Tool Gloat (Metal Lathe-Mill)

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hewunch

hewunch

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Aug 5, 2008
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Albany, GA
Got the Metal Lathe/ Mill from my Grandpa's shop yesterday. The thing is a beast! weighing in at 440+ lbs! Took 3 of us to get it in the van and 3 to get it out. And my back is raising some cain! It is a Grizzly 4015. And I can't wait to play with it!
 

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Hope you enjoy it! I picked up one just like it last spring, except mine is labeled as a Shop Fox.
 
Looks really nice. The mill is not the greatest, more of a nuisance if you ask me, but the lathe will serve you many years! Metal lathes are quite heavy, no doubt. I couldn't scrounge up enough guys to lift mine, had to use a tractor, it's 1100 lbs and for a metal lathe, that's a light weight too. You should build a tray and splash guard for it. Even if you don't use if with coolant, you certainly can make an oily mess while drilling and just doing regular maintenance on it. I like to keep a good coat of oil on my machine at all times and oil the nipples every few days. If you seen any spots on the machine like a little circle with a ball in it, those are your oil points. The ball is spring loaded in the hole. You get an oil can with a steel round tip on it and the tip pushes the ball down as you squirt oil in the hole.
 
workinforwood said:
You should build a tray and splash guard for it. .

If you seen any spots on the machine like a little circle with a ball in it, those are your oil points. The ball is spring loaded in the hole. You get an oil can with a steel round tip on it and the tip pushes the ball down as you squirt oil in the hole.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff! Could you give me some ideas about a tray? Anything I need to think about when building it? The splash guard seems self explanatory.

Also, I had not noticed any of those points, but now I will look for them. That is a great tip! Much appreciated!

Other helpful hits, tips and concerns would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
Looks exactly like my ENCO. Same color and everything. I use a fork lift to move mine. I am screwed if old yeller (the fork lift) ever kicks the bucket. Just looked at the pic again. You are going to want to get more space between the wall and the gear/pulley door. I found that at least a body width is essential.
 
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you can clearly see the need for a pan when looking at my lathe! You can also see I have a light, that is very helpful. See my cross slide, it is 29 degrees. See the tool post on top of the cross slide, it is 90 degrees. So the tool is straight to the part but when you feed the tool forward with the cross slide it comes in straight but at an angle. Pic two is a little blurry, but that is the top of the tail stock. You see the little oil hole brass colored right there. There is many of these around the machine. All moving parts need oil. The screw gets oil on both ends. The cross slides have many oil points scattered around. The spindle sits in an oil bath, you have a window or if not you can pull the fill plug and check the level..well, maybe not you, I don't know, but mine does. On the bottom sides of the tailstock you can see a tiny black hole. There is one on either side, with an allen screw inside. This is how you adjust the tailstock for tapers. The drive side, you see I have a collet closer. That is from little machine shop, 5 c collet closer. This allows for some big collets. You have this option or you can use one where you draw in from behind, but this is much simpler and larger. On the top of the machine you see a plastic cup with an acid brush in it. That is for oiling and wiping debris off drill bits as I drill metal. I maintain the bed of my machine with motor kote spray, I spray the bed and the screw, I don't wipe it down, I just let it soak. I was using this earlier, so it's extra messy. Every second time I use it, I clear out the debris and oil everything back up. Oh..one last thing, you see the machine is in the corner like yours, but mine is on an angle to allow for access to the sides, like the motor house or removing the tail stock out of the way..although on mine the tailstock has plenty of room to just slide out of the way since the bed is 30" long..that's a real plus, the tailstock doesn't look like much in the photo, but I bet it's 60 lbs on it's own.
 

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Haynie said:
Looks exactly like my ENCO. Same color and everything. I use a fork lift to move mine. I am screwed if old yeller (the fork lift) ever kicks the bucket. Just looked at the pic again. You are going to want to get more space between the wall and the gear/pulley door. I found that at least a body width is essential.
Click to expand...

The great thing is that "wall" is my garage door. Which means I have all the space in the world with it open :biggrin: But great tip none the less.
 
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