Help Me Decide...lathe...g0602, G9972z, Or G0752??

[wachuko]

Coolidge and I were talking different things, which I didn't realize until later: When he said "upgrade" I was thinking functional upgrade like all inch feeds/threads, a.k.a. a Norton gearbox. He was referring to an enclosed gearbox with a oil bath. I don't think a partial gearbox that is enclosed is a upgrade on these light to medium duty lathes. I'd rather have all the feeds/threads. There are South Bends on this forum that have open gear boxes and have been running for over 50 years. My 1340GT has one and I love it.

Just to clarify.

Bill... I know that was in English... but I did not understand one bit... I need to do some more reading to understand what was being discussed... I just looked at the photos and saw that the G0750G control panel looked similar to the PM.

I am reading and watching videos... I will learn all this, I promise!

 

[wrmiller]

Well, maybe I misunderstood again.

The 750G lathe has an enclosed secondary gearbox for feed/threading settings. But not all settings can be realized with just the knobs. To get them all, you need to 'change gears' on the left side of the lathe (see the little charts on the left-most cover on the lathe). Same for the 752, 972z, and the PM1224.

Lathes like the 4003G and my 1340GT have a Norton style gearbox (open, with levers sticking out the bottom) that cover all supported imperial (inch) feeds and threads without having to do any gear changes on the side of the lathe. This feature was near the top of my 'wants' list for a new lathe. Is it necessary? No. But being able to quickly slide a couple levers back and forth for changes in feed rate when looking for that desired finish or simply trying to quicken up some stock removal was something I wanted.

Most of the folks I've talked to who have the enclosed gearboxes pick a set of gears that gives them the tpi (threads per inch) and feeds they most frequently use and are done with it except when something outside the norm dictates a gear change. I do a bunch of one-off and prototyping stuff so I'm all over the map so to speak, so as I said, this feature was near the top of my want list.

It all just comes down to personal preference, space, money, etc..

Did that help at all?

 

[wachuko]

It did. Thank you.

 

[evilwrench]

Be very careful if you buy a Grizzly. I have the 14x40 "High Precision" model. Very poor quality control. The "certificate of accuracy" is a bald face lie. Be forewarned, when you get it home check things carefully. Check tailstock alignment, check motor belt tension, mine was so tight the bearings were ruined! The tailstock was 1/8 of an inch high, requiring some very tedious mill work to make it work. If you don't know how to check these things you should enlist the help of a good machinist. Personally, I recommend staying away from Grizzly!
Regards, Bob W.