Grizzly G0750G metal lathe preliminary observations

[billooms]

I don't seem to have a vent hole in the cover of my G4003G.

Yeah, I noticed that. They sent me a cover for the 4003 originally and as you say there was no obvious air vent hole. It could be somewhere else in the headstock?

 

[Al_T]

I just took delivery of my G0750G yesterday. It is not off of the pallet yet but I can assure you that mine does not have a vent hole in either long side of the the lid. Short side of the lid I cannot say. I will not get a chance to get it set up for a week or two but will keep you updated.

Alan

 

[Ray C]

If you don't have a vent, drill a small hole in the oil filler plug and glue in a piece of felt in the allen hex. You really do need a vent somewhere otherwise, the temperature rise will increase pressure and blow oil past the knob seals. Also, here's the one on the 45 mill. It's the oil cap with a T-connection with a plastic tube long enough to prevent swarf from getting in. Sometimes they ship these things with a breather stone instead of a tube -whatever... doesn't make a difference. Both these machines came this way. Also, if you can get a magnet from the inside of an old hard disk drive, they work great if you put them inside the gearbox to collect any burrs that wear off the gears. After the first couple oil changes and a year's use, there won't be anything to stick to the magnet.



Ray

 

[epanzella]

Yeah, I noticed that. They sent me a cover for the 4003 originally and as you say there was no obvious air vent hole. It could be somewhere else in the headstock?

I looked over the headstock pretty good. If there's a vent it has to be under something like the electrical panel as I didn't do any disassembly. I looked at the oil fill as well and couldn't see any holes.
Ed P

 

[billooms]

I just took delivery of my G0750G yesterday. It is not off of the pallet yet but I can assure you that mine does not have a vent hole in either long side of the the lid.
Alan

Interesting that your cover is different. Keep us informed as you get it set up.

 

[Gr8fullAmerican]

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.

Checked both sides of my cover, no vent hole on mine either. I wonder if the fill plug allows enough air to escape to accommodate what thermal expansion there may be? I do not recall any hole on the back side of the cover but then again I wasn't looking for one either. Interesting about the number of units in the field, I would have thought that number would be much higher.

 

[epanzella]

I wonder if a vent is even required. There's as much airspace as oil in the headstock and it seems to me any expansion by the oil when heated could be accommodated by the air compressing with minimal pressure increase. Has anyone asked Grizzly about the vent issue?
Ed P

 

[Al_T]

Well,

I had a chance to do a bit of cleanup on mine today. Overall so far It looks pretty good. Machine work looks good. I pulled the top cover and the headstock was fairly clean internally. The top cover is a type of plastic. Reminds me of a phonalic, pretty heavy, rigid material and there is no vent in the cover and no visible vent in the headstock. It did have a reasonably sharp edge on the motor pulley, which I corrected. It will be a couple of weeks till I get mine up and going but will keep everyone informed as I go.

 

[billooms]

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.

The MSC set screws arrived and they work fine. Grizzly will only reimburse the cost of the screws -- not the shipping and sales tax.

For all the grief I've been through, I asked for a discount on the Bison 5C Collet chuck -- they wouldn't do it.

 

[rebush]

Billooms: Hopefully you've had your lathe up and running for awhile now, wondering what your opinions are about its machining capabilities and precision. Will probably be buying a new lathe in Sept. Trying to decide between the 0750 and the 4003. Thanks Roger