Lathe problems! What would you do?

[stenger]

I just purchased a good new lathe that cost me a lot of money. I dont want to disclose the name at this time because i dont want to bash anyones product. I took a lot of time and care to transport the lathe and it also cost me a lot of money and time to transport the machine. When I arrived home I put it in my shop and took it out of the crate. I found two spots of rust with pitting on the lathe ways approx. two inches long about a foot up from the head stock. I have waited almost two weeks to get an answer from the manufacturer about the problem. I sent them pictures and they want to know if I would take compensation for the rust damage.
Well today I figured I would put power to the lathe and theses are the issues I found

1. The foot brake was off the motor pulley
2. A safety switch was mounted wrong, thus causing the machine not to work ( i fixed this issue)
3. The lead screw is not working.
4. The half nut lever and feed screw lever are not working properly. They are bind real hard and are hard to move.
5. The spindle rotation lever was out of adjustment, Thus causing the machine not to work ( i fixed this problem)
6. The gear box sometimes jumps out of gear.
I think i should get another machine delivered to my shop at no cost.

They are calling me tomo. to discuss the issues.

What would you all do?

 

[MTBULLET]

get my money back and buy a good lathe from better dealer.

 

[Kevin Cram]

Take it back to Grizzly and get a good quality tool room lathe. A Lablond Regal or Makino toolroom lathe that was well taken care of would work great. There are several machinery dealers here in PA or surrounding states. I'd prefer to see photos first and then have a personal look. A test drive before you buy is always best.

Good luck.

 

[rscott5028]

Some things may be aesthetic
others functional, but fixable
and some may be detrimental

Your list certainly doesn't instill confidence in turning out precision results.

I haven't had those kinds of problems with my Grizzly. I did have a bad start capacitor which was easy enough to replace.

Your experience certainly would've made me re-think my approach regardless of the make/model and the fact that I'm only a hobbyist rather than a professional shop. As such, I can endure a few issues to save some dough. But as a professional, I'd invest for the long-haul.

Good luck,
Richard

 

[stenger]

They are replacing the machine with a new one!

 

[bruce_ventura]

Hope the next one is better. I bought a Birmingham lathe - made in Taiwan. It's been a good lathe, despite having the power lever wired backwards! I just rewired my head the use the lever opposite the way the label was printed.

 

[SidecarFlip]

The term 'lots of money' is a relative one. I consider lots of money to be over $75,000.00 for a single machine.

BTW there is nothing that Grizzly sellls that interests me in the slightest, however, getting a machine from them is probably a good thing for you. You can use 'and abuse' that machine to learn the finer points of being a lathe hand.

Hope you succeed without loss of fingers, haor or other extremities and I'd hope the machine comes through unscathed, though I doubt it will.

Usually the first 'mishap' is forgetting the cam lock the chuck on the spindle or attempting to swing something that becomes an interference fit between the rotational axis of the lathe and the ways, resulting in divioting the ways under the chuck.

Second is leaving the chuck key in the chuck and turning the machine on, causing the chuck key to become a missle and hopefully not removing you, the operator, from the gene pool.

You'll find that just owning a machine don't make for quality work. The appropriate knowledge and experience is what produces accurate work. The machine, any machine is only a vehicle to, not the actual means to.

Some 'vehicles' are sports cars, others are trucks.

Good luck. Sounds to me like you'll need it.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I just purchased a good new lathe that cost me a lot of money. I dont want to disclose the name at this time because i dont want to bash anyones product. I took a lot of time and care to transport the lathe and it also cost me a lot of money and time to transport the machine. When I arrived home I put it in my shop and took it out of the crate. I found two spots of rust with pitting on the lathe ways approx. two inches long about a foot up from the head stock. I have waited almost two weeks to get an answer from the manufacturer about the problem. I sent them pictures and they want to know if I would take compensation for the rust damage.
Well today I figured I would put power to the lathe and theses are the issues I found

1. The foot brake was off the motor pulley
2. A safety switch was mounted wrong, thus causing the machine not to work ( i fixed this issue)
3. The lead screw is not working.

normally the lead screw is driven off the output gear in the quickchange gear box. This is usually with a woodruff key, but have seen standard keys in some cases. The reason you had so much trouble engaging the half nut was because the screw was not turning and all parts were still very tight. It's not a recommended idea to engage the half nut without the lead screw turning. Guys do it all the time, I know but they're also damaging the half nut. To replace the half nut and adjust it, is not one of my favorite jobs! Most of the time you have to remove the carriage from the apron

4. The half nut lever and feed screw lever are not working properly. They are bind real hard and are hard to move.
5. The spindle rotation lever was out of adjustment, Thus causing the machine not to work ( i fixed this problem)
6. The gear box sometimes jumps out of gear.

If your refering to the spindle gear box, you got a serious problem! But fixable. If it's the quick change gearbox, it's not anybetter to fix. (one of my all time least favorite lathe repair jobs, right next to the half nut)

I think i should get another machine delivered to my shop at no cost.

They are calling me tomo. to discuss the issues.

What would you all do?

the rust on the ways is not all that hard to take care of, but that's only what you see. There's probably rust under the slide and carriage. Probably rust inside the spindle cavity and tail stock as well

There's really no discussing a new machine. They either fix it on location, or replace it. I've had some expensive pieces of equipment come in damaged or just were not right, and they fixed them without a problem. Never trust a dealer to fix a machine, no matter how good they claim to be! Always have the factory send their folks in to do the job (warranty work).
gary