Fire damaged 12x36 import lathe restoration.

[Shootymacshootface]

Nice score, that should be a sweet machine when you are done.
I know that springs don't do well in a fire. Fortunately there aren't many on a lathe.
Just something to look out for.

 

[Ken226]

Nice score, that should be a sweet machine when you are done.
I know that springs don't do well in a fire. Fortunately there aren't many on a lathe.
Just something to look out for.

Very good point I hadn't considered.

The 3 springs in the spindle that hold the d1-4 cam detents in the cam grooves would be very important.

I actually just replaced the springs, and detents both on my Birmingham 13x40, with parts from the grizzly g4002 manual. Ordered for $9 from grizzly. Mine had lost the clicky feel. The springs were smooshed.

If one of those fail! A d1-4 cam pin on a ballistic trajectory that happens to intersect with a cabeza could create some excitement in the shop. And perhaps the need of a band-aid.

That would leave a pop-knot on the nugget, big enough for a calf to suck on!

 

[Shawnson]

More progress.

Got everything put back together. I don't like how far the gib on the compound is sticking out. I only have about 2 threads engaged on the rear screw adjustment and it seems too tight.

Now for the exciting news. It powers on and runs fine. I only ran it for about a minute because I have not changed the fluids yet. All of the power feeds run in all directions as well. The motor may still fail in the future or even the near future but I can deal with that if and when it happens. I think if it does, I may do a VFD conversion instead of just replacing it. Spindle seems to have right at or maybe just a bit less than .001 runout from what I measure but I don't have a tenths indicator.

You can see the stick out of the gib screw here. Any thoughts on this?
Kinda sucks the angle markings on the compound wiped right off when I was cleaning. I may have to laser engrave a new plate and mount it on there.

The Evaporust left a little black discoloration on the ways but the rust is gone and they are smooth as glass to the touch.

 

[Shawnson]

BTW
Evaportust Gel is absolute garbage. Leaves a sticky, chalky, bubblegum residue on everything and it is a pain in the butt to clean off. The soaked paper towels work WAY nicer.

 

[Ken226]

The length of gibs can be adjusted with a few bandsaw cuts if needed.

Adjust the gib first to the correct amount of tightness first, then decide if/ how much it needs shortened. You can take off enough to get rid of the protrusion, while leaving enough to accommodate future wear.

And if that happens to be the small end of the gib, even better. Won't effect future adjustments unless they invent a way lube that allows for negative wear.

From your pics, it looks like the compound rest gib is sticking out. The cross slide, not so much.

BTW, those chinese toolholder/knurling combo tools suck sooo bad. Every one ive used had so much runout in the knurling wheels that I could see my whole compound flexing in rythm to the spindle. If you plan do do even occasional knurling, get a new scissor type tool, then immediately discard the import knurls and buy some US Made Reed or AccuTrak knurls on ebay.

 

[Shawnson]

The length of gibs can be adjusted with a few bandsaw cuts if needed.

Adjust the gib first to the correct amount of tightness first, then decide if/ how much it needs shortened. You can take off enough to get rid of the protrusion, while leaving enough to accommodate future wear.

And if that happens to be the small end of the gib, even better. Won't effect future adjustments unless they invent a way lube that allows for negative wear.

From your pics, it looks like the compound rest gib is sticking out. The cross slide, not so much.

The protruding end is the large end of the gib. I said cross slide in the first part but I meant compound. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Ken226]

So, is this lathe getting some new paint?

After some sanding, It would look pretty great in a couple coats of something like this:

 

[Aukai]

Pretty good return on investment you got there. Maybe we should alert the arson investigation team

 

[Shawnson]

So, is this lathe getting some new paint?

After some sanding, It would look pretty great in a couple coats of something like this:

I am on the fence with this idea. While I really do want to paint it I know the prep work that will go into it to make it look the way I want is going to be quite involved. I could probably get it most of the way there with taping parts off and hitting it with a brush but it won't be right. Everything on this thing has oil and contamination. I am afraid if I half-ass it, it's just gonna flake and peal.

 

[Ken226]

I am on the fence with this idea. While I really do want to paint it I know the prep work that will go into it to make it look the way I want is going to be quite involved. I could probably get it most of the way there with taping parts off and hitting it with a brush but it won't be right. Everything on this thing has oil and contamination. I am afraid if I half-ass it, it's just gonna flake and peal.

If you do decide to go all-out, it looks like you can even get the cosmetic stuff from grizzly.

For example, grizzly shows the headstock front panel in-stock part# P40021103, for about 40$. Of course, I can't be certain it's a perfect fit.

Edited to add:

Sorry, p40021103 is for the older g4002.

P40031103 is for the G4003 12x36 lathe. Looks like an even closer match.
https://www.grizzly.com/parts/grizzly-name-plate/p40031103