[adamvs]

Hi all,
I just received my lathe (#46, I believe ) about a week ago and have it set up in my workshop..and I'm stoked! First I have to say it's really solid piece of engineering. I had to fit it into a corner and was able to get it off the pallet and roll it into place it, by making my own 'outriggers' with 8-320 lb harbor freight castors on them. The outriggers were made of clear tight grained doug fir held together by timber locks, Tormach tech support was very helpful in giving me the bolt pattern on the lathe stand.

Attachment 247086

I was able to re-use the tool arm off the mill to make a monitor/mouse/keyboard stand. That worked out really well.

Couple of issues:

1) I'm not seeing a way of getting my 40yr old Starrett precision level on this to level it. If there is a way, please let me know - or - maybe Tormach could make a fixture to hook the upper V-way to create a flat surface.

2) One of the oil lines under the carriage was crimped, but a call to Tormach had replacement line and new ferules on the way the next day:

Attachment 247088

3) There is no basket! I made something out of wire mesh, but it would be nice to have something so parts and chips don't fall into the coolant tray.

4) the casters on the coolant tray were very sticky. I even put 40 lbs of barbells in the tray to simulate coolant weight, but still they were still sticking! I got some 2" tall casters at Harbor Freight ( about $2 each), and with a little dremeling, they fit right in and are very smooth.

Question about threading:

I'd like to make threads that do not have a relief groove at the end of the thread. Does the conversational code actually pull the tool out to make a nice clean exit on the thread?

Thanks!

[compunerdy]

I have not precision leveled mine but I am more than happy with the results I have been getting.

There should be a tray with a bunch of holes in it that goes on your coolant tank to catch chips.

I hate when a company uses cheap casters, etc.. it does cheapen the whole experience.

[adamvs]

I have not precision leveled mine but I am more than happy with the results I have been getting.

It looks like a pretty stout piece of iron. It would be nice to see if there is any torsional difference across the bed. It really does;t matter if it's leaning forward a tiny bit ( it's a slant bed lathe ); if it's leaning slightly left to right, probably ok also.

There should be a tray with a bunch of holes in it that goes on your coolant tank to catch chips.

Yes it's there, but would be nice to have a basket higher up, like to the basket on the mill, so parts don;t fall all the down into that tray will the holes.