Thread: Al-960b gears a bit noisy

This is from the Hafco blurb re this lathe:

" Featuring a precision ground, induction hardened bed, fully gear driven spindle with hardened and ground gears "

I suppose it depends upon how well it's all been done.

Rob

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Stewart,

Not sure this will help you, but do you know anyone close by that has an AL-960 you could listen to for comparison?

Failing that maybe you could record the noise it's making and post it here on the forum as an mp3 or wav, that might give other AL-960 owners some idea of how to help.

The only other thing I can suggest that won't break the bank is buy some good earmuffs...

Regards
Ray

Oh yeah..back to your noise problem...I had an odd noise coming from mine several months back...i didnt like the sound of it ..it seemed to coming from the gear box when turning.

it turned out it was the belt.

HI ALL,
Sorry, I have been busy lately and haven't done anything more about the Lathe. I don't know of any other AL-960B lathe in the area. I do remember that another Member put the sound of his Geared Head Lathe on here as He wasn't sure about the Noise. I remember posting a reply to it, but I have not been able to find the 'Thread'. The Lathe is still usable with its noise, like it doesn't sound like its going to blow up or anything.

Yes My Lathe does have a Single Phase Motor. I do know that Three Phase Motors run a lot smoother, but I didn't know that they ran any quiter. The Motor is probably just a cheap Motor, I don't think the Motor has any faults as the noise is not there all the time it is only in Gears L2 and more on the Fast pulley. There is certainly more freeplay in Gear Position L2 than there is in any other Gear position. I am going to look "100Hz torque pulsation" up as I have never heard of it before and I am interested in understanding more about it.

" Featuring a precision ground, induction hardened bed, fully gear driven spindle with hardened and ground gears "
Yeah right what did they do show the Gears some Girly pictures to make them hard. I missed that Blurb theother week when i looked back through the Specs, Thanks.

Yes Belts can cause problems. I actually just went over my Tool & Cutter Grinder (BM-450A) last Month as it was noisy. Although the loose grub screw on the Motor Pulley and the Crook Spindle Bearing weren't helping the New Belt certainly made a difference. Although I have the BX25 belt I should have another B25 Belt to use Tomorrow it is a Pix Kevlar Belt that is used on Mowers.


Thanks Guys, I am going to just put up with the Noise for now until the Lathes Performance is affected.

my previous lathe (al 960 b ) was noisy and was not a constant whirring noise, sounded more inconsistent like a train on tracks.
never checked the splined gear hub play on the al 960b.

purchased another lathe similar to an al 540, which has a similar noise.
had cleaned and replaced all bearings in the headstock, noticed the splined gear hubs had excessive (tilt) play,
the side to side tilting of the splined gear hub seemed excessive.
My best guess is that the group of gears on the splined hubs are angling or rocking, which hammers against the splines.
when running the lathe using the outer most gears of the 4 speed gear hub, the noise is louder when compared to running it using the 2 center gears, as it rocks more on the outer gears.
still getting metal chips in the gear box, and guess it's due to the gears not running true and the hammering of the splined shafts.