Aussie AL-960 owners or previous owners input please?

[befuddled]

Hi, some time back I bought a well used AL-960 HAFCO lathe. (No, not an AL-960B)

It has been on the back burner for reasons I cant come up with but is now front and centre again.

Can anyone who has knowledge of them tell me what the T/R lever description or use is please?

I have tried in vain for a manual (HAFCO not being any help in that regard) but can only find either AL-960B which is a bit different or the 4003 Grizzly which again is similar but not the same.

Cheers, Peter (Wgong, NSW)

Pic at http://www.woodworkforums.com/album.php?albumid=1113&attachmentid=349161 349162

[pipeclay]

Have you checked to see if it changes the direction of the lead/feed screw.

[Old Croc]

Is it T/R or L/R for left or right?

[befuddled]

You're on the money thanks pipeclay. It does change the direction. Im not sure how I missed that but......

So today I accidentally did a really neat job of machining up a piece of 3"od aluminium that I use as a drift and I was quite chuffed with myself.

While on a roll, I jumped into a steel drift but it looks pretty crap to the finish I got on the alloy drift.

Im off to investigate how the feed ratio works and hope that will help.

Thanks for the responses. Cheers, peter

[pipeclay]

Your finish will/could depend and quite a lot of variables.

Type of material,speed,tool type and geometry,rigidity of the lathe itself,and possibly the bearings in headstock,the length of the job,how the job is held ( 3 or 4 jaw chuck,whether supported by tailstock,depth of cut ) .

If you feel the feed rate is to high and can't reduce it further through the gearbox you can try putting a smaller gear on the stud position ( top) change gear,this will reduce your feed rate but you would need to do the calls to now what it is.

If you do change this gear make sure you put the correct one back on if screw cutting.