Not to hijack the other guy's Grizzly thread, I'll start my own. As I stated in my "Hello" thread, I was gifted a Grizzly DF-1237G 12"x37" lathe. I had an electrician come in and wire the garage for it and the Jet JMD-18 mill/drill I was also given.
The cross-slide had some terrible slop in it. I had to turn the wheel one full revolution before it would change directions. Somehow, I had an epiphany this morning and checked the screw that holds the cross-feed nut in place and from the top, I could see it wiggle as I moved the knob. I quick 1/4 turn with a 6mm Hex wrench and my full turn of slop turned into 1/8th of a turn of slop. I still get a loud CLACK-CLACK-CLACK sound when I turn the cross slide wheel.
I guess the main thing I really need to do is work on the accuracy of the lathe. To re-hash over what I already stated in a couple of other threads, my 3-jaw chuck was in terrible shape. It had about 0.050" runout. I have it disassembled and it was really dirty. I did check that the jaws were in the right place, and they were. As soon as I have more time, I'll clean them out and re-assemble them.
I've been able to chuck up some pieces and get runout in the 4-jaw down to about 0.0003" of runout. I have some junk 1/2" steel shafts that are nicely machined and straight that I got form a scrap bin at work that are about 12" long. They appear to be precision machined. Over roughly a 9" travel, I get about 0.0015" of runout. Is that good or bad?
The headstock is not aligned with the tailstock. I checked this with the same bar, which has a threaded hole in it, and installed a Jacobs drill chuck in the tailstock with a demurring drill bit in it. When I advance the tailstock, it sits about 0.020" high. I haven't leveled the lathe yet, so I'll start there and see if that fixes the misalignment.
I did replace the terrible tool post with an Aloris BXA tool post set which came with a few nice quick change attachments.
I don't mind saving to get a better set of 3 and 4 jaw chucks that will fit the lathe. I just have no idea what to get.
Nez (Bamban) did text me last night and told me what kind of way oil to get so I'll get some of that ordered up licekety split.
The cross-slide had some terrible slop in it. I had to turn the wheel one full revolution before it would change directions. Somehow, I had an epiphany this morning and checked the screw that holds the cross-feed nut in place and from the top, I could see it wiggle as I moved the knob. I quick 1/4 turn with a 6mm Hex wrench and my full turn of slop turned into 1/8th of a turn of slop. I still get a loud CLACK-CLACK-CLACK sound when I turn the cross slide wheel.
I guess the main thing I really need to do is work on the accuracy of the lathe. To re-hash over what I already stated in a couple of other threads, my 3-jaw chuck was in terrible shape. It had about 0.050" runout. I have it disassembled and it was really dirty. I did check that the jaws were in the right place, and they were. As soon as I have more time, I'll clean them out and re-assemble them.
I've been able to chuck up some pieces and get runout in the 4-jaw down to about 0.0003" of runout. I have some junk 1/2" steel shafts that are nicely machined and straight that I got form a scrap bin at work that are about 12" long. They appear to be precision machined. Over roughly a 9" travel, I get about 0.0015" of runout. Is that good or bad?
The headstock is not aligned with the tailstock. I checked this with the same bar, which has a threaded hole in it, and installed a Jacobs drill chuck in the tailstock with a demurring drill bit in it. When I advance the tailstock, it sits about 0.020" high. I haven't leveled the lathe yet, so I'll start there and see if that fixes the misalignment.
I did replace the terrible tool post with an Aloris BXA tool post set which came with a few nice quick change attachments.
I don't mind saving to get a better set of 3 and 4 jaw chucks that will fit the lathe. I just have no idea what to get.
Nez (Bamban) did text me last night and told me what kind of way oil to get so I'll get some of that ordered up licekety split.