Did I get my 1440gt headstock full of cast iron dust?

Usually one finds magnetic particles, some form casting and possibly some fine metal particles when everything is breaking in. It is very unlikely that external contamination would get past the bearing seals, if so you would have oil leaking past them. On my 1340GT I did have what looked like some darker particles in the headstock site window, it was at least a year before I did the first oil change on the headstock. My current lathe, the first oil change after a year was crystal clear, but one can still get water contamination over time. I added a magnet to my headstock and gearbox oil drains.
20200303_141019.jpg
 
Think about a magnet and if you use one make sure it is secured very well. GM use to put them epoxied inside differential covers. Majority of them the epoxy broke down and the magnet came loose, little pieces of magnet stuck everywhere. It caused more problems than it would have ever corrected.

I sure wouldn't want any solvent in my spindle bearings. I might rub my pickup magnet in the corners but I'd do little more than drain and refill. Solvent stays in your bearings and doesn't get displaced by the oil, you could trash them pretty quick on startup. Probably be fine but I wouldn't risk it.
 
Last edited:
After some rest, I noticed the lower gear box has a little shmoo in the sight glass as well... I'm guess things finally broke in.
 
@LVLAaron +1 to all the magnet comments above. Unless your 1440 is a belt drive, requiring you to open your headstock all the time, none of the cast iron dust will get in.

Any new lathe, but particularly ones manufactured and sold primarily to hobbyists, will have to wear in the gears, and will accumulate filings in the headstock oil. no need to get alarmed, change the oil and put in magnets, and you will be fine.

Every reputable lathe manufacturer of industrial lathes will recommend a headstock oil change after 'x' hours of initial use. Then the interval will be "y" years, regardless of use. The first change of oil is to expunge some 'wear-in' gricker, and to catch any debris that entered during the manufacture process(es).
 
Skippy said:
Don’t be surprised to see metal flakes in the bottom of the gearbox. I had a whole bunch in my brand new 1340GT. Most of them non-magnetic.
Click to expand...
Yea, I saw flakes in the bottom of the headstock of my new 1340GT during break-in l. Thought I 'struck gold'. :)

The flakes disappeared after a while.
 
It is a colloquialism for any small pile of stuff. Thus you might have some gricker in your garage, which might be a pile of tools or short pieces of lumber, etc. Often you sweep away gricker off your workbench - filings and small pieces of cut off material that collects. A very versatile word.

In context, referring to dirt from the lathe manufacturer and other bits of detritus that infest the headstock oil with low use.

-- When I was a kid "fleeb" was the lint in your socks or pockets, but nowadays has a very different definition...
 
Dabbler said:
@LVLAaron +1 to all the magnet comments above. Unless your 1440 is a belt drive, requiring you to open your headstock all the time, none of the cast iron dust will get in.

Any new lathe, but particularly ones manufactured and sold primarily to hobbyists, will have to wear in the gears, and will accumulate filings in the headstock oil. no need to get alarmed, change the oil and put in magnets, and you will be fine.

Every reputable lathe manufacturer of industrial lathes will recommend a headstock oil change after 'x' hours of initial use. Then the interval will be "y" years, regardless of use. The first change of oil is to expunge some 'wear-in' gricker, and to catch any debris that entered during the manufacture process(es).
Click to expand...

Makes sense. I'm sure I did my "break in" oil change too soon. It says 20 hours or something... I'm sure it was a lot less than that when I changed it. The lathe probably runs a lot less than I think it does.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top