New PM1236 getting setup

[Bob S]

Having some fun with the lathe, definitely needs to be aligned soon but for some of the shorter work I need to do now its fine. The small lathe cutters I have are a limiting factor so just finished ordering some larger carbide cutters.

I do have a question about the quick change post that came with the preferred package. There is about 1 inch of screw thread exposed above the bolt that locks the base to the cross slide. Is this normal? I haven't used one of these items before but the photos I have seen don't seem to have this much exposed on others.

Bob

 

[GaryK]

Having some fun with the lathe, definitely needs to be aligned soon but for some of the shorter work I need to do now its fine. The small lathe cutters I have are a limiting factor so just finished ordering some larger carbide cutters.

I do have a question about the quick change post that came with the preferred package. There is about 1 inch of screw thread exposed above the bolt that locks the base to the cross slide. Is this normal? I haven't used one of these items before but the photos I have seen don't seem to have this much exposed on others.

Bob

I cut off what stuck up on mine.

Gary

 

[Bob S]

Thanks for the info. I thought there might be some part that screwed on there but I didn't find anything left over once I got everything attached!

i have a question for anyone with the DRO option. How do you make it reduce the count when moving the Y axis towards the headstock. There is a DirectN option in the parameters that seems to be the right option but I didn't see any change when I selected it.

Bob

 

[Old Iron]

Bob

I used to live in Michigan back in the day and the Twin Cities were my stomping grounds. When I was there they had the amusement on the lake in ST.Joe used to go to the Dick Clark show and dances there.

Paul

 

[Bob S]

Doing some drilling tonight and found that the tail stock is off set slightly to one side. I can't seem to figure out how to adjust the tailstock to return it to the center position. There isn't any info in the manual and the parts diagram isn't very helpful either. There is a setscrew along the front side of the tailstock but it doesn't seem to do anything when loosened. I tried a few whacks with a rubber mallet just in case things were stuck together but that didn't work either. Since it was late and I didn't want to cause any irreversible damage, the next stop was here to get some advice from people with more experience with this lathe.

Bob

 

[Ray C]

That's easy... We'll get you all set up...

There are two screws on either side. Each presses against a fixed tang that's protruding downward from the top half of the tailstock. You loosen one side a little and turn the other and capture the tang between the two screws. As you tighten one, it pushes against the tang and therefore moves the top half in the direction you want it to go.

Easy!

You'll come to hate the recessed allen screws and maybe you'll beat me to the punch and make a screw that has a thumb knob on it -maybe one that's calibrated to the thread pitch so you know how far you're pushing the top half... Hmmm, here's a novel idea!

Ray

EDIT: BTW, you don't need to unlock the barrel lock on the ram but, you will need to release the bed lock. After you've made an adjustment and if you're spinning a supported piece, possibly between centers, always remember to lock the bed lock and re-establish a firm set on the center point. Failure to do so cold send a part hurdling in some random direction.

Doing some drilling tonight and found that the tail stock is off set slightly to one side. I can't seem to figure out how to adjust the tailstock to return it to the center position. There isn't any info in the manual and the parts diagram isn't very helpful either. There is a setscrew along the front side of the tailstock but it doesn't seem to do anything when loosened. I tried a few whacks with a rubber mallet just in case things were stuck together but that didn't work either. Since it was late and I didn't want to cause any irreversible damage, the next stop was here to get some advice from people with more experience with this lathe.

Bob

 

[tripletap3]

At first my tailstock adjustment seemed frozen but the screw holes and the cracks were just filled with that "bondo" they use to make it look pretty. It was a simple job to disassemble the tailstock clean out all the casting sand and scrape away the excess "bondo". Everything now moves smooth as silk. I have seen pictures of the factory workers sanding that "bondo" down and I have to think that job has got to suck.

 

[Ray C]

Hey Triple... I don't know what that stuff is but it has unique properties. It comes off when you don't want it to and doesn't when you do.



Ray

At first my tailstock adjustment seemed frozen but the screw holes and the cracks were just filled with that "bondo" they use to make it look pretty. It was a simple job to disassemble the tailstock clean out all the casting sand and scrape away the excess "bondo". Everything now moves smooth as silk. I have seen pictures of the factory workers sanding that "bondo" down and I have to think that job has got to suck.

 

[Bob S]

Thanks for the info. What I thought was just a thru hole turned out to be the other set screw once I got all the bondo out of the hole and discovered that it was threaded.

It was a good day making some small spacers for my project with the new carbide turning tool set I got from Grizzly. However I was using the cutoff tool and the supporting metal under the carbide insert broke! The insert isn't damaged in anyway so I think I got a defective holder. I wasn't being aggressive and was getting a nice curl of aluminum off the insert with no chatter when it broke.

Time to get back to work on the spacers, only 8 left to go out of 48. Tomorrow I'll be anodizing everything I made over the last couple of weeks.

 

[GaryK]

However I was using the cutoff tool and the supporting metal under the carbide insert broke! The insert isn't damaged in anyway so I think I got a defective holder. I wasn't being aggressive and was getting a nice curl of aluminum off the insert with no chatter when it broke.

You have to be careful parting aluminum. Use lots of oil. Material can build up on the cutting tool very quickly and break your tool in an instant. The exact same thing happened to me.

Gary