A few questions...

Pcmaker said:
-This is my first ever using a lathe. When I turn the chuck, it seems like it's a tad harder and "rough." I don't know if this is normal or not.
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I missed this part yesterday. Do you mean when you turn the chuck to open / close the jaws or when you rotate it in the spindle?

It is probably a good idea to take the chuck apart, clean and lube it. They are often packed with grease for shipping and may have more than necessary and / or have old dried grease in there. This seems to be an issue with most machines, but the cheaper Chinese machines in particular are known to come with occasional bonus gifts such as sand, metal shavings and other unpleasantness. One review of a Harbor Freight bandsaw found a piece of iron that resembled a bullet in the saws gear box.
 
I'll have to take the chuck apart, and the longitudinal handwheel, too. It's a tad bit hard to turn. Not smooth at all.

-Is there a way to stop the leadscrew at a certain point when it's on automatically feeding? I don't want my cutting tool to hit the chuck by accident.

-I'm assuming that when you're turning something, you pretty much HAVE to use the leadscrew and not do it by hand? I get a very rough finish when I turn the handwheel manually.
 
My lathe is 100% manual. You can do it manual, it just requires a stable consistent speed which you can get through practice. Also a touch of fine grit sand paper at the end does wonders. :)

I would think there was a stop available to you. I have an optional hard stop on mine, really its just a couple of different length rods that fit into the head stock and physically block the cross slide. It seems like most machines have some sort of range limiting device, usually a couple of knurled threaded disks on a threaded rod. Even my cheapo drill press has one like that.
 
I dont know why, it seems like when I turn the leadscrew off, the cutting tool digs in to the work piece a little bit. Without me touching the dials. What's the correct way of stopping the leadscrew from turning? I've been just pulling the leadscrew lever from autofeed to off.
 
Then sell the bigger one on GL or ebay and stay with the original one. The tool should work on your machine. Buy some aluminum to start turning. If you bought it new from Grizzly they should be able to help you. Call their customer service and ask them.
 
Richard King 2 said:
Then sell the bigger one on GL or ebay and stay with the original one. The tool should work on your machine. Buy some aluminum to start turning. If you bought it new from Grizzly they should be able to help you. Call their customer service and ask them.
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The standard lathe doesn't have a quick change tool post, he is following advice from an earlier thread where several people recommended he replace it.

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/which-lathe-to-get.70509/
 
Ahhh, Well then maybe I should step back….or maybe You-all need a different opinion? I see what's happening now. I read what Dabbler said in the other thread to pick a simple project first. I am curious have you ever run a lathe? In School? Or you're a complete rookie?? I think I would follow Dabblers advice and just use what you have with the machine. The 4 sided tool post will be fine until you learn how to run the lathe. Learn to walk before you run. I buy things on Amazon and am a Prime member. I would check with them and say you lost the paper work on the tool post and see if they can help. The vendor should be able to help. If not write a negative review and I bet they will do something. I bought some dog flee collars gave them a 1 review and said how lousy they worked and the vendor returned my money.

I know everyone was trying to help and if all had worked fine we wouldn't be having this conversation. Call Grizzly Tech Service and see what they can recommend on the machine issues. They also want positive feedback and a satisfied customer.

If it is brand new, do that. If it was a used machine you bought 2nd hand then we can help. Good luck. Rich
 
I'm supposed to get my 0XA QCTP delivered today. I couldn't zero in my cutting tools and I don't have any shims. I'll just wait to get my QCTP.

I want to take the lathe apart, wipe everything clean and reapply new grease. My 3 jaw chuck feels gritty, so I took it apart. Everything looked clean, but very dry. I had to carefully use a punch to get the bevel gear out, I applied 5W-30 oil on all the mating surfaces, but still feels gritty. Not sure why you need a punch to get the bevel gear out. Is this normal? It looked clean to me and it's still a "tight" after I added oil in.

Also, what's your guys' opinion on using BrakeClean to clean parts before applying grease?
 
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