# Microcut LD1236G/G1003 clone repair and parts cross referencing



## Beldan (Oct 21, 2022)

I recently picked up a Microcut LD1236 that had been dumped on its face. I've been doing a great deal of research online to find comparable lathes in current production which share the same/very similar parts to get this thing back up and running. The two lathes I have found which I believe are candidates to source parts from are the Eisen 1236GH and the Precision Matthews PM-1236T. Judging by the pics everything I need for mine looks identical to the parts on these two lathes. I saw PM is a site sponsor here so I plan to reach out to them in hopes they can assist in my parts acquisition.  I've contacted Eisen though their site but haven't heard back yet. 

I know there are many variations of this lathe but i'd like to find out if anyone has had success sourcing cross slide/saddle parts from the newer models I listed above. Looking like I will be needing the cross slide lead screw assembly, gear, wheels, thrust bearings etc. I'll also be needing a QCGB front cover and a gear selector arm. The front of the saddle suffered damage from the fall as well but I have someone who says he can repair it (TIG braze). 

I'll include pics in this thread to show what i'm dealing with.  Any help is much appreciated, this will be my first lathe and i'm looking forward to getting it up and running.


----------



## markba633csi (Oct 22, 2022)

Oooh, really clobbered.  You might find Grizzly to have some of the parts also.  Not sure if the gearbox front is a separate piece or not


----------



## Beldan (Oct 22, 2022)

markba633csi said:


> Oooh, really clobbered.  You might find Grizzly to have some of the parts also.  Not sure if the gearbox front is a separate piece or not



Thanks for the reply Mark, Grizzly recently pulled their parts page for the G1003 offline, i'll have to call them to find out if anything is still available. From what I saw when the page was up, none of the cross slide parts were available, nor were the gear selectors, or the gear box plate. I contacted Grizzly to find out if they had any documentation or info on cross referencing parts to their newer lathes but they claimed to have no drawings or other documentation to do so.  

The gearbox front is a separate piece, newer grizzly, the PM, and Eisen I referenced seem to have the same/very similar front plate however the area where the gear selection holes are is flat rather than convex like this one. They look like they could be used interchangeably but i'm not 100% sure.


----------



## matthewsx (Oct 22, 2022)

I hate to say it but it has to be said. 

Buy another lathe. 









						Bolton HA330 Project
					

Finally had a chance to check out the lathe as yesterday evening was spent helping our daughter with student loans for her masters program.  Stuff fits into one of three categories, bent, broken, and just needs improvement. There were a bunch of not very tight fasteners, I don't know if they...




					www.hobby-machinist.com
				




https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/bolton-ha330-13x40-lathe-500-obo.93265/

I learned a lot by working on my face plant lathe, but the most important thing I learned was I should have not put all the effort and money into it. 

There is more than likely hidden damage you won’t find until you’ve invested far too much money and time.

Part this one out and put it towards something undamaged. 


JMHO

John


----------



## markba633csi (Oct 22, 2022)

Hate to say it, but I kind of agree with John-


----------



## matthewsx (Oct 22, 2022)

this is what I bought when I finally got tired of working on the Bolton.









						Samson (Tida) TD-5AA lathe
					

Just picked this up today.    And....    So I can check it against what Mr. Fang found in 1981 :grin:  John




					www.hobby-machinist.com
				




I paid $850 and had to do some work but it's a runner, probably pretty similar to what the OP has. They're good machines and well worth saving but dropped machine tools are just too much of a risk to invest time and money into. 

Oh, and sorry for not saying in my first post but welcome to the forum 

John


----------



## Beldan (Oct 22, 2022)

matthewsx said:


> I hate to say it but it has to be said.
> 
> Buy another lathe.
> 
> ...



Thanks John, I know i'm looking at investing time and some money into it. To be honest I went into this knowing it would be a bit of a challenge. I have a good idea of what all it needs "now" to be making chips. I'll have it under power this week to make sure things are moving as they should be. I inspected the gears inside the change box as well as the main lead screw, things look ok but I will be inspecting it further before I spend any money on parts. 

I may wind up parting it out but i'd love to get it back operational if I can get my hands on the needed parts, its getting pretty tough to find machines around here that aren't trashed. Most seem to believe they are made of gold. Honestly, I'd love to be able to confirm the parts on the new/newer lathes will work. There are so many of these machines out there and so little information on parts compatibility/replacement. I'll keep this thread updated with what I find out.

I do appreciate the input from all who have commented!


----------



## matthewsx (Oct 23, 2022)

It's not a bad way to learn, I suggest making as many of the parts you need on the lathe as possible. Is it a Taiwan build 12x36 like mine or a Chinese machine and did you get any tooling or chucks with it?

Please post some pictures of the whole machine so we can get a look at it complete.

One thing to consider if the leadscrew is bent and gearbox parts are expensive is an ELS (electronic lead screw) or even going full CNC.

Let me know if I can be of assistance as someone who's been there.

John


----------



## brino (Oct 23, 2022)

Beldan said:


> The front of the saddle suffered damage from the fall as well but I have someone who says he can repair it (TIG braze).



Somewhere on this forum someone did an amazing job of repairing a lathe apron..... I will see if I can find it, but maybe someone else has a link.....

Brian


----------



## Beldan (Oct 24, 2022)

matthewsx said:


> It's not a bad way to learn, I suggest making as many of the parts you need on the lathe as possible. Is it a Taiwan build 12x36 like mine or a Chinese machine and did you get any tooling or chucks with it?
> 
> Please post some pictures of the whole machine so we can get a look at it complete.
> 
> ...



It is a Taiwan built machine, it looks to share some similarities with your Sampson but its not a direct clone. It came with a 3 jaw chuck, follow rest, a faceplate, changes gears for metric/standard, and a 4-way tool post. It also has an older Mitutoyo single axis DRO. I don't have any full images of the machine as the area where its currently sitting a a bit too cramped to get a good pic. I'll include a pic the previous owner sent me of it prior to the damage.  

I have read the threads on here regarding the ELS conversions, i'll admit that does look appealing, and may eliminate the need to source a few parts. I'm pretty sure that the lead screw is ok and the gear box gears are undamaged. To be quite honest it looks like the tray cushioned the blow enough to keep the gear box from being completely destroyed.   









brino said:


> Somewhere on this forum someone did an amazing job of repairing a lathe apron..... I will see if I can find it, but maybe someone else has a link.....
> 
> Brian



I'll do some looking around as well, I have an idea on how to repair the saddle but i'll need to inspect it a bit more to ensure the known damage is all that is there.


----------



## Mitch Alsup (Oct 26, 2022)

Looks a lot like my Grizzly 4003G lathe


----------



## brino (Oct 26, 2022)

I found it!

Here is a link to the amazing lathe carriage repair by @bill70j that I mentioned back in post #9:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...mithy-granite-braze-or-weld.89088/post-802891

Brian


----------



## Beldan (Oct 26, 2022)

Mitch Alsup said:


> Looks a lot like my Grizzly 4003G lathe



They share some similarities and we were initially thinking that the parts would be compatible but many (especially in the cross slide assembly) appear to be quiet different. I believe the cross slide lead screw to be longer on my machine and the cross slide may have more travel as well. I really hate that Grizzly took down the G1003 parts/price page, there were a number of parts still available and references to newer compatible parts, all of that information seems to be gone now. 



brino said:


> I found it!
> 
> Here is a link to the amazing lathe carriage repair by @bill70j that I mentioned back in post #9:
> https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...mithy-granite-braze-or-weld.89088/post-802891
> ...



Thank you Brian! I'll check it out.

I'm in talks with a rep from Eisen and will be working up a parts list to try. He sent me some information on their 1236 machine, I haven't compared yet but I believe there is enough information there to make a good judgement on compatibility. I may search around on the forum to see if there are any active posters with the Eisen machine that would be willing to confirm measurements on some parts as well. 

I pm'ed the Precision Matthews rep that is a member/sponsor here on the site but haven't heard anything back.  

I should have the lathe on temporary power in the next day or so. I will report back with how things look on that front.


----------



## bill70j (Oct 27, 2022)

brino said:


> I found it!
> 
> Here is a link to the amazing lathe carriage repair by @bill70j that I mentioned back in post #9:
> https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...mithy-granite-braze-or-weld.89088/post-802891
> ...


I got a lot of help from this Forum when I did the repair on the Smithy that Brian references.

At first, it seemed like an impossible undertaking.  But I found that 3-D modeling the thing through "reverse engineering"  helped me visualize exactly what needed to be done, including building some of the repair parts from scratch.  

The modeling, plus strong encouragement from a couple of members of the Forum, made the project successful.

Good Luck!


----------



## Beldan (Oct 28, 2022)

Minor update. 

I got the machine under power today. Happy to report that it seems to run smoothly. I checked over the gears in the gear box and all looked to be ok. I was able to secure the broken speed selector arm in a manor that allowed me to power up the lead screw and the feed rod. All appears to be ok there as well, nothing bent or moving different than it should. Engaged the feed lever as well as the half nuts, things move smoothly. No weird noises and nothing heard from inside the apron.  Happy to note that the Mitutoyo DRO appears to be functioning as well.

I haven't removed the saddle yet but may do that before I start ordering parts to rule out any hidden damage that has gone unnoticed. Noticed looking over Eisen documents that the cross slide pinion gear on their machine is 13 tooth, mine is 12. Current production Grizzlys of the same size are 13 as well.   When I have the saddle off, i'll be comparing more parts. 

Things are moving along, albeit slowly.


----------

