Cleaning New Lathe

[rsting]

Hi! I just traded for a grizzly g8688 mini lathe. Like new, and still has most of the grease on it. Here's my question. Should I take the cross slide apart and clean it? How about the 3jaw chuck? I guess I really just need to know how far I should disassemble it for cleaning out the grease.
Any advise on what to use for cleaning?
Thanks!

 

[bosephus]

wd 40 makes a great cleaner .

And it's a good idea to tAke apart everything you possibly can or feel comfortable with to clean .

 

[Splat]

Well, I would only take it apart and clean it if I thought it really needed it OR if I doubted how well the previous owner took care of it (any issues?). If you see swarf and grime everywhere then yeah, it may be a good idea to give her a good cleaning. Got pics?

 

[intjonmiller]

wd 40 makes a great cleaner .

WD-40 makes an expensive cleaner. If you're just using it for that then buy straight kerosene (the primary ingredient of WD-40). It's like $10 per gallon at home stores. It's also listed in numerous old guides as the lubricant of choice for cutting aluminum.

 

[bosephus]

I buy wd 40 just to use it as a cleaner . nothing against kerosene. But it stinks .
And @ $13 a gallon at Wal-Mart it's not that badly priced

 

[intjonmiller]

Anything at Walmart is badly priced, but you have to look beyond the price label on the shelf. [/rant]

 

[tertiaryjim]

If the first owner ran it without cleaning the shipping grease, cosmoline , then it could have gotten packed into the ways, under the saddle, in the half nut, ect...
It never hurts to take em apart for a full inspection and to find any areas that could be improved like high spots or burrs and it helps to get em adjusted as good as they can be.
WD40 cuts cosmoline better than anything else I've tried. Oderless mineral spirits can be purchased at most stores that sell regular MS. It's not really oderless
but much easyer on the nose than the regular.

 

[george wilson]

The chuck will likely fling a fine(or not so fine) film of grease onto everything,including your face. I advise cleaning it of grease. Take the back plate off. There are only a few parts in a scroll chuck. You can hardly put it back together wrong. There is the scroll,and the 3 pinions to drive it,back plate and the screws that hold it on.

I just used paint thinner (odorless mineral spirits) to clean my new lathes. That Chinese cosmoline is obnoxious stuff!

It is DEFINITELY a good idea to take things apart and look for STRAY CHIPS. I have found a few inside GEARED lathe headstocks,where you don't want them to get into gears and bruise them. Clean them out with a magnet on a long dowel rod. DO THIS.

A friend once purchased a JET 14" lathe,only to find the carriage CLEAR FULL OF CHIPS. Probably sabotaged at the factory by a disgruntled employee. He had to send it back for a better model. What a PAIN!!!

Sand has also been found inside castings. You certainly don't want that! Look for sand inside any hollow castings,like the GEARED headstock and carriage(double walled,oil filled types.)

So,it does definitely pay to check everything out on ANY ASIAN LATHE. Be sure there are no chips in grease in the lead screw,either. You don't want damaged half nuts.


ALWAYS investigate a SQUEAK. Be careful to OIL the gear train behind the headstock. Some of them may well run on PLAIN CAST IRON SHAFTS,which can SIEZE UP AND WRING OFF if you do not oil them. I had this happen many years ago on my 10" Jet lathe. Fortunately,I did not require power feed to make a new shaft for the wrung off small gear to run on. I was not aware of such under engineered spots on Asian lathes back then. Actually,old South Bends were no better. You were expected to inspect and OIL every part of your lathe before going to work in a shop in the morning. And,this was considered work time,so you weren't "wasting" your PAID work time.

If you hear ANY grinding noises,investigate the headstock bearings and every where else that might still have some SAND or CHIPS in them. Do this AT ONCE. They really burn you for spare parts! A proper lathe should run nearly silently,except for the little clinking sound of gears.