Bummed

[dweir]

Last night I was turning a few slim lines for a friend on my Rikon lathe.
Fortunately, I was just about finished with my last one (sanding), when all of a sudden, lathe no spin. I thought the belt might have broken or slipped off the step pulley (I have forgotten to set the tension before, after changing speeds). Nope. Seems the little set screw on the motor pulley came out and went flying somewhere in my shop. I looked around in my spare parts, but could not find a set screw of the correct size.
I will say that the support from Rikon is top-notch. I sent them an email last night and this morning they said they are shipping a new set screw right out. I am going to make sure that I put some blue loc-tite on the screw this time.
Right now I just received a shipment of Big Leaf Maple Burl and have some Sierras just waiting to be turned. I hope the set-screw gets here by early next week.....

Just Venting,
Dave

 

[bjackman]

Dave,
Sounds like an opportunity to do some pre-drilling and gluing.
Sorry to hear about your troubles, but it's nice to know Rikon's service will be good if I ever need it on mine.

 

[dweir]

Yep, Fired up the bandsaw and made some blanks of purple heart and birds eye Maple for some more slims (they are quite popular at my work place) I have drilled and glued the burls and knocked off the corners. I will sit and sharpen my new Sorby spindle gouge and Skew chisel tomorrow. It will give me some time to clean my shop up this weekend.

 

[R2]

As Bill has basically said "It's an ill wind......

 

[ed4copies]

SOME local hardware stores stock set screws.

If Home Depot has NOT run your local ACE out of business, you can be turning tomorrow!

 

[rhahnfl]

That would bum you out for sure... I really need to do some house cleaning on my shop space.

 

[follow3]

Hey Dave,

What Ed said!!!

Ace is the place!
Grab a set screw, some lock tite and get to turnin.
If you can't figure out what size it is, buy one of everything close. They only cost a few cents each. Save the rest for the next mishap. Don't be surprised if the screw is a metric size.

Steve

 

[Randy_]

I seem to remember another post or two about loose hardware on Rikon lathes. It might not be a bad idea to go over the entire lathe and treat all of the critical screws to a dab of Loctite.

 

[dweir]

Thanks folks for all the tips!. I have given the lathe a once over, tightening up the remaining set screws and putting some loctite on them. Gave me a good chance to clean it up too. The parts list has the size listed, so I am going to the Ace (I totally forgot about their selection of odd ball nuts and bolts and other hardware). Nice thing is it is brand new and a short walk from my house.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[jwoodwright]

On the same note, I have a small Delta 1" belt and 5" disk sander. The set screw departed as I was using it. Next day went to True Value Hardware on lunch break. It was metric and I now have 3 spares.
Spent $0.25.

The owner also told me a neat trick, hairspray will hold it and you can remove it if you must. He's right, hasn't been a problem in several years. I now have a can with shop supplies.

 

[airrat]

Wish I had an Ace close to me, the one I can go to has bad help and is never very clean/organized.

Dave if you don't get a screw or it does not come in time and you start getting bummed, send me some of that Maple. I can help you make it disappear.[]

 

[dweir]

Okay, I am back in business! Local ACE had the set screw. Picked up a few extras. Can't get it very tight though, the screw is metric and I only have SAE allen wrenches. A 7/64 is close, and let me finish sanding up a slim. Gonna have to run out and get a set of Metric Allen's now.

Thanks again,
Dave.

Tom, PM me and I might be able to send you a couple of those Burl Blanks..

Dave