what should a new lathe sound like???

[new_guy90]

ok hoping for a quick one here, today the sparky came and wired up my new 12X36" geared head lathe made by steel master and everything works, i had it on the lowest speed listening for any unusual sounds and well its fairly noisy is this normal?

i could place a few of the sounds to the stand and after tightening it up some more it stopped no problem but there is a sort of ticking sound from in the headstock, should i be worried about this or is it just that its in low gear?

what is normal for this size Asian lathe?

thanks i just thought i should ask to be safe

[munruben]

Thats a hard one to answer, what may sound noisy to one person may not be noisy in another persons mind. Might be an idea to go back to the people you bought it from and tell them of your concern. They may have a demo model that you can hear running and compare it with yours. Someone may have an idea on the forum what the ticking noise might be.

[pipeclay]

Is the noise coming from the lathe or the motor.
Did you take it out of low gear and try.
Are the feeds engaged or in neutral.
Have you tried to identify what spefic area the noise is in.
Have you got a not sure how you spell it stephioscope or long screw driver to listen to your bearings.
Have you removed the Gearbox lid if its a Geared Speed change to ensure there is nothing rubbing or out of place,same deal applies if its belt drive.
Have you checked for Boaties.

[new_guy90]

thanks for the quick replies guys it really helps

Munruben i have used large industrial machines and i know an Asian machine would never be as smooth but i do think the noise is excessive so thats why i thought it best to ask. the machinery dealer i got it off didnt have display models they had the machines in the crates to have a look at and the catalogs thats about it but ill give them a call and see if they can help

Pipeclay i ran the lathe with feed on, threading on, neutral, low gear then in high gear only at 400rpm and it didnt feel right to proceed the sound really didnt change so im sure the other gearboxes are fine. the motor is kinda noisy and the pitch changes when i touch the cover could this be that the belt it to tight?

not sure how to how to test the bearings ill try and get pic's and maybe a video tomorrow

[pipeclay]

Take the drive belt off the Motor and run the motor,see if the noise is eliminated.
If it is it would show that the noise would more than likely be in the drive train, either gear noise,Belt noise,hope fully not bearing noise.
Listen to the bearings although at 400rpm there not doing much and you probably wouldnt pick much noise or vibration up unless they were badly pitted.
You do have oil in the gearbox.
Run the lathe at a higher speed,if its allready on the way out from new you are not going to effect anything.
Check the bearing temps at each end of the Headstock after running the lathe for say 3/5 mins fast,keep an eye or feel on the bearings while its running,if they are crook it wont take long for them to get hot.

[pipeclay]

Not sure what you mean by an Asian machine wouldnt be as smooth,apart from Europe what other part of the world is a large supplier of CNC machines.

[.RC.]

My AL1000C growls in the low range setting, it has done it since new.. In the higher two ranges the growling is not there...

[Grahame Collins]

i have a steel master 12 x 36 and it came with extra metal -as swarf in the gearbox.

Whip the lid off and manually wind it over and do a visual of the gears meshing.

Possibly, you have picked up a bit it that may be cause of the click as it passes through mesh in each rotation.

The drain point for the box is on the left at the bottom , cunningly organised so it will oil the belts at each oil change.

Check the belts for equal length when you take them off. Mine were not equal length .

I gave them the flick and replaced good quality ones.

I used Castrol Hyspin as the replacement oil after flushing the gearbox, if this helps.

Shaw Machinery at Clontarf are Qld agents ,if you don't already know. Maybe they have one powered up you could listen to for comparison.

hope it all helps
Grahame

[new_guy90]

Shaw Machinery at Clontarf are Qld agents ,if you don't already know. Maybe they have one powered up you could listen to for comparison.


nope they dont, i got it from them thanks you have helped im going down to try again and look for #### in the gearbox

thanks Pipeclay ill try the motor

just a thought but is there anyone in Ipswich with experience in these things?

[4-6-4]

:D This post is in the way of commiseration. Many years ago when I was stating my first workshop I purchased a Mill with a rise and fall table and a belt driven bench lathe about the same size as yours from A T Stead here in Melbourne. The mill was ok except it was calibrated in metric. My mind at the time was Imperial and there was much swearing about Tiwanees inches until the penny dropped. The lathe was a monster. An example was one night I could not get the screwed pin for the back gear engaged after more swearing and frustration I dismantled the head. I discovered broze cuttings inside the spindle vee pulley. This ment that the pulley had not been cleaned out after boring and what is worse is that when the head was assembled the cuttings were left in there for me to find. The original problem of the back gear pin was solved by adding a small chamfer to the hole to guide the pin. There were numerouse other adventures which I will not bore you with.
Suffice to say that if the Engish had been able to compete financialy then we would not be saddled with these machine tools. This I suspect also applies to a CNC machining center where I work. This machine had to have its main spindle bearings replaced before it did a stroke of work. These two machines are still out there some where.
The best of british old son. 4-6-4

[new_guy90]

thanks for the story 4-6-4 i gave a mate an old tool maker mate a call last night and he is interested in coming to have a look

oh not putting down the Asian industry but China has some very skilled workers they can do things us in the western world have almost forgotten its only we pay crap so they drop the standard if they were as good quality of a Colchester or Myford they would cost the same price maybe more.... CNC's have a different price tag and aircraft manufacture has universal standards of quality ...just thought i would say

[radish]

if they were as good quality of a Colchester



Oh but some of them are, check out this link and then go have a real good look at one that is sold in England, as a Colchester.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?stockCode=L251D

Identical machines with-out the outrageous price tag, made in the exact same factory in Tiawan, it's called badge engineering. Only difference is that they are shipped directly from Tiawan to Australia.
Now the machines that have the Colchester name on them, are firstly shipped to England, then exported to Australia for a lot more dollars.

Carefull shopping around or thorough investigation of where the lathe was made and under what conditions will get you an excellent lathe.

Here's another example,

Page Title (http://www.lathes.co.uk/hardinge/index.html)

OK, excellent lathe made in the 'hew hess hay', but not now, it's made in Tiawan under this name, it is so good that Hardinge of the 'hew hess hay' even use these to make their latest creations.

Tool Room Lathe, Sharp Industries - Quality Precision Tool Room Lathes (http://www.sharp-industries.com/lathes/1118h.html)

[4-6-4]

:D Further to the Asian Lathe topic It is usually only Industry that can afford the price tag of the high end of the range. I believe that Parkinson makers of a fine Milling Machines ( I have a Parkson NA} was bought lock stock taken to Asia and with a name change appeared on the market. I worked one of these copies and it ran well. Except it came with a metric 25 mm arbour. Not many Metric cutters around in OZ. So we will have to put up with machines that turn up in boxes with no chance of examination before purchase and agents who after the machine leaves their premises show little interest in after sales service.
As one of our well known politicians once said life was not made to be easy. But perhaps it was not made to be this hard.
How is the noise in the head going. Yours 4-6-4

[new_guy90]

sorry for being a little misleading i know most of the older companies now get work done in Asia and Taiwan makes some very good machines and if you think quality is good when you pay $30K plus you are still taking a gamble they have bigger problems!!! for that reason the Practical machinist forum has band all talk about Asian and there are some horror stories i tell you machines breaking down after as little as a week!! compare a new Asian machine to the standards of the old machines and you see the difference

but as we all know its not all as bad as these problems sound you just need to give them work right and they really beat machines in industry. the Taiwanese Hardinge lathe copies like Feeler and sharp are very good but i cant say much about them

oh and you know when you get a new machine and oh joy it has been scraped na thats just frosting at best its meant to improve lubrication but i suspect its just to make it look good

lol its funny i knew all this when i got this thing but i thought i would skip all the crap you deal with trying to find a decent used lathe owell

[radish]

for that reason the Practical machinist forum has band all talk about Asian machines.




Well now, if you believe whatever that w@nker that runs that site says, I think you'll believe in the "tooth fairy and santa claus" as well.

That idiot would have to be the most opinionated moron I've ever come across, OK, it's his site, well he can rant and rave all he want's too, but as far as I'm concerned, he can shove it where the sun don't shine.

You really need to expand your horizons, go check out some DECENT forums, instead of believing what comes across on that site.

He seems to have some fixation with old worn out/clapped out junk yankee iron is best, think he better remove his head from his butt and stop playing ostrich.

Have you noticed he don't show his head on any other forum, simple reason really, everybody else, on any other forum, will tell him to bugger orf.

[.RC.]

for that reason the Practical machinist forum has band all talk about Asian


No it's only home shop type asian machines.... And that is interpreted as the forum owner see's fit... Otherwise any talk on the new Taiwanese South Bends would be banned (which it isn't)

No new manual machine made today has anything on the stuff made in the 60's before CNC took over, Colchesters were always light lathes for their class in their day and that is why we seem them being copied so much today.... After all no one makes a copy of a DSG or Monarch Series 60 or American Pacemaker which were serious metal removing machines and far superior, even look at say the locally made Macson 18" machine....17" wide bed and a 15 hp motor, and with the lathe you could use all the 15 real horses in a cut without chatter..

[new_guy90]

Well now, if you believe whatever that w@nker that runs that site says, I think you'll believe in the "tooth fairy and santa claus" as well.

That idiot would have to be the most opinionated moron I've ever come across, OK, it's his site, well he can rant and rave all he want's too, but as far as I'm concerned, he can shove it where the sun don't shine.

You really need to expand your horizons, go check out some DECENT forums, instead of believing what comes across on that site.

He seems to have some fixation with old worn out/clapped out junk yankee iron is best, think he better remove his head from his butt and stop playing ostrich.

Have you noticed he don't show his head on any other forum, simple reason really, everybody else, on any other forum, will tell him to bugger orf.

ROFL yeah some guys on there can be pig headed did you see the posts on that aluminum car and how the frame was made from billet? man the crap they went on about that they even had the owner of that company defending himself. its not all bad the south bend forum is good and friendly and so is the antique side also it has a very wide range of some very very skilled people in industry from jewelers and gun smiths to very skilled engineers and business people oh and they always have very good threads in the business forum trust me well worth a read.

i do get around more on the net im on HMEM and i know Big Shed is to... now i cant remember what i came on hear to say... oh yeah me and my tool maker friend are going to see if we can improve the lathe maybe today or tomorrow ill post pic's