In one of my other threads I made a comment about some blackish
sludge that develops on the ways and now that I look closely at the saddle, I can see that the sludge that shows up on the ways is in the same alignment as the
shiny wear marks on the saddle. I think the saddle is made of cast iron (could be wrong though - maybe it's cast steel) and that the saddle is wearing at the contact points with the ways. I believe that is what is causing the blackish sludge and the shiny areas on the saddle. My fear is that if I don't fix / replace the saddle that it will eventually wear the ways, especially if it continues to make its own lapping compound by wearing in.
The dealer has been very good to deal with but I'm thinking that he may just refer me to the manufacturers rep since it has been 3 months. I returned the first lathe because of 2 issues with that one. The main lead screw wobbled (looked like a bent shaft in the gear case) and the cross side had a serious machining flaw. The dealer replaced it with the one I have now and I've worked through a bunch of issues with it. There's a lengthy story about that in my intro thread follow up post. I thought I had resolved all of the important issues with this lathe but it looks like I missed at least one. The manufacturer has also been good so far. They just replaced a drawbar and motor for my newly purchased milling machine. They were quick to respond and quick to ship the parts. The warranty on the lathe is 2 years, I think. It might only be one year but I'm pretty sure it is 2. In any case I have lots of warranty left.
I'm a little concerned about constantly going back to the dealer and manufacturer as I get the feeling from the dealer that he doesn't know machinery very well and thinks I'm one of of those guys that complains about everything without just cause. As an example here is a pic of the cross slide that I returned after picking up
this lathe. I showed him the machining flaw and explained that I could not adjust the gibs properly with the taper on the machined face. I would have to adjust the gibs every time I pulled the cross slide back or the slide would loosen and cause vibration. He looked at me kind of dumbfounded and just told me to swap the part with the cross slide from the first lathe I returned.