I've just bought a new lathe that has a few issues.
1. The tail stock hits the inside of the saddle lifting it off the way. I've
spoken to the guy at the shop and he wants to just swap the tail stock with
one off the demo lathe he has. Will this be ok or are the tail stocks fitted
to each lathe?
2. The change gears are misaligned. The smallest gear is 10 mm thick, the
gear it drives it 8.3 mm thick. They are offset by 2.8 mm, is this normal or
should I pack the small gear out 2.8 mm?

any links on setting up lathes for noobs appreciated

Thanks in advance

On Mar 20, 8:29*am, "stu" no where just yet wrote:
I've just bought a new lathe that has a few issues.
1. The tail stock hits the inside of the saddle lifting it off the way. I've
spoken to the guy at the shop and he wants to just swap the tail stock with
one off the demo lathe he has. Will this be ok or are the tail stocks fitted
to each lathe?

Thanks in advance

Put a center in both the headstock and tail stock. IF the height of
the centers is the same, then the tail stock will be fine.

Dan

I'm going to guess you're buying a lathe of Asian origin. Very common to
have issues like this. get as much as you can out of the vendor.

From there, many consider these lathes "a work in progress". You'll need to
modify it for nice performance. I've seen threads on this NG, at CNCzone.com
and especially in Home Shop Machinist magazine. There's an index of back
issue articles on their website.

Karl

You should tell the group what the make and model is, and maybe where
you got it. This can help you to get specific answers.
If you talked to the guy about the tail stock, I'd also talk to him
about the gears and the alignment.

As another poster said, get as much as you can from the vendor AS SOON
AS YOU CAN.

You might also try googling the lathe's model and mfr, looking for
forums, etc. which might be devoted to that tool.

I can't imagine 2 tailstocks being within a tenth or two of each other.
If the one you have IS well aligned, maybe you should look into a
little filing of non-critical dimensions.

Pete Stanaitis
------------------

stu wrote:
I've just bought a new lathe that has a few issues.
1. The tail stock hits the inside of the saddle lifting it off the way. I've
spoken to the guy at the shop and he wants to just swap the tail stock with
one off the demo lathe he has. Will this be ok or are the tail stocks fitted
to each lathe?
2. The change gears are misaligned. The smallest gear is 10 mm thick, the
gear it drives it 8.3 mm thick. They are offset by 2.8 mm, is this normal or
should I pack the small gear out 2.8 mm?

any links on setting up lathes for noobs appreciated

Thanks in advance

The lathe is the same as
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=L183
But a different "brand". Mine has a longer bed and no chuck guard.

I'll try googling but all the suppliers in Australia seem to have their own
"brand".

I don't have the lathe set up yet so cant check the alignment. As far as
filing goes, they aren't hit by much so even filing the paint off (If the
paints thick) might give me some clearance, but wouldn't I want 5 mm or so
clearance so that swarf can't get trapped between them?

I'm start to realise just how much I have forgotten since school and just
how much I never knew.

"spaco" wrote in message
.. .
You should tell the group what the make and model is, and maybe where you
got it. This can help you to get specific answers.
If you talked to the guy about the tail stock, I'd also talk to him
about the gears and the alignment.

As another poster said, get as much as you can from the vendor AS SOON AS
YOU CAN.

You might also try googling the lathe's model and mfr, looking for forums,
etc. which might be devoted to that tool.

I can't imagine 2 tailstocks being within a tenth or two of each other. If
the one you have IS well aligned, maybe you should look into a little
filing of non-critical dimensions.

Pete Stanaitis
------------------

stu wrote:
I've just bought a new lathe that has a few issues.
1. The tail stock hits the inside of the saddle lifting it off the way.
I've spoken to the guy at the shop and he wants to just swap the tail
stock with one off the demo lathe he has. Will this be ok or are the tail
stocks fitted to each lathe?
2. The change gears are misaligned. The smallest gear is 10 mm thick, the
gear it drives it 8.3 mm thick. They are offset by 2.8 mm, is this normal
or should I pack the small gear out 2.8 mm?

any links on setting up lathes for noobs appreciated

Thanks in advance

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
anews.com...
I'm going to guess you're buying a lathe of Asian origin. Very common to
have issues like this. get as much as you can out of the vendor.

From there, many consider these lathes "a work in progress". You'll need
to modify it for nice performance. I've seen threads on this NG, at
CNCzone.com and especially in Home Shop Machinist magazine. There's an
index of back issue articles on their website.

Karl

Yes I realised going in that it would need some of the rough edges taken off
and a few mods here and there. Like washers under the angle adjustment nuts
on the compound slide. Still getting it "just so" will be half the fun, I
hope.

stu writes:

The change gears are misaligned. The smallest gear is 10 mm thick, the
gear it drives it 8.3 mm thick. They are offset by 2.8 mm, is this
normal or should I pack the small gear out 2.8 mm?

Sounds like my Chinese lathe of similar size, as others will also attest.
The change gears lined up, but the swing arms and all were hopelessly ill-
fitted and couldn't have possibly passed any tests. Took a few hours with
turning and filing to get things fitted, but now it is perfect.