G0695 Mill Vibration Issues! I Need Guidance....

[Ironken]

Well, Grizzly's CS is good... but so is Matt's at PM.

You raise a great point. I did consider P.M. but, did not know how good his support was and the quality of his equipment. You get a lot of bang for the buck with P.M. too. My parts came in yesterday, as soon as I get back home (I work on the railroad) I'm going to swap the pulley out and go from there.

 

[tmarks11]

I did consider P.M. but, did not know how good his support was and the quality of his equipment. You get a lot of bang for the buck with P.M. too.

Go to the PM forum and roam around. Everyone has great things to say about Matt and his products.

 

[Ironken]

I swapped the pulley....still vibrated the same. Tore the whole thing down to get to the internal splined collar that the pulley drives which drives the spindle. I'm getting close to getting called for work so I will knock it out when I get home in a few days. On the bright side, this gives me a chance to properly lube and clean everything. I had to press the bearings off of the collar. The old bearings feel more smooth than the new ones. Does anybody see any problem with re-using after they have been knocked outta the headstock and pressed off of the collar. They appear to be of better quality than the new ones.

 

[Ironken]

Thanks for the help gentlemen. All re-assembled and runs pretty good. The splined shaft collar was not true.

 

[DoogieB]

Wow, glad you finally found the problem! That was definitely a perseverance job to find the solution as the splined collar wouldn't have been the first thing I would have considered.

If I ever need to dissemble the head on my mill I know who to message.

 

[mksj]

Great you finally got to the offending part, a bit of a disappointment that there were two major defects (no fan in the motor and the vibration/collar) so one wonders if the machines are even tested or the level of QC. That being said, I have seen pretty major issues like this in other "new" mills at this price level. At least you had some level of service from Grizzly, but to go through all that effort and time to get it working properly, my hat is off to you. If I where in your shoes, I would have probably had them take it back. I do think it would be helpful to send them a letter outlining these major defects, and hopefully something might change in the future. I do think it points out that the buyer be aware, that the cheapest price is not always the best deal; service, support, parts and warranty are also major factors to consider in a purchase of this type of machinery.

 

[Ironken]

Wow, glad you finally found the problem! That was definitely a perseverance job to find the solution as the splined collar wouldn't have been the first thing I would have considered.

If I ever need to dissemble the head on my mill I know who to message.

You may message me anytime! How I ended up isolating the issue was to remove the quill and run it as is. Vibration still was present. I swapped out the pulley and the vibration persisted leaving only the sleeve or bearings which I swapped the sleeve and presto! The first motor was a P.O.S. though and brought its own problems to the mix. Thanks for the help my friend.

 

[Ironken]

Great you finally got to the offending part, a bit of a disappointment that there were two major defects (no fan in the motor and the vibration/collar) so one wonders if the machines are even tested or the level of QC. That being said, I have seen pretty major issues like this in other "new" mills at this price level. At least you had some level of service from Grizzly, but to go through all that effort and time to get it working properly, my hat is off to you. If I where in your shoes, I would have probably had them take it back. I do think it would be helpful to send them a letter outlining these major defects, and hopefully something might change in the future. I do think it points out that the buyer be aware, that the cheapest price is not always the best deal; service, support, parts and warranty are also major factors to consider in a purchase of this type of machinery.

You are spot on with your cheaper isn't always better observation. I chose this mill for the size. That's the biggest machine that I could fit and move. They did offer to take it back if I crated it up, if Griz did not find an issue, I would have to pay shipping both ways. A $500 dice roll there. I think I will fire off an email to Grizzly CS outlining these issues. By the way, the new motor came with a packing slip that stated "inspect and test before shipping" when I powered it up, it made a horrible scraping sound. The cause, the fan was too low on the shaft and was scraping the sheet metal cone that goes between the fan and motor and the fan was bent. I sorted that out. My fear was if the same people that inspected the replacement motor inspected my returned mill and found no issue, I would be dropping $500 on shipping. Lesson learned......I'm going to take a breather before I buy a lathe. I am trolling Craigslist for some used iron this time.

 

[DoogieB]

Around here, small used lathes are much easier to find than small used mills. When I refer to small I'm talking about ~1000 pounds. You just need to make a shopping list of wanted features, do your research beforehand and be ready to buy when they opportunity arises.

You want a full-featured lathe with power cross-feed and a QCGB and as much tooling as you can get. Condition is everything, if the bed is worn and the bearings are shot it's pretty much scrap. Watch out for the $500 lathe than needs $1500 worth of parts as most times it's better to pay a bit more upfront.

I've seen good deals go away in a few hours on CL, so you have to know what you want and be ready-to-go.