# Grizzly G0602 Lathe



## NightWing (May 21, 2014)

I have owned a Grizzly G0602 engine lathe for a few years.  It is a good machine with a couple of quirks.  Changing spindle speed which can involve a belt change and use/disuse of an idler pulley is archaic.  Changing feeds or threads is a nightmare.  The manual is not too clear and it may involve rotating knobs and/or gear changes.  The diagrams are hard to interpret and it took a long time to figure out what feed rates and thread pitch were set on the machine when delivered new.

I am not a novice to lathes.  In years past, I owned a Craftsman 6X18 and two Craftsman 12X36 machines.  my last lathe was a Nardini 14X40.  Those machines were much simpler to change speeds or feeds.  Admittedly, the little machine had change gears but the 12" machine had levers and a jackshaft.  The Nardini was all knobs.  Those machines all had relatively simple gear charts right on the machine headstock.  You could make necessary changes without having to read a manual.

The Grizzly meets my needs but a speed or feed change needed during a job is a cumbersome procedure that takes time.:banghead:


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## dave2176 (May 22, 2014)

Just venting? That little Grizzly is severely out classed by most of your past lathes. I would have never let the Nardini go.

Dave


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## NightWing (May 22, 2014)

dave2176 said:


> Just venting? That little Grizzly is severely out classed by most of your past lathes. I would have never let the Nardini go.
> 
> Dave



The Nardini was sold when I closed my manufacturing company.  The Nardini was made in Brazil.  It was accurate and I did lots of work on it but the tapped holes in the components were terrible.  The holes were very loose and many looked like they were drilled and tapped freehand.

The machines I miss the most are my two Mazak Quick-Turn 8 CNC lathes. Behind those was my Ellis Horizontal Band Saw and my Ellis Belt Grinder.  Great machines.  I had a shop full of high to low production machinery plus support equipment.  In its later years, the Nardini wasn't used for much more than one-offs or to make repair parts for other machines.


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## Fabrickator (May 22, 2014)

I feel your pain when it comes to changing spindle speeds and gear changes.  I have a G0602 and I made some mods that cured the dreaded speed changes to where I can pop between all speeds in about 30 to 60 seconds, by only loosening one bolt.  :thumbsup:

Although, I have to say that I pretty much leave my lathe on one or two (low) speeds and get very nice finishes. I know that I could be making stuff faster like a production shop, but I'm in no hurry as long as I get a nice finish. At my age I prefer things to happen a bit slower, especially my feed speed.  I predominantly run at 560RPM/BC3 and Feed Speed/CI or CII.  Rarely do I ever change to the high speed belt.

The gear change issues are different story.  I've used a fancy mini-program that was created by a guy that has ALL of the possible combinations for gear changes for each thread size available on a G0602.  But basically, you can make most of the common thread sizes by only changing 1 or 2 gears.  After I did it a couple of times, it's not all that bad. While the chart(s) on the dashboard can be a bit overwhelming they are correct once you learn to read them. They just don't give you ALL of the possible combinations. I always return the gears back to the default combo on the dash when I'm done so my feed speed is correct.

See this and all of my G0602 mods over the past few years on this link. It explains the belt mod in pretty good detail w/pics.

http://www.projectsinmetal.com/forum/general-discussion/diary-of-a-new-g0602/

Thread Guide(s):

http://www.projectsinmetal.com/g060...to-a-free-software-application-for-the-lathe/

The G0602 has been a good machine for me after making these mods (size, capability and price).

If you have any questions let me know.


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## NightWing (May 23, 2014)

I reviewed the changes you had made to your lathe.  I was interested in the 4 bolt compound clamp.  I went downstairs to look at my machine and it already had a clamp like that installed.  I bought the machine new a few years ago. Apparently, Grizzly and/or the factory made a change.


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## NightWing (Jul 3, 2014)

Had a surprise on my Grizzly G0602 lathe a couple of days ago.  I was drilling with the tailstock when all of a sudden, the ram started spinning with the chuck, even though the feed screw was still engaged with the ram.

It appears that the anti-rotation dog in the tailstock housing is about an inch too far back, allowing the ram to run off the keyway even though there is still a good amount of ram travel left.

Easy to fix but it amazes me that this even happened.  Ram travel is already limited by the tang on the tailstock drill chuck arbor.  Now running off the keyway limits it even more.


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## zmotorsports (Jul 3, 2014)

Wow, I haven't run across the tailstock quill issue before, that's different.

I completely understand your frustration with the change gears however.  My Smithy CB1239 that I had for the past 15+ years had change gears and they were a complete pain in the butt.  I hated them and avoided threading as much as possible anything with the machine because it was such a pain.  I found a good speed for turning that provided a nice finish and left it there the majority of the time.

I swore my next machine would have a proper gearbox for threading and changing IPR for feeds.  That is one of the things I liked when I saw the PM1340GT and decided to order it.  That Norton style gearbox is sweet.  That is what we have on our 13x36 lathe at work and I love the gear/feed options on it.

Mike.


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