Jet 1642 Gloat (I'm not sorry)

[arcwick08]

Well, I picked up my shiny new Jet 1642 (1.5HP) from Klingspor's Shop outside of Asheville last night! The crew was outstanding and Coleman was a champ making the deal work out.
The team loaded it on the back of my truck and off we go!
I assembled it all byyy my selffff. I had to unpack it in the bed of my truck and take it down piece my piece. I may never fully clean the cosmoline off my jeans.
Assembly and cleaning took just about two hours and included a small re-arrangement of my turning space. I'll turn my first piece on it tonight, very excited.

One down side; in the faster belt position, anything about 2600rpm results in a squeak/squeal... it's either from the work side headstock bearing or the belt. No squeal when the motor is run without the belt connected, so it isn't the motor or vfd. Here's a video of the sound, I welcome any input here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGg_MaXUBtk

Onto the pictures....

Getting it in the bed at Klingspore...


My old Grizzly, now headed toward retirement. I'm actually kinda sad :-/



Parts unloaded from the main box. The legs came packed in those two boxes with foam. The head, tail and banjo were on the lathe bed.



Set up! Only a few pulled muscles, nothing dropped or broken. I'm taller and like my lathe up, so I've got it up on some 4" concrete blocks.



Thanks for reading my shameless gloating And thanks to all who gave advice and input on the lathe subject...

Cheers!

 

[allisnut]

Congratulations!

What's the plan on the Grizzly? Too soon to call dibs?!? :gar-Bi I might as well be shameless too!

 

[SubGuy]

From the video, it sounds like belt squeal. I no nothing about spinny machines, but I am very familiar with that sound as I get it on occasion with my stroke sander. I would say to clean the belt and pulleys to remove any possible lubricant causing slippage. I would also inspect the pulleys and belt well to make sure no defects or issues. Also check belt tension.

 

[SubGuy]

You make need to rough up the belt a bit as some belts I have used in the past have came from the factory with some sort of mold release or such that caused light slippage. It fixed it by taking some 120 grit and running my hand over the belt once or twice. I will look to see if I can find some reference to it for you. Also check the set screw or key on the pulleys to make sure properly in place and tightened. If all that checks out, call Jet.

 

[Chilihead]

Sooooo....is the Grizzly lathe just worn out or are you just upgrading? Just curious if you're looking to sell it

 

[arcwick08]

Thanks for the analysis Zach... I'll check and clean the belts tonight. Maybe the pulleys are out of planarity as well... good call!

The grizzly is a bit worn but still works just fine. It's an older 14-42 1/2HP with a reeves drive. It's forward only, but I pulled the starting capacitor to make it go in both directions with a manual spin. Also added a "remote" switch. It could probably use new bearings at some point. The biggest issue with it is that the headstock spindle is threaded 1"x12TPI (I'm pretty sure). Very unusual. I've got an adapter (in the pic) to take it to 1x8, but it's not ideal.

I've got a friend locally who'd expressed interest in it, so I've got to give him first dibs, but if he backs out, I'll post back here

 

[LeftyTom]

With all the excitement, I bet your head is just spinnin' :rotflm:

 

[red]

Congrats on the new lathe.

Red

 

[ScottM]

Congrats...Jet makes a great machine.

 

[chris_goris]

Do you normally turn at 2600 RPM??

 

[CrealBilly]

Is it to late to take it back?

 

[arcwick08]

Do you normally turn at 2600 RPM??

Yep, sure do. Not all the time, but that's not the point. It shouldn't be a problem on a high-end machine.

That being said, I cleaned off the pulleys and belt, noise remained. I changed to the lower belt speed and aggressively roughed out a small bowl. Interesting, after about 30 minutes, I changed the pulleys back up to high speed and the noise is 95% gone when turned up to speed. I wonder if there was a stuck ball in the bearing that broke free with some lateral forces on it. No matter, it seems pretty much resolved, I'm happy.

The important thing: the lathe kicks butt! WOW, what a difference between it and my older machine. Very steady, almost no vibration and Power. I didn't exactly stress it with a 7" bowl, but I took the heaviest cuts I could in a very dry blank and never noticed any rpm drop. The 1.5 vs 2hp debate is still ringing in my ears and it's something I've been very aware of so I'll get some more time on it over the week and report back with power opinions.

 

[SubGuy]

I am glad your problem is disappearing. It is possible that it's a stuck bearing, but it could still be a number of things: Belt/pulley wearing in, greasing working in areas that had a dry spot, minute machining anomalies, flux capacitor palpitations. Either way since the noise is getting better, it's, for a lack of better terms, "breaking in". I am glad you are happy with it and I am glad to have read your experience with it so far. I will one day go over to the dark side and now look differently at the Jet Machine.

 

[arcwick08]

Broken disgronifier.

If it comes back or gets worse, I can replace the bearings easily enough. We've got a bearing and drive shop here with access to some of the ultra high quality sealed japanese bearing if it comes to that. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Roy G]

Adam, i see you have mounted your lathe on top of concrete blocks. I would be concerned with an out of balance blank causing your lathe to rock. Concrete is strong in compression, not so strong in tension and the feet on your lathe could punch through, putting you in a bad spot. At the least I would switch out the hollow blocks for solid.

Roy G

 

[arcwick08]

Nice catch, Roy. I tried to place it over the 'bridges' in the block hollows to minimize that issue, but I'll replace them with solid blocks or maybe large wooden spacers eventually.

 

[aplpickr]

I confer with Roy G's concern about the concrete blocks. They are designed to support weight rotated 90°. Please replace them with good old WOOD! We do not ever want to see your post about "How I got out from under my lathe. I only broke my arm!" Be careful. Sections of a 4" x 4" with a 2" x 6" connecting bar in a "H" pattern will last for years. My PM3520B is on stacked 6" x 6" sections . I am taller than you.

 

[arcwick08]

Hey team - my local buyer on the Grizzly bailed.
Best offer is welcome to it. I can deliver within a reasonable distance of Asheville, for gas money and/or good beer or blanks.

 

[arcwick08]

I'd post this to the Classifieds section... but I can't figure it out (said the computer engineer)

 

[SubGuy]

:rotflm:

I'd post this to the Classifieds section... but I can't figure it out (said the computer engineer)

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/classifieds_usercp.php?do=addedititem&adtype=1