Thread: few AL 960b mods.

Hi lather,
Looks like you have set the lathe up well with the shelves, chuck key holder etc.
I don't think your lathe is going to be without oil now, and lucky you picked up on the slot.
I need a guard under my end cover to stop the belts and oil mixing (something else I need to get around too)
As for the tailstock wipers I think they should come factory fitted in my opinion as I find they are needed. I see you also mounted a stopper so the tailstock doesn't hit your new scale.

I am not sure what feet you have on yours, but with mine raised 100mm plus the feet I was able to fit a 2 draw filing cabinet under one side to store chucks, face plates, etc in. I am going to post a picture a bit latter with some other gear.

Dave

I forgot to add, the lathe way covers in the link below do a great job of keeping the swarf off the ways and make clean ups quick and easy. Think about something like this for yours as they really do work well.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/la...covers-121539/


Dave

thought about placing shelves in the space between the cabinets.
decided to make a deep removable swarf tray instead some time in the future, with room for a shelf below.
the change gear covers were mainly to stop the crap from the belts getting into the oil.
found damage on the gears possibly due to metal falling into it from the spindle, until using a PVC drain to extend it.
used to use grease in the gears, until realizing it's trouble to clean if it gets contaminated.
have now been using the lucas oil stabilizers, which sticks to the gear, as mentioned in another topic, came close to testing it in the spindle gearbox, but realized the front gear would probably stop it traveling along the shaft into the taper bearing.
the lathe has a loud uneven rattle in the low speeds and sounds like the bearings are clattring, has been like this since new, sounds more like a train on tracks instead of a smooth constant sound of gears.

checked the play of the tapered bearings.
stupidly placed the magnetic base on the cross slide which read 0.017 mm movement, until realizing the mistake that the headstock was flexing.
placed the base on the headstock, and when pushing from either direction on the spindle had 0.001mm movement.
is this too tight, unsure about the tapered bearing play specs.

dave, made plastic covers when i first got the lathe, stopped using them as the swarf built up quick as they weren't deep.
got sick of constantly stopping to clear the swarf before it wrapped around the work.
may make some again out of sheet metal as deep as possible as there is a fair bit of pitting on the inside of the angled way near the chuck end, for the little work it's done.

Hi,
Before doing any measuring test run the spindle for 15-20 minutes to warm everything up. The Grizzly lathe manuals have how to check spindle bearings (and will save me typing it all ) so have a look at one of those for the right procedure.
The bearing should not get that hot you cant put your hand on them. As for oil theses gear boxes run off splash lube, the lube get sprayed onto the lid then it runs down the channels into the bearings. This is why you never run them with the lid off.

Dave

Dave, the bearings don't get hot,
had noticed a very light tight spots when turning the spindle lightly by hand when in neutral.
the attached .WAV files would probably explain it better.
change gears are not running.

hopefully other AL960B owners can post a reply if their lathe sounds similar on the lower speed gears, 60-170 rpm.
at 300 rpm it starts to smooth out.

mp3 1 is with the mic very close to the spindle, the higher pitch scratchy noise sounds like bearings.

Hi lather,
I dont have a 960 but could it just be backlash in the gears as there is no load?
You could try taking a light cut and see if the settles down.

Stuart

thanks Stuart,
still sounds the same under load.
will try to listen to another at H&F, wouldn't want to go through the trouble of replacing bearings if it's normal.

Lather,

My opinion is there is nothing wrong with the bearing(s)
If the bearing(s) were to make a noise like that, you would notice the play in the spindle.

Just sounds like the gears meshing, normally straight cut gears are used in lathe gear heads these are noisy by their very nature.

When the change gears are used it normally gets even more noisier.

I don't have a AL 960b , Mine is a 12x36 very similar to yours, geared head, I wish mine was as quiet as yours.

Dave'H

hi

The gears in my DM 45 Mill Drill are damn noisy . I put it down to them being spur gears .

A trick people did to quieten the transfer box in older 4X4's was to lap the gears in with fine grinding paste , you set it up on a bench and turned it over slowly . The screaming transfer box at speed can be a deafening experience Mike

Glad to hear that's it's normal.