Thread: lathe made in china.

Looks like Turcite, a low-friction plastic used a lot for rebuilding worn slideway linings. I've heard of it being used in new machines, but not cheap Chinese machines till now. Come to think of it it's probably imitation Turcite, made from boiled panda snot or something.

One word of advice: Keep your wipers in good condition (or fit better ones). That stuff is soft enough that chips will wreck it.

that thing is thin as paint. you can almost see the surface behind it.
i do not think it will last no matter what i do.
it is only a hobby machine so should i worry?
to my limited knowledge lathes slide metal on metal so if it gets wrecked would the lathe still be ok
apart from the friction (google reading) aspect.

Hi GRF,

My Chinese mill had porosity in some places on the ways. It was filled with a metal type putty and sanded back. It reminds me of that but not sure, the putty on my mill was in a couple of small (in area) places where the porosity was maybe a mm deep or so.

Simon

Hi,
If you have purchased new, you are entitled to have your machine fit for purpose.
If the carriage does not slide and "drags" it obviously is not fit for purpose. The fact that it may be used a hobby machine does not matter.

A purchase of a new 14 x 40 lathe implies an outlay somewhere north of $4000 dependent of the level of goodies it came to you, with.
The seller is the first port of call. Questions to ask, is this gunk standard on other like machines and if not will the sellers bring yours to the standard of the other lathe(same as yours) that they sell.

If the seller is nearby in Melbourne he should be given the chance to put it right.
Following that, there is the consumer affairs.

What ever it is, the coating is not accidental,but certainly seems poorly applied. I have no experience with bedway coatings so other posters will need to advise you more on that. On other new lathes, I have seen, the female vee bedway grooves are machined smooth.

This coating may be an attempt to cover up a botched casting or a mis machining
Is the applied coating mentioned in the advertising blurb?

If you can post the brand name of the lathe, other members with the same model can advice if their lathes have the same treatment.

I would be going over the lathe with somebody experienced and seek to pick up other any other defects.

It is a sad fact of life in that many Chinese machines need fettling to get them to a level where they do what they are supposed to.
As to the oil passages ,sometimes the Chinese ones have a felt like material in them.My lathe was like that.

Grahame

Originally Posted by Bryan

Looks like Turcite, a low-friction plastic used a lot for rebuilding worn slideway linings. I've heard of it being used in new machines, but not cheap Chinese machines till now. Come to think of it it's probably imitation Turcite, made from boiled panda snot or something.

One word of advice: Keep your wipers in good condition (or fit better ones). That stuff is soft enough that chips will wreck it.

"boiled panda snot"

That got me. I lost it over that. It may be a reason to protect their pandas. lol

Dean

It is a Turcite type material... It is a bronze impregnated plastic type material... You can see the bronze in the material, as it is bronze coloured () and the plastic greenish...

Looks quite usable to me... Just put it back together and use it...

Agree with RC, but shouldnt turcite be as slippery as panda snot?
So put it back together feeling how it moves as each part is added so you know where the drag is coming form. the shafts on my lathe werent parallel to the bed so would drag.

first of all thank you all for the replies.

the lathe was usable and i decided to take it apart because no matter how loose the gib was there was always some consistent drag that i thought it is caused by that wax that they use for protection.
the machine is smooth with no slip stick but it has lets say a threshold of drag.
i have no intention to take it back cause it is still cutting fine.

the reason i asked the question is because i did not know what that green thing was (now i do. panda snot lol)
and the second reason is how worried should i be if that goes away. i was wondering if the machine can be made to work without it (by scraping or grinding etc) or if i can import a panda and re apply snot.

Hmm Panda snot ay. Better specify my next machine purchase with some on it.

i was wondering if the machine can be made to work without it (by scraping or grinding etc) or if i can import a panda and re apply snot.

No need to import more pandas. Just talk to the people at the Adelaide Zoo. It will provide them with even more publicity.

Dean

This reminds me of the first Japanese dirt bike I bought.
The front forks were filled with whale oil.
ATF worked much better.

At the Sydney uni I used to work at they are using Chinese workers to arc weld the motor carriage for their new wind tunnel(we're talking tons 1 story up)

I was going to put up some of those 'beware booger welds' stickers.
Maybe you can source some 'beware booger ways' for your lathe.
H.

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

No need to import more pandas. Just talk to the people at the Adelaide Zoo. It will provide them with even more publicity.

Dean

Bryan what a way to make some money ... start collecting it for them ...I wont be needing any tho