vibration

[coffenup]

Have played detective to locate a vibration in my gmc lathe. Have found the face plate is out of balance. any suggestions to rectify this problem
When the centre is on no vibration.
Regards Michael

[thefixer]

G'day Coffenup

Do yourself a favour and ditch the GMC. It will never run true and the tailstock will never line up with centre. The more you tighten the tailstock the more the bed bends and puts it all out of whack. Trust me, i've been there and done that. You will never get any turning pleasure or satisfaction with this excuse for a lathe. I don't mean to rain on your parade but for $500 you can get a MC900 with scroll chuck and face plate and still get change. Many others on this forum will agree I'm sure.

Cheers
Shorty

[hughie]

Do yourself a favour and ditch the GMC. It will never run true and the tailstock will never line up with centre. The more you tighten the tailstock the more the bed bends and puts it all out of whack. Trust me, i've been there and done that. You will never get any turning pleasure or satisfaction with this excuse for a lathe. I don't mean to rain on your parade but for $500 you can get a MC900 with scroll chuck and face plate and still get change. Many others on this forum will agree I'm sure.




Yep!, If you cant bear to throw away the GMC at least biff the face plate

[scooter]

Coffen, if the faceplate is actually out of balance, in theory I guess you could either grind a bit off the heavy side, or weld a little on the light side to statically balance it; but from everything I hear about the GMC, you may be pushing uphill, it sounds like you may be approaching the limits of it.

It may be that the faceplate is a bit too heavy for the construction of the lathe & it's feeling the pinch.

[coffenup]

thanks for your replies
I will update when money comes available but I am enjoying the learning curve of a new facet of my wood working. I know its a base machine. But as I got 12 good chisels when I bought it s/hand of e bay. I know about the base moving but have rectified that and have lined up tail stock. Thats 2 out of the way. Besides when I up grade I'll give it to my brother with the original tools that are not of good quality. So he can use it or hock it I don't care. The face plate is OE equipment but a measure up of the centre is that one side has 3 mm extra casting on it. Only found this after a session of general mantainace & tool rest tuning .
Regards Michael

[BernieP]

G'Day Michael

I agree with the others about GMC, but also understand funds are not always available when needed, so if it were me I would try some Mag wheel weights as they have sticky on the back of them, just a thought:;

Cheers
Bernie

[rsser]

To balance it up try what manual car wheel balancing involves:

See if you can scavenge a bearing that will fit the hole and a rod that will fit the bearing; suspend the faceplace; repeatedly spin and mark the heavy spot. Get some stick-on lead weights from a tyre place and by trial and error counterweight. You may not need much; try half a weight to start with.

Other thing to check is run-out which obviously you can do on the lathe.

[weisyboy]

the biggest problem aint the bed bending its the headstock flexing.

i have an old faceplate here ill send u if u want.:2tsup:

i will pm you.

[funkychicken]

Lose the gmc!

Been there, mucked around with them, soooooo glad I now own a jet

[Stuart]

Been there too, made plenty of pens, spheres etc.

Stalled the lathe many many times, but accepted it's limitations as a means to an end. I have upgraded, but

a. would never have if I hadn't started with a GMC to dip the toe in the water
b. found that it can be functional so long as you work with the limitations rather than against them. Bolting the lathe to a heavy bench probably helped a lot too. It is a sub $100 lathe after all!

Know I've shown it before, but this was made on a GMC.

http://stusshed.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/pict6011.jpg

Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but you can do a lot of learning on one, and then appreciate the good lathe once you can justify it and afford it.

As far as the non-balanced faceplate - I'd be tempted to stick it on a piece of dowel and spin it, mark where it stops (the bottom), and repeat enough times to find the heavy spot. Then gently take an angle grinder to the back of it, remove just a little metal then repeat. I wouldn't waste too much time on it though.

[BobL]

Are you sure the faceplate is just not out of round. Have you measured the run out? It may be just a matter of taking it to a metal working shop and getting them to true it up. If you were in WA I'd do it for you ;-)

[oldiephred]

two things: Thing one: Nice pen Stuart. Thing two: If the vibration is caused by the face of the plate not running true ( ie.wobbling) rather than a straight imbalance then trying to balance it probably won't work.

Good luck

[weisyboy]

replace ment sent today:D

[coffenup]

thanks carl:D

[coffenup]

hi Guys
Used the s/h face plate i got over the w/end supprise about 70 % of the vibration has gone
Yah :clap3::woot:

[Calm]

To balance a face plate if you have a boss on it you can try using a radiator hose clamp and move it around until you get the best balance. This can also be used for tail shafts on cars (been there done that)

[weisyboy]

glad it works for u.

i have some other bits and peices here to if anyone needs them.

actualy its more like the whole lathe. i have gotten rid of the faceplate, motor, pulleys. the rest is here for anyone that wants it.

i am a bit anoyed i sold the motor since calm came up and said i coulda made a drum sander outa it.:((

[Calm]

i am a bit anoyed i sold the motor since calm came up and said i coulda made a drum sander outa it.:((

When i was there i asked the question.

Could you make a drum sander from an old Lathe???? even a wooden roller on it??

Started new thread here (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=69712).

Sorry to high jack the thread.

[weisyboy]

ill probly be able to fit the bandsaws motor onto it.

not the new one the gmc one.

[woodwork wally]

Keep playing I started out on one of those and went to mc1100 when funds became availble and felt like a king and then aftr awhile it feels like another upgrade required but then an old metalspinner came in and we gave it a tune up and bingo bloody beauty feels like a new lathe BUT were it not for the gmc I probably would not have taken up turning So guys please dont be to harsh on those little machines as they put turning in the reach of a lot of people. They are possible to tune and get a reasonable result But dont screw hell outa the tailstock once you have set them up .Regards www

[coffenup]

Thanks to all the folks that replied. I have had a brand new face plate turn up from GMC. After a play with the tune of the lathe I think I have got rid of most of the vibration. I am saving up as we speak for a new lathe but thats at least 6 months off I hope for sooner but it will happen. I have got photos of the lathe turned off and on with a 50 cent piece on its edge with just the new face plate on and with a piece of 160mm X 250mm pine I glued up. Now to practice to get better b4 the new lathe gets closer so I can do it justice
Regards Michael