Grizzly G0750G metal lathe preliminary observations

[Gr8fullAmerican]

Put some ground stock in my 4 jaw, dialed it in within .0005, made a 2" cut about 3" from chuck. Checked it with calipers and found it was .005 out toward the chuck. Decided to switch out 4 jaw, loosened d1-5 camlocks and chuck dropped free when I loosened the last one. Now every other chuck I have used required a little encouragement to let go of the spindle. The 4 jaw obviously didn't mate properly to the spindle nose. Called Grizzly and they are sending me out a new 4 jaw. Hopefully the new chuck will mount tight and right!

 

[Richard King]

I know many of you think you can't afford Taiwan built machines as most are better quality now then the Chinese machines. Many new machine factories being built in China are joint ventures with some Taiwan and Japanese builders because the labor rate is less. The last time I was there some Taiwan companies are exploring building plants in Viet Nam and Burma (not the name anymore). I think many of you guys who have older Taiwan imports know the quality. I know several machine importers who have good machines, but as Tom Dou of Acra told me his machines are more expensive then Grizzly. I said in another thread that Grizzly has to have some good machines as they have been in business for a long time.
30 years ago my company was a repair station for Jet. The customer got the service free of charge. They would call us now and then to go and repair a machine. The customer never had to do any major work as it seems you have to do. I also would get a call from MSC and do work for them. The same deal, free of charge to the customer. Once I recall a machine was so bad I recommended they replace it. Doesn't Grizzly offer this, to send a pro out to fix it for you, or just replace this lemon? Or do they expect the buyer to do the repairs? If they do send them a bill for your labor. Here are a few other companies you may want to look at next time you want a better quality machine and better repair service.
http://www.acramachinery.com/ http://www.kentusa.com/ http://www.aceronline.net/acergroup/dealers.htm http://jettools-online.com/?gclid=CPWbwu_XwLgCFUhgMgodmhIANw http://www.mscdirect.com/

 

[epanzella]

One guy with Grizzly problems doesn't mean much. One guy (like myself) that has had zero problems and had his G4003G exceed his expectations in every way doesn't mean much either. I would luv to know how many G0750G/G4003G's are out there and who is the exception and who is the rule.

 

[Gr8fullAmerican]

Well said Epanzella, as I have posted previously I have been buying Grizzly products for over 20 years and have always found them to be of good quality and excellent customer service providers. I would be surprised if any piece of equipment with the complexity of these lathes didn't have minor issues once in a while. My post was intended only to see if others have experienced similar issues. Grizzly sent me out a new chuck immediately, along with an apology for any inconvenience. I would not hesitate to buy any Grizzly products, I only wish I had the money and room to buy more equipment from them.

 

[HMF]

I moved this to the Grizzly area with a redirect. Great observations.

 

[Ray C]

The days of such customized repair service are gone as far as the small shop and hobbyist is concerned. There are 2 basic modes of operation in that regard. 1) Some distributors sell to the higher-end customer and require an annual service contract ranging from 5 to 15% of sales cost. Sometimes, they will require "factory authorized" setup of the machine. Without the service contract, -no warranty beyond 90 days. 2) As in the links below, most of those machines are well over 40-50% higher in price over what big retail distrubutors are charging. The prices are higher to offset any defects they may need to eat and to pay for their 1st or 2nd party technical support. BTW, the best overall lathe mentioned below that's close to our price range are the Kent brand. A 1440 is running about $13,000 to $16,000 depending on how configured. Also, it is the identical lathe to the Precision Matthews RML series of pro-line equipment but at a lower cost due to low overhead. Same-lathe, same company, same quality controls -but about 20% less than other retailers.

The last mode of operation is quite simple: Play the numbers game, sell the minimum quality you can get away with, do little to no QC inspection and ship e'm as fast as you can. Some machines are born OK and some not. The customer is the first person doing QC checks and most first-time buyers don't know what they're looking for. If there's a problem, they're quick to respond to the "squeeky wheels". In general, they make-out like bandits as few people catch the real problems and only complain about a bent piece of sheet metal or quibble over a bottle of touch-up paint. A rare few actually catch the real problems.


Ray

I know many of you think you can't afford Taiwan built machines as most are better quality now then the Chinese machines. Many new machine factories being built in China are joint ventures with some Taiwan and Japanese builders because the labor rate is less. The last time I was there some Taiwan companies are exploring building plants in Viet Nam and Burma (not the name anymore). I think many of you guys who have older Taiwan imports know the quality. I know several machine importers who have good machines, but as Tom Dou of Acra told me his machines are more expensive then Grizzly. I said in another thread that Grizzly has to have some good machines as they have been in business for a long time.
30 years ago my company was a repair station for Jet. The customer got the service free of charge. They would call us now and then to go and repair a machine. The customer never had to do any major work as it seems you have to do. I also would get a call from MSC and do work for them. The same deal, free of charge to the customer. Once I recall a machine was so bad I recommended they replace it. Doesn't Grizzly offer this, to send a pro out to fix it for you, or just replace this lemon? Or do they expect the buyer to do the repairs? If they do send them a bill for your labor. Here are a few other companies you may want to look at next time you want a better quality machine and better repair service.
http://www.acramachinery.com/ http://www.kentusa.com/ http://www.aceronline.net/acergroup/dealers.htm http://jettools-online.com/?gclid=CPWbwu_XwLgCFUhgMgodmhIANw http://www.mscdirect.com/

 

[billooms]

Update: I received the new headstock cover and gasket on Monday and they appeared to be the correct parts and the right size. It turns out the new lid is in fact the same heavy black material as the old one (I had mistakenly thought the old lid was metal because of the weight). The new lid also had a small hole in the side the same as the original one (a vent hole?). I don't know why others haven't noticed the problem with oil coming out of this small hole. I plugged it with a tapered wooden plug. The new lid is flat and smooth on the bottom (unlike the old one which was warped and rough). I put the new lid on with a layer of silicone-based gasket sealer on the cover side of the gasket and let it cure overnight.

On Tuesday I ran the machine for a while and it seemed OK. However, about an hour later there was a small dribble of oil on the backside again (in the back of the electrical panel). I took everything apart and cleaned everything. I wiped the metal surface with lacquer thinner to remove any trace of oil and put a layer of silicone-based gasket sealer on both sides of the gasket this time (making sure there was some squeeze-out along all edges).

Today, I've been just letting it run for a few hours and it seems OK. We'll give it a few more days to see if the gasket holds up.

A few additional issues: The spider screws are too long and hit the cover for all but the smallest material. After taking some measurements with small stock and large stock, my conclusion is that there is no single length of socket cap screw that will accommodate material sizes from small to 1.5" diameter. One would need M10-1.5 x 30 screws for small material and M10-1.5 x 20 screws for larger material. I was unable to find anyone who sells brass-tipped socket cap screws in metric (neither McMaster-Carr or MSC have them). However, I believe it would work to use a set screw instead of a socket cap screw. Without the space for a cap, I believe 32mm length should work for a wide range of material (MSC #64828445). I'll order some and try it (Grizzly agreed to gift certificate me to cover the amount).

The pulley on the motor won't stay tight and the key started coming out (similar to what people with the 4003G have reported). I drilled/tapped a hole for another more substantial set screw on the key side (the other one was just a small pointed set screw on the opposite side). I added loc-tite to both setscrews. We'll give it a few more days to see if this fix holds up.

BTW: Grizzly says they have about 30 of these 0750Gs in the field so far.

 

[Ray C]

Just about every geared head lathe I know of, has a vent hole somewhere. It's absolutely necessary to have one as pressure increases when it warms up and it will force the fluids out somewhere. I'm not familiar with your model but, I don't think you should plug-up that hole. Make some kind of baffle. On my lathe, the top cover has an oil fill plug and disguised in that plug are some tiny holes... -Maybe do the same thing. You cold also get a "fish tank aerator" which is just one of those stones connected to the air line of a fish tank to make bubbles. Drill a hole in the lid and stick an aerator in there. I've seen this done on more than one lathe.

Update: I received the new headstock cover and gasket on Monday and they appeared to be the correct parts and the right size. It turns out the new lid is in fact the same heavy black material as the old one (I had mistakenly thought the old lid was metal because of the weight). The new lid also had a small hole in the side the same as the original one (a vent hole?). I don't know why others haven't noticed the problem with oil coming out of this small hole. I plugged it with a tapered wooden plug. The new lid is flat and smooth on the bottom (unlike the old one which was warped and rough). I put the new lid on with a layer of silicone-based gasket sealer on the cover side of the gasket and let it cure overnight.

On Tuesday I ran the machine for a while and it seemed OK. However, about an hour later there was a small dribble of oil on the backside again (in the back of the electrical panel). I took everything apart and cleaned everything. I wiped the metal surface with lacquer thinner to remove any trace of oil and put a layer of silicone-based gasket sealer on both sides of the gasket this time (making sure there was some squeeze-out along all edges).

.

 

[billooms]

Just about every geared head lathe I know of, has a vent hole somewhere. It's absolutely necessary to have one as pressure increases when it warms up and it will force the fluids out somewhere.

Thanks for the comment. I agree that some vent makes sense, but I was losing about 4 ounces of oil in 10 minutes of time coming out of the hole the way they have it. I don't know why others are not seeing this problem with this lathe. I like your aerator solution.

 

[epanzella]

Thanks for the comment. I agree that some vent makes sense, but I was losing about 4 ounces of oil in 10 minutes of time coming out of the hole the way they have it. I don't know why others are not seeing this problem with this lathe. I like your aerator solution.

I don't seem to have a vent hole in the cover of my G4003G. There is a threaded hole in the edge of the cover a few inches from where you show your vent hole but it's a blind hole and doesn't go thru. My machine doesn't leak anywhere as far as I can tell.