Thread: AL-250G set up and ready to go.

Nice job, well done.
Any chance of some pictures of your coolant set up? It may help members out in the future.

With stripping the bog I don't blame you, but you will need to replace it as you will find it's uneven. The stuff to put back on it is car body filler. It is 2 part and dries in about 10-15 minutes and is not soft like the white crap that comes on them. It's around $40-50 for 4 ltrs and that should be plenty for that lathe.
You then apply primer filler over the top and you will be ready for painting. The primer filler comes thick and you thin it down to suit, so at first you only thin it a bit so it acts like spray putty to fill any scratches from sanding the bog, then after rubbing that (which is easy) you thin some down to use as the final undercoat.

Once you get used to applying the bog you can get it pretty true, and don't be afraid to use something like a strait edge to get a true looking surface.

Dave

If anyone asks I'll be happy to supply details of the coolant system.. On the painting side of things, I found on two previous lathes, after removing all the paint and bog, if you hit the bed with a hand belt sander it comes up pretty good, good enough to not need bog anyway. the remainder can be done on a bench sander.

Golly that looks nice.

yes

Some details of the coolant system would be great .

MIKE

Looks good
Before you know it she'll be covered in chips and there will be splashes of coolant everywhere. Enjoy that brand new look while you can!
I don't know how good an idea the neoprene is, have you checked her for level? Although with a short machine it should not be too bad.
Thats a yes please on the coolant system, any idea has got to be better than spending $220 to buy one.
Ewan

Ok, I 'll post some picks of the coolant system. As for the neoprene, after it is sandwitched between the mounting blocks and the stand, you place a straight edge on top of each mounting block and line them up by sight, if out, just tighten whichever side is high until it's level. After that simply plonk the lathe on top and and run a feeler gauge around the edges between the lathes feet and the mounting blocks, repeat the process above until you can't insert the feeler gauge anymore, a lot cheaper than $150 for a level you'll never use again and it will level the bed regardless of whether or not the lathes feet have been machined parallel. Given the machining quality on these lathes, I doubt very much if the feet are true, I know the mounting blocks weren't. Of course this only works if your lathe has mounting blocks and your lathe doesn't weigh too much.