Modifying a Grizzly 9 X 19 (G4000)

Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs

<< < (2/8) > >>

Darren:
Bernd,

If it helps I can tell you that with no doubts what-so-ever the work Bogs did to my lathe turned it from a pile of junk to one very nice and precise little lathe.
(it really was junk as nothing precise could be produced with it. I've said this before but I'll say it again. Mine was so bad I bought another lathe and used the mini as a bench polisher.....)

I'd say go for it if you have the confidence, as any and all improvements can only help..... :dremel:

On another note, I don't know if you remember me making a new crosslide screw and nut for my Smart & Brown lathe? I never mentioned the results did I?

The crosslide was kinda rough feeling, the screw was well worn and the finish was nothing to shout about but ok ish.
Now since the mod the crosslide is as smooth as silk and the finish is superb. Far exceeded my expectations on all counts.

Bernd:
Darren,

As you know I also have a 10" Logan lathe. This is were the main turning is done.

When I purchased this lathe they were not making very good lathes back then. I'm sure their (Grizzly) quality has improved because they are still around and have increased the types of machines they sell.

As far as this lathe is concerned it is a piece of poor quality. I could never single point a thread on this lathe and I knew how to do that. When I took the lead screw off I measured the lead screw threads. 16 threads per inch. Just like the Grizzly mini-mill or X-2. No wonder I couldn't thread properly. When finished with this project I won't be able to thread on it. Realy no need since I have the Logan. I'm going to change the lead screw to just a plain drive shaft with a keyway in it to drive the carriage via a DC drive. I'm also going to eliminate all the gearing and the motor. I'm going to use a tread mill motor and multi step pulleys. I'm also going to modify it so I can mount the head from my Sherline lathe on the cross slide. Plus I'm going to add some kind of spindle indexing so I can cross drill holes using the Sherline headstock.

This lathe is not going to look like it did before I had taken it apart.

Bogs,

I did a quick rocking check on the base. It rocks quite a bit. I'm going to mill the bottom of the base. Reason being is that I have something large to bolt this whole machine down to. Don't want to reveal that portion just yet. Let's just say it's cast iron and probably weighs 2 to 3 times as much as the machine.

You'd be proud of me since it is sort of your way of salvaging things and reusing them.

Bernd

Bernd:
Time to bring this project back to some were near the top.

After I had set the lathe bed on the mill table to check the ways I noticed that it rocked. Not a good sign. That meant that the mounting surface of the bed wasn't flat. So I flipped the bed over and set it up on two 1-2-3 blocks and a couple of round ground 1" blocks. Now that the bed was sitting on the flat part of the ways there was no rocking. A good sign meaning that the ways were flat. All I needed to do now is take a smal bit of stock off the top to make the bottom flat.

Here's how I did it. I mounted the base upside down on the flat ways and very lightly strapped it down to avoid any twisting. Then a fly cutter was used to just clean up the bottom.

When that was finished I flipped the bed on it's mounting surface and I had no rocking. Very good.

Now I want to mount this on a solid surface so it won't twist. I had scrapped out a mill but had kept several parts from it. One being the table. This is were that table came from. It's down at the bottom of the pic.

There was a bit of surface rust on the table, but a quick sanding job with an orbital sander and it's good enough. I'll have to run a file over it as it does have a few large hickeys on it.

I was orignally going to mount the bed close to the front edge of the table but there would have been very little support under the feet of the bed toward the front, so it's going to get mounted in the middle as the picture shows.

And that's were the project sits for now.

Next will be the milling of the underside of the ways for the gibs.

Bernd

bogstandard:
Very nice indeed Bernd, that lathe is going nowhere.

Seeing as you are making a very basic turning machine out of it, have you thought of using it for doing some small metal spinning and hand graving? All you would need to do is weld up a couple of rests that bolt onto the bed top.

Bogs

Bernd:
I'm going to add an indexing mechanism to it. I'm also going to add a table that will allow me to bolt my Sherline mill column to the cross slide for cross drilling holes. Also going to make a grinder for it to use as a cylindrical grinder. These are only some off the mods that I've come across so far. Now it looks like I'll be adding metal spinning and hand graving to the list.

I'm still interested in making a aeophile steam engine and metal spinning would be easy to do. Also have never given hand graving a try. That'll be a new experince to add to the kit.

I know that using a grinder on a lathe is a big no-no but I have an idea that might keep a majority of the grit off the lathe.

Now that the major summer holidays and just about summer (lawn mowing) is over with, my projects can be worked on again with some semblance of order.

Bernd

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version