Microcut LD1236G/G1003 clone repair and parts cross referencing

[Beldan]

I recently picked up a Microcut LD1236 that had been dumped on its face. I've been doing a great deal of research online to find comparable lathes in current production which share the same/very similar parts to get this thing back up and running. The two lathes I have found which I believe are candidates to source parts from are the Eisen 1236GH and the Precision Matthews PM-1236T. Judging by the pics everything I need for mine looks identical to the parts on these two lathes. I saw PM is a site sponsor here so I plan to reach out to them in hopes they can assist in my parts acquisition. I've contacted Eisen though their site but haven't heard back yet.

I know there are many variations of this lathe but i'd like to find out if anyone has had success sourcing cross slide/saddle parts from the newer models I listed above. Looking like I will be needing the cross slide lead screw assembly, gear, wheels, thrust bearings etc. I'll also be needing a QCGB front cover and a gear selector arm. The front of the saddle suffered damage from the fall as well but I have someone who says he can repair it (TIG braze).

I'll include pics in this thread to show what i'm dealing with. Any help is much appreciated, this will be my first lathe and i'm looking forward to getting it up and running.

 

[markba633csi]

Oooh, really clobbered. You might find Grizzly to have some of the parts also. Not sure if the gearbox front is a separate piece or not

 

[Beldan]

Oooh, really clobbered. You might find Grizzly to have some of the parts also. Not sure if the gearbox front is a separate piece or not

Thanks for the reply Mark, Grizzly recently pulled their parts page for the G1003 offline, i'll have to call them to find out if anything is still available. From what I saw when the page was up, none of the cross slide parts were available, nor were the gear selectors, or the gear box plate. I contacted Grizzly to find out if they had any documentation or info on cross referencing parts to their newer lathes but they claimed to have no drawings or other documentation to do so.

The gearbox front is a separate piece, newer grizzly, the PM, and Eisen I referenced seem to have the same/very similar front plate however the area where the gear selection holes are is flat rather than convex like this one. They look like they could be used interchangeably but i'm not 100% sure.

 

[matthewsx]

I hate to say it but it has to be said.

Buy another lathe.

Bolton HA330 Project

Finally had a chance to check out the lathe as yesterday evening was spent helping our daughter with student loans for her masters program. Stuff fits into one of three categories, bent, broken, and just needs improvement. There were a bunch of not very tight fasteners, I don't know if they...

www.hobby-machinist.com

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/bolton-ha330-13x40-lathe-500-obo.93265/

I learned a lot by working on my face plant lathe, but the most important thing I learned was I should have not put all the effort and money into it.

There is more than likely hidden damage you won’t find until you’ve invested far too much money and time.

Part this one out and put it towards something undamaged.


JMHO

John

 

[markba633csi]

Hate to say it, but I kind of agree with John-

 

[matthewsx]

this is what I bought when I finally got tired of working on the Bolton.

Samson (Tida) TD-5AA lathe

Just picked this up today. And.... So I can check it against what Mr. Fang found in 1981 :grin: John

www.hobby-machinist.com

I paid $850 and had to do some work but it's a runner, probably pretty similar to what the OP has. They're good machines and well worth saving but dropped machine tools are just too much of a risk to invest time and money into.

Oh, and sorry for not saying in my first post but welcome to the forum

John

 

[Beldan]

I hate to say it but it has to be said.

Buy another lathe.

Bolton HA330 Project

Finally had a chance to check out the lathe as yesterday evening was spent helping our daughter with student loans for her masters program. Stuff fits into one of three categories, bent, broken, and just needs improvement. There were a bunch of not very tight fasteners, I don't know if they...

www.hobby-machinist.com

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/bolton-ha330-13x40-lathe-500-obo.93265/

I learned a lot by working on my face plant lathe, but the most important thing I learned was I should have not put all the effort and money into it.

There is more than likely hidden damage you won’t find until you’ve invested far too much money and time.

Part this one out and put it towards something undamaged.


JMHO

John

Thanks John, I know i'm looking at investing time and some money into it. To be honest I went into this knowing it would be a bit of a challenge. I have a good idea of what all it needs "now" to be making chips. I'll have it under power this week to make sure things are moving as they should be. I inspected the gears inside the change box as well as the main lead screw, things look ok but I will be inspecting it further before I spend any money on parts.

I may wind up parting it out but i'd love to get it back operational if I can get my hands on the needed parts, its getting pretty tough to find machines around here that aren't trashed. Most seem to believe they are made of gold. Honestly, I'd love to be able to confirm the parts on the new/newer lathes will work. There are so many of these machines out there and so little information on parts compatibility/replacement. I'll keep this thread updated with what I find out.

I do appreciate the input from all who have commented!

 

[matthewsx]

It's not a bad way to learn, I suggest making as many of the parts you need on the lathe as possible. Is it a Taiwan build 12x36 like mine or a Chinese machine and did you get any tooling or chucks with it?

Please post some pictures of the whole machine so we can get a look at it complete.

One thing to consider if the leadscrew is bent and gearbox parts are expensive is an ELS (electronic lead screw) or even going full CNC.

Let me know if I can be of assistance as someone who's been there.

John

 

[brino]

The front of the saddle suffered damage from the fall as well but I have someone who says he can repair it (TIG braze).

Somewhere on this forum someone did an amazing job of repairing a lathe apron..... I will see if I can find it, but maybe someone else has a link.....

Brian

 

[Beldan]

It's not a bad way to learn, I suggest making as many of the parts you need on the lathe as possible. Is it a Taiwan build 12x36 like mine or a Chinese machine and did you get any tooling or chucks with it?

Please post some pictures of the whole machine so we can get a look at it complete.

One thing to consider if the leadscrew is bent and gearbox parts are expensive is an ELS (electronic lead screw) or even going full CNC.

Let me know if I can be of assistance as someone who's been there.

John

It is a Taiwan built machine, it looks to share some similarities with your Sampson but its not a direct clone. It came with a 3 jaw chuck, follow rest, a faceplate, changes gears for metric/standard, and a 4-way tool post. It also has an older Mitutoyo single axis DRO. I don't have any full images of the machine as the area where its currently sitting a a bit too cramped to get a good pic. I'll include a pic the previous owner sent me of it prior to the damage.

I have read the threads on here regarding the ELS conversions, i'll admit that does look appealing, and may eliminate the need to source a few parts. I'm pretty sure that the lead screw is ok and the gear box gears are undamaged. To be quite honest it looks like the tray cushioned the blow enough to keep the gear box from being completely destroyed.

Somewhere on this forum someone did an amazing job of repairing a lathe apron..... I will see if I can find it, but maybe someone else has a link.....

Brian

I'll do some looking around as well, I have an idea on how to repair the saddle but i'll need to inspect it a bit more to ensure the known damage is all that is there.