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JasonPD
17th September 2015, 09:25 PM
Hi all, my father in law has just given me a ledacraft mc900 lathe. It's my first lathe even though I've been turning for 18 months. It has no manual or any accessories as it sat in his shed since new. (Never used, think it's ten years old or more) I've tried getting some info on maintenance of the net but have come up empty. I have found out it uses a reeves pulley system. Any tips on maintenance and all functions would be great. Lube with grease under the cover or wd40. And what parts, any I should stay away from. Consider me clueless cheers Jason

hughie
17th September 2015, 09:50 PM
There really isnt a manual for one of these as far as I know. The bearings area sealed so there no opportunity to grease them. If its 10 years old most of the problems with the mechanical variable speed set up will have been sorted out for you. If its sat for a long time you may have to spray the varied speed set up shafts with WD40 or similar as they may have dried grease on them.
Not the pulleys or the belt, while your there check the belt as it most likely had dried out and maybe cracking. From memory they are "A" section belts and readily available from most bearing places.

JasonPD
17th September 2015, 10:50 PM
Awesome hughie thanks mate

Hermosil
18th September 2015, 01:18 AM
Hello and welcome. I have a carbatec mc900 lathe which from memory is an identical machine ( they are made originally in china and sold here under various names but are essentially the same machine). It is about 8 months old and has done a lot of work. I havent had any problems with it yet. It did come with a manual which states a couple of procedures that you should follow.
1. Only change speed whilst machine is operating.
2. Only start or stop machine on slowest speed (doesnt place excessive load on motor)

It should have a number 2 morse taper in headstock and tailstock.
I hope that some of this imformation is helpfull to you and I hope that you enjoy what is a very interesting hobby.

regards Shaun.

Fuzzie
18th September 2015, 07:12 AM
+1 for only changing speed while the machine is running.

You can find a lot of manuals for generic Taiwanese machinery on the Grizzly Tools site. There are several MC900 variants so you might have to try a few manuals to find the one that matches, but perhaps start with the G1067

http://www.grizzly.com/manuals

JasonPD
18th September 2015, 08:47 AM
Thanks Shaun and fuzzie

hughie
19th September 2015, 07:04 PM
No worries Jason if you get into trouble pm me as I had a MC1100 for 4-5 years or so. Did a lot of mods to it and there should be a couple threads here somewhere

JasonPD
19th September 2015, 07:54 PM
Thanks hughie

Faulko
22nd September 2015, 07:43 AM
Hi. I had a second hand mc 900. Took me a while to realise the pulley shafts needed cleaning and lubricating. The speed changing lever should be quite easy to turn...if it's any sort of effort to change speed (while going), then definitely needs clean and lubricate. I googled and found a video showing how to change belt, which was helpful to understand the innards of the mc900. Good luck.

JasonPD
22nd September 2015, 07:52 AM
Cheers faulko

Pratty
24th September 2015, 01:00 AM
No worries Jason if you get into trouble pm me as I had a MC1100 for 4-5 years or so. Did a lot of mods to it and there should be a couple threads here somewhere

hughie, without trying to hijack this thread , i am looking at buying the latest MC1100 A from carbatec very shortly, would you recommend this lathe as im only a novice turner and feel after all my research, this will do me fine , what mods did you feel it needed ? Dan (pratty)