say they should give that $500 off and be happy your willing to actually still take one of there machines. After my last time in the store I tell anyone that asks that I wouldn't buy or even think of buying a machine from them again, I'd rather pay for a little customer service elsewhere.

Clinton

[Geof]

I think you should look into sueing them in small claims court for all your out of pocket expenses. In Canada there is a principal in common law that when an item is sold there is an implicit guarantee that it is capable of performing the function it was intended to perform, obviously your lathe was not.

[ataxy]

wow, what is there to say but wow,...i guess there in line for worst customer service award, Garant in Levis replace my 7x20 with a 11x27 because the 7x20 had a metric lead screw instead of imperial and the lathe was imperial and i didn't even ask for that much, all they ask me was to pay the 200$ shipping. so far i have been lucky both Garant and Syil Canada where top notch customer service.

[legendboy]

Did you remove all the cosmoline that is sitting in the bottom of the gear box?

When i got my lathe it was the same way. It couldn't even move if the temp was < 0c

I had to carefully turn my lathe upside down and let it sit for a week to get the majority of it out.

Then I put around a gallon of varsol thru the gear box, scrub with tooth brush, scrape botttom with screwdriver, stuff rags down in there ...etc...

Replaced the gunk with a good gear oil and it will spin right up even at -20c

this is how clean i got my gearbox before filling it with oil



i wish i took a picture of all the crap that came out of it. it was the consistancy of molasses when warm and wax when cold. thick nasty stuff

[383IROC]

legendboy:

What I did to change the oil was run it for about 30 minutes to warm up the oil, I then lifted the headstock end of the lathe up with an engine hoist and opened up the sight glass. 95% of the oil came out of the sight glass and the rest I wiped up with clean shop rags. I then filled it with the ISO aw32 and ran it for another 30 minutes and then repeated the drain and wipe procedure. Then I did the final oil fill. I also added a magnet to the bottom of the headstock and cleaned it off when changing the oil. This was my oil change procedure and had nothing to do with the break in.

[TOTALLYRC]

All of this makes me glad that I bought a used american lathe.
While the Atlas th42 might not be the most rigid, it ran right out of the original owners basement and still is working for me today.

I cringe when I hear stories like this, as I have considered updating to a "new" lathe.

Mike