[fatal-exception]

Hi all. Well, I finally got my new Craftex BT089 lathe up and running in my shop. I just thought that I would share my thoughts on the lathe after only 3 days of using it. I've read both good and bad about the lathe.

Here's a link to it: http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?NTITEM=CT089

First off, it's a huge improvement over the mini lathe I've had for a few years. This is no supprise, seeing as it weighs about 10 times as much.

For a Chinese product, I was suprised how well it was finished. Mine came basically ready to run. There was only light grease that had to be cleaned off, and the oil in the gearbox is very clean. I will probably change it after a month or so of usage. It looks like some parts were painted after the machine was assembled, since there was paint on things like the dials and spindle, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned off.

I've read that some guys have dials that are a mix of imperial and metric. Not the case on this one, all the dials are labeled correctly in imperial. The backlash on the carriage is .002" and .001 on the compound, which is very good if you ask me.

I've used the 3 jaw, 4 jaw, and faceplate. They all fit properly on the spindle and are easy to swap. (It's a PITA to change the chuck on the mini lathe compared to this lathe.)

Once you understand the diagrams for the gear changing, it's a pretty quick task to change them for various threads. The gears fit well on their respective posts, and the adjustments are easy to get to. There is quite a bit of backlash in the drivetrain, but it all works smoothly.

The carriage and compound ways are scraped flat, which is nice to see. The gibs aren't polished, but they do have a nice finish.

The tailstock is heavy duty with an MT3 taper. The handwheel is large and very free wheeling. I should have built a cam lock for the tailstock on the mini lathe years ago.

The ways are in perfect shape, no dings or scratches. Oh, and they are "Hardened and Grinded". I love the Chinglish... Speaking of which, the user manual is utterly useless. This wasn't a surpise for me since I downloaded it and read through it before the machine arrived.

I guess the only major problem I see is the shifter to switch from fine longitudinal feed to fine cross feed. If you are fine feeding towards the chuck and you take it out of gear, if you push too far, the carriage will start to cross feed into the workpiece! (nuts)This has to be a design mistake. I'll just have to be ultra careful.

I don't know why there is no threading dial. I'm contacting Busy Bee right now to see if this was something that should have been on the machine. There's a sticker expaining the threading dial on the carriage, but no dial. Regardless, I've found a suitable way to thread without one, without having to stop or reverse the motor, although this also works. I can explain it if anyone cares...

All in all, I think that I got good value for my money. Like someone else mentioned, some new bolts and a file are required to touch up some things, but in general, it's pretty good chinese quality.


Hope this helps some of you that are looking at the same machine.

The pictures are of boring the QCTP body to fit the compound slide, and a new handle for the compound.

Take care,
Paul

[Alan]

Are you still happy with the CT089?

I'm thinking about buying one .. they're on sale now for $1888, which is $100 more than you paid but $600 off the regular price.

I currently have a 9" Southbend but I'm looking for something new, and something with a wee bit bigger capacity without being too much longer, as I'm limited for space.


Also, what sort of mount is the chuck?


Alan

[fatal-exception]

Yep, there have been a few issues, but nothing major.

It should have come with the threading dial, but they sell it separately. I have one on order, but they tell me they are backordered till the end of this month.

The carriage lock is nothing more than a bolt head that you turn to tighten a shoe that locks against the underside of the ways. This is obviously not well thought out, but it should be simple to either put a nice handle on it, or come up with a cam system.

I had a few problems with the centrifugal switch not working on the motor, meaning that the starting cap was not disconnected from the circuit when the motor was spinning. This happened a few times, but hasn't happened for several weeks now. Im thinking that it was just dirty.

The chucks are bolted on with 3 M10 bolts.

Add a QCTP with the money you save, and it's a good lathe.

Paul

[Alan]

Thanks for the reply.

I have a nice enough Southbend with a leadscrew gearbox and a bunch of accessories, a full set of collets probably being the most desirable.

And I have a VERY small space for a lathe, which the Southbend JUST fits into.

But it is old and is a bit worn (tailstock wobbles a wee bit, cross slide lead screw has a bit more lash than I'd like and so on)

Also, I have no steady rest or follow rest and these are REALLY expensive to come by. And mostly, it has a small spindle bore, and that's really the biggest problem.

The CT089 is about the biggest lathe that I could possibly fit, and even that's going to take some doing.

I'm a wee bit concerned about losing the gearbox and more concerned about the limited number of threads that can be cut. The good news is that metric threads CAN be cut, which is another expensive proposition on a SB.

I was THINKING that being a CNC kinda guy, I could convert the CT089 to make up for the lack of a gearbox and add the ability to let the machine do tedious things automatically, like boring a BIG hole in hard stock, .025" at a time.

I was just about ready to spend the bucks when I started reading about a nylon gear in the geartrain ...


Alan

[fatal-exception]

Nope, there's no nylon gear in the geartrain. I checked.

CNC'ing it would be pretty strait forward, and something that I plan on doing over the next few months. I'm just going to put an additional ball screw underneath the lead screw. Nothing else will need to be touched. There's ample room to put a servo or stepper at the back of the carriage, and it's already covered with a sheet metal gaurd. Mounting an encoder on the spindle might be the most difficult part, since there's no real good place to put it in the gear change box.

Paul

[Alan]

1. Yeah, when I saw one in the showroom, this was my thought as well; no room to mount a sensor. A guy might have to look to magnetic sensing options.

However, I plan to toss the spindle motor anyway and replace it with the lovely 1 HP DC motor I currently use to drive the Southbend. It would not be a stretch to then add an encoder to that motor and use it as a servo, powered by a Gecko.

I did exactly this to my Sherline and it works great. Sometimes I run it off a standard DC motor controller, sometimes off the CNC controller.


2. I was visiting my good friend Dan Mauch on Friday and he showed me a lathe that he's converted. What was VERY interesting to me, that I didn't even notice at first, was that his ball nut is PERMANENTLY attached to the carriage!

His choice of ball nut and ball screw means that he does not have to disconnect/reconnect anything; cranking the carriage along spins the nut on the screw!


Alan

[toolpost1]

Hi Paul, I just came across one of your posts and just had to talk to someone with experience with this lathe. I just bought the CT089 this past July and I sure need someone who could pass on helping pointers as you're aware there is no manual to speak of " at all ". I am 68 yrs. old and have been retired from GE Canada as a Millwright for the past 13 yrs. I am just interested in doing maintenance on my farm machinery , mostly my old backhoe bushings and pins. I hope you still have you lathe as the post I am looking at is from 2006. My email is [email protected] just in case I have screwed up some how. Hope to hear from you.

Thanks William

[fatal-exception]

Hi William. Yes, I still have the machine and still use it all the time. I have had no major problems with it. Wow, it's been 9 years? It's made quite a pile of chips over that time! Mechanically everything is great. I have had to replace the start cap on the motor once, and had some small issues with the motor control switch, but this is pretty minor for the amount of use it has seen. I recently added a variable speed DC motor drive to the lead screw so I can infinitely adjust the feed rate without having to change gears. I've also decided that the machine should be lifted up, so I plan on building new tubing stands to bring the machine up about 6". My back isn't as tolerant as it was 9 years ago. We have always wondered why the stands were so low, maybe it has something to do with the country of origin, no fault of theirs really.

Anyways, I've been happy with the machine over the years and have learned to work around and deal with it's quarks, but nothing that is a deal breaker. I think it was money well spent.

Paul

[Norkon]

Hi, I have a similar question with the craftex lathe. will the generic crafted threading dial fit this machine? And, what size of quick change tool post did you go with. I am thinking a BXA (upto 5/8 shanks) will fit the best. What did you use?