Thread: New Lathe

You can provide each stand with level adjustment quite easily.
Get a short setscrew, nut & washer (hex head bolt threaded all the way) for each hole, the largest that will fit.
Put a nut and then a washer on each bolt, and insert into holes from the bottom.
Two spanners are used to adjust heights.
I did this as a temporary arrangement on my first lathe, but it stayed that way until I sold it years later.

Jordan

Looks nice and new

Many hours of fun coming up for you .


If you are anything like me, it wont stay clean for very long

The lathe could stand to be raised a few inches, I thought perhaps I could lay a nice flat slab a few inches high on top of the existing concrete and then using Nadroj's idea for finer adjustment. Anyone tried this.

If you can't bolt it down and shim it up so it is solid, these stands are not very stable as they are top heavy and the weight is often forward of the legs. How do I know? I tipped my 280kg lathe over so I made my own stand.

Made up a ladder frame for it today, tomorrow I'll give it a coat of paint. The cabinets bolt to the frame and the frame is then secured to the floor using loxins so it won't tip over. The cabinets are made from light 3mm sheet, so levelling might not be possible, if not I may make up another stand and use the cabinets for something else.

Congrats on the new machine.
Nothing like new machine day, be it small or big, cheap or pricey.
Cheers,
Ew

I was reading through the manual that came with the lathe this morning and discovered the lathe is an Optimum Maschinen not a Koshan Dasheng as I originally thought. I think the Koshan Dasheng must be an offshoot of Optimum as the specs are identical. The lathe has some interesting features though: the leadscrew is mounted in bearings, both topslide and compound slide have thrust bearings and the quality of machining is excellent. No bog anywhere except the bed. First turn was a nozzle to fit the oiling points, the tip had to be very small with a head diameter of 2mm and a 1.5mm delivery hole. That done, I started on coolant drain for the swarf tray. When running it’s as quiet as a church mouse, the movement of compound and cross slides as well as apron are incredibly smooth and the change gear meshing remains constant when rotated, not something I've experienced on my other lathes. So far, very impressed, particularly when compared against previous lathes. On the funny side, first time I started it, it stopped as soon as I took my finger off the switch, I was all set to ring Impala and claim the warranty until I realized the chuck guard has a safety switch…