G0768 Or G4000?

Funny tidbit: the shipping manifest claimed this thing was 795 lbs! Umm, no. It's under 300, even with the pallet. Maybe Griz should reduce their shipping charge!
 
Funny tidbit: the shipping manifest claimed this thing was 795 lbs! Umm, no. It's under 300, even with the pallet. Maybe Griz should reduce their shipping charge!

That there is a very substantial difference in claimed weight!
 
Enjoy .... your comment about trips to the hardware store for "real" nuts and bolts is soooo familiar :>) But you will have a good piece of equipment when your "quality control" is completed. Think I got my QCTP on eBeast for around $70??.. had to mod it a bit to fit but good after that.
Can't understand the weight thing ...definitely not kilograms or pounds ..griz may not know they are/being overcharged for shipping ??
 
Congratulations on your purchase. Go to Steve Bedair's 9 x 20 website (http://bedair.org/9x20.html). It's a great collection of mods and improvements that will make your lathe much more enjoyable and accurate.

Tom S.
 
- replace various nuts or bolts with better quality hardware
Recommend you do some shopping on mcmaster-carr for those bolts. Your local hardware store selection of metric fasteners might not be much better than what is already on the machine.
 
I plan on ordering from McMaster Carr with a select of fasteners and such. My trip today netted me some taps and dies in the metric threads. The tiny compound gib and cross slide gib adjustment screws are 4-0.7 and most of the other stuff is 6-1.25 and 6-1.00. Just chasing the threads on the screws and holes smoothed a lot out of the adjustments. I also tapped the cross slide gib screw holes to full depth so I can just screw directly against the gib instead of pushing the pins, which one was missing anyway.

Also ordered a new compound mount from A2Z.
 
I plan on ordering from McMaster Carr with a select of fasteners and such. My trip today netted me some taps and dies in the metric threads. The tiny compound gib and cross slide gib adjustment screws are 4-0.7 and most of the other stuff is 6-1.25 and 6-1.00. Just chasing the threads on the screws and holes smoothed a lot out of the adjustments. I also tapped the cross slide gib screw holes to full depth so I can just screw directly against the gib instead of pushing the pins, which one was missing anyway.

Also ordered a new compound mount from A2Z.

A few years back I had a G4000 which was extensively modified, AKA improved. The adjustment screws pushing directly on the gib may cause it to lift. One of the mods I did was replace the cross slide gib pins with ball bearings. Worked for me.

Tom S.
 
Ball bearings! Sounds like a decent idea.

Today I disassembled the compound, since it was on top and the first thing to remove. Using 300, 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, 4000 grit paper on a granite block, I polished all surfaces that ride against one another. That not only included dovetails but the side of the gib that touches the dovetail, the front side of the mounting plate, rear of compound handwheel, and rear of the nut that holds the wheel on. Chasing threads for the gib adjustment screws helped me fine tune the feel. Silky smooth now with no play.

Next will be the cross slide. Much bigger job.

I compare this to polishing the slide/frame fit on a 1911. Easy does it. Slow progress until it's just right.

I found that using Spyderco stones helped to get inside the dovetails. To those who don't know, the Triangle Sharpener is one of my most used polishing tools.

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After a few hours of interruptions, I got back to cleaning up the cross slide. Just a gentle honing took care of most of the grittiness. I used some Dykem blue to visualize where my high spots were. Lots of tooling marks from the factory, so I reduced those as much as I dared without removing much metal. Polishing the gib surface seemed to do the most work in smoothing out the motion. My final step was to coat all surfaces with Flitz and move the slide in and out a few dozen times. That effectively lapped it into closer tolerance. Finally I coated it with a thin coat of lubricant and reassembled. I also polished the back of the hand wheel, front of the bracket that holds the leadscrew, and the rear of the retainer nut for the hand wheel.

Just waiting for the compound mount from LMS to show up to reattach the compound and get turning.
 
Hi Tbone, I'm looking at a used G4000 and seriously considering it .it is actually a Craftex CT039 which is a Canadian version of the G4000, I was wondering what your opinion of this lathe is , now that you have own it for about a year?
Would you still recommend it? are there any surprises/disappointments ? the asking price for the one I'm looking at is a bit on the high side, ($1200) but don't want to start negotiating the price if it is not the right lathe for me.
PLease let us know your opinion if you could.
Thanks.
Ken.
 
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