My first lathe is a Frejoth/Central/Grizzly 12x36 Lathe

[Sparweb]

Hi
I just joined H-M and I thought it would be good to introduce myself.
I just bought a 1986 Central Machinery lathe: made in Taiwan 900G which seems to be a spitting image of the Grizzly G9249 but with less safety covers!
This lathe is rather old but it shows signs of being well taken care of (the ways are shiny, the sprockets are greasy, etc.)

I have never owned a lathe before (this seemed like a nice start) but I have had many opportunities to use good lathes in the past (particularly a Colchester Master at my workplace for over 10 years).

Really looking forward to following along with the others here as they use their similar machines to learn all the tricks. Your site has already made it easy for me to locate a user's manual (the Grizzly 9249) and a number of other resources and links that I have yet to follow.

Oh, you guys probably want photos...


Unloading from my tilting-deck flatbed.



Space already set aside for it.

 

[mikey]

Welcome to HM!

Off to a great start!

 

[matthewsx]

Hello and welcome.

Looks like a great starter lathe that will be hard to outgrow. Looks like you've got a good helper there too

John

 

[Sparweb]

Thanks.
The goal is for both myself and my son (19 years old) to learn about using this lathe.
We spent the afternoon painting the lower table. We haven't taken it off the dolly-wheels yet. I want to build a back-splash wall so it's convenient to have it free to roll around a while longer.
The previous owner built this table and it's a hell of a lot sturdier than the sheet-metal stuff these lathes usually come with. Overall I was really surprised with the condition of the lathe given its age.

 

[matthewsx]

I would take it off the wheels and leave it far enough from the wall to work. These things are top heavy and lots of damage can be done if it falls over which could happen if a wheel gives out while moving it. Should be simple enough to move it back once the backsplash is done. I own a somewhat larger lathe that fell on it's face and am currently trying to source several pieces.

John

 

[Nogoingback]

Welcome to the group Sparweb. It looks like you got a good machine for your first lathe. The stand certainly looks
like it will do the job! Did the lathe come with a chip tray? If not, you'll definitely need one.

 

[Packard V8]

We've used one of those for a few years and the two weak spots are the Y-axis power feed gear and the tailstock lock. We can thank Grizzly for keeping parts in stock.

jack vines

 

[Sparweb]

Thanks for the warning. The custom base is so heavy I may be relying on it to reduce the top-heaviness - but you're still right. And what a disaster to have one of these things to tumbling over!

The incomplete plan in my head right now is to build a back-splash panel using a T-slot board attached to a light frame on the back. If the T-slot panel is damaged, it can easily be replaced. I can paint it with 100 coats of paint to reduce the amount of oil soaking into it. And I can hang pegs and boxes on to T-slot to hold tools and chuck-keys etc.
Going further with the T-slot panel idea, it might also serve well as the "hook" that keeps a chip pan in place. If I make a big pan out of sheet metal, then of course it'll be free to float around without anything to keep it in one place. But I can make the pan with a lip on the back edge to hook onto the T-slot panel.
Maybe not a perfect plan, but it's what I got for now.

It's looking even better with a fresh coat of paint.

Fussed around today with fishing the wire through the walls for the new outlet. The location I want is *just* out of reach of the 240V receptacle that's already on the wall. Heck, that's a welding plug anyway so hardly appropriate for this little lathe. I'm putting in a dedicated 240V receptacle for this lathe to "do it right".

 

[Sparweb]

Hi
Quick update.
It needed a back-splash so I've added a shelf and rack to the back of it.
The panel has "t-slots" in it that I can hang shelf brackets and hooks for tools (as you can see).

Next thing to sort out is the electrical. It's turned out to be quite glitchy. There may be oil seeped into the limit switches so it doesn't stop right away with I lift the lever. And getting it into reverse has been fussy. All the switches are old and very oily, so I'm not very trustful of their integrity.
I want to replace them all.

 

[Sparweb]

There's an oil-pan right under the electrical panel. You re-oil it by pouring oil into the sides of the electrical panel. Huh.
Has anyone tried separating that from the electrical panel? It's obviously how all the oil got in the switches. They're filthy and gooey.