Question For You 1340gt Owners

[jbolt]

Jay - I have a 8" Gator 4 jaw on my 12 x 36 lathe. Very good fit and finish. I machined my back plate from a D1-4 blank that came with my lathe. After mounting runout was less than .001". I'm looking to buy a 6" 3 jaw Gator to replace my made in India chuck sometime soon.

Tom S.

Thanks Tom, that might be an option for a new 4-jaw. The one I have will be sold with the lathe.

Where did you buy it from?

 

[mksj]

Not quite clear on what you are looking for on chucks, size and if you are looking for a scroll or independent on the 4J. If you have chucks already, then you are not gaining anything with the preferred package. You might see what you can do on a package deal if you want something different. Gator or Fueruda have been around for awhile, they are previous employees of Bison who formed their own company. I have read prior mixed reviews about their chucks from others in years past, but their most recent offerings seem to be very nicely machined. I did speak to the folks at Ajax Industries, they feel they are comparable to Bison and are around 30% less. I purchase my Gator backing plates from Tools4Less, but they are closing their doors.

The 4J 8" independent from QMT is a direct D1-4 mount, and probably the best bang for your buck for this type of chuck. Very nicely machined and well balanced at speed, a big issue with the cheaper generic Chinese chucks. If you are looking for a Set-Tru scroll type chuck, then you are looking at a significant chunk of change, and there are other options I would consider. My primary 8" chuck is the Bison 4J combo which gives both scroll and independent, the scroll repeats to around 0.002-0.003, and takes about 30 seconds to tweak the jaws to get it down an order of magnitude. The combo holds stock down to about 3/16", but I use a 5C for round stock usually under 1". In the Set-Tru variety scroll 3J or 4J, probably recommend the PBA like Bill's, Bison or try out a Gator. You previously mentioned a PM1440GT, not sure if this was a typo, or a different lathe version. Matt had mentioned he was looking at possibly bringing in a larger version of the PM1340GT, would be interesting to know. Also, a number of us have converted our machines to VFD with very good results, so something to consider when ordering the machine/motor phase.

 

[jbolt]

Not a typo. The PM1440GT is just coming out. D1-5 spindle w/2" bore, 12 speed, 52-2200 rpm, 3hp, foot brake, coolant system, pull-out chip tray. Made in Taiwan at the same factory as the 1340GT.

My current lathe has a D1-4 so I will only be keeping the 6" 3-jaw set-tru and the 5C chucks and getting new back-plates for those. I will probably skip the preferred package and just get another 4-jaw for now.

On your combo 4-jaw, once dialed in how well does it repeat for the same size part? How much adjustment does each jaw have independently?

 

[TomS]

Thanks Tom, that might be an option for a new 4-jaw. The one I have will be sold with the lathe.

Where did you buy it from?

IIRC I got it from Tools 4 Cheap but that was a few years ago. May be wrong but I think they are out of business now.

Tom S.

 

[mksj]

On your combo 4-jaw, once dialed in how well does it repeat for the same size part? How much adjustment does each jaw have independently?

Repeat for the same part with the combo is around 0.002-0.003, about the same as a standard scroll, but not a Set-Tru type without tweaking the independent jaws. The independent jaws ride on the scroll mechanism, adjustment range is about the same as an independent so about 3" per jaw. Axial trueness is surprisingly accurate the best of all my chucks, under 0.001 at 6". The Gator backing plates fit the Bison chucks (minor cutting of the registration step is required), and cost about 1/2 the price. If you need more details PM me. Firestopper also has one on his lathe, so also can provide some info.

Neat that Matt is going ahead with the 1440GT, look forward to hearing more info on it. Sounds like a beast of a machine. The ERL 1340 and 1440 are also worth looking at, I might have sprung for the ERL-1340 had I known QMT carried these at the time, but the 1340GT does everything I ask of it. I do feel that the Taiwan machines are much better built, and worth the premium pricing if you can swing it.

Tools4cheap url is gone, so I think they have closed shop, Jeff was very knowledgeable and they carried a wide range of chucks. Ajax Industries would probably be a good alternate. Grizzly also carries some of these chucks, but Ajax would be the first to call since I feel they could provide more information and usually match pricing.

 

[jbolt]

Well I just put a deposit on the lathe. Kind of weird doing that sight unseen. Matt does not have pictures yet but based on the thread chart he sent me I believe it might be similar to the Eisen 1440E but with larger spindle. It has most of the features I was looking for. I would have preferred to get into a larger machine with a wider bed and one-piece base but with two kids in college and being in the middle of a remodel I had to set a limit for my budget. I considered the 1440HD but I wanted the larger spindle bore and if this ends up being the last lathe I ever have I wanted something of better quality. Hopefully that turns out to be the case.

Lathes should be here in 5 - 7 weeks. Now the pressure is on to get my old lathe cleaned up and sold and my garage rearranged for the larger machine.

 

[wrmiller]

We of course expect a write-up with lots of pics.

 

[jbolt]

How's this for a start?

 

[wrmiller]