A tip for anyone who needs to move pallets over grass: if you lay a ladder on the ground and grease up the stiles, you can easily slide a several hundred kilo pallet across it by hand. With two ladders, you can build a kind of crude railway, sliding the pallet from one to the other in a leapfrog fashion.
Great Tip! As grease you can use soft soap [1] ... if you want to reuse your ladder or wooden beams:) [1] potassium soaps, "green soap", in German "Schmierseife", I am not sure if "soft soap" is the correct term, as it seems it is also used for hand-washing soaps and the like. I mean the soap with a very viscous consistency, often used to grease rubber when mounting car-windows f.e.
@@dieSpinnt yea, I have used "dish soap for cleaning eating and cookware" before, not on a ladder but just some boards acting as runners, most of it is harmless to yards and washes off easily enough with a hose. Fun side note for lawncare, there was a fad of "liquid aeration" a few years ago... it was a very mild dish soap in a hose end spray bottle
It’s so awesome getting to watch you grow in your machining capabilities! I remember starting out I had a little grizzly lathe and an angle grinder in my parents garage, and now I’ve got 4 full size manual lathes, 2 CNC lathes, 3 manual mills, 4 CNC mills (one of which is horizontal), several surface grinders, heat treat equipment, and much more. It’s just so cool watching others get to expand their machines and abilities as well.
@@sasukecruz2000 Hey, thanks man! And thanks for asking! I started machining in high-school with my little grizzly lathe, then joined the military. When I got out, there was a few months where I just didn’t know what the next step was, so I just started messing around with making guns on my mini lathe. A neighbor saw me and offered me a position as an aerospace machinist for the company he was working at, so I did that for about 2 years and learned a ton. The company got bought out, and they decided to outsource machining and sell a bunch of equipment for relatively cheap. So I scrambled on the opportunity, got a loan, bought the equipment and made a bid to be their outsource company. Did that for about 4 years, and made enough to purchase a shop (instead of renting) and buy several more pieces of equipment. Then the company I was doing the work for went under, so I switched to gunsmithing, and I’ve done that for over a decade. I’m very lucky with how it all happened, I was at the right place at the right time and was also willing to take on a huge risk. I know most people aren’t going to expand as rapidly as I did, but I still get excited when other people get to purchase equipment that expands their capabilities.
@@fakerfake1 That's an awesome story. It sounds like a big risk, but at the same time you had a major opportunity you were able to take advantage of. I'm glad it worked out for you. Not surprised the company went under, given they decided to outsource their machining to the person they just fired. Not that using you was bad, in fact it was probably the best deal they could have gotten. Rather their costs went up, and control went down. If you hadn't stepped in, then they'd be working with a brand new manufacturer who didn't have that personal relationship and knowledge.
Turning between centers can be a very useful method. You don't need to switch the chuck out for the faceplate and M4 center. Just put a piece of round stock in the chuck and turn a 60° point, and drive the dog with a chuck jaw. I keep such a shop made center and give it a skim cut to true it up every time I use it, so it's always perfect. I made a parallel clamp style dog that fits anything from tiny to about 70mm so I don't need a whole set of dogs.
The paint on the gear was probably used to check gear mesh. I used paint to check the mesh on the ring and pinion on my truck when I rebuilt it. I want this lathe and will be getting one once I get my shop set up. Looks to be easier to set up and get going then the mini lathe which works for me. Looking forward to seeing you useing this to make some cool stuff.
Consider some neodymium magnets in the gear sump to catch chips. It doesn't take much to take out the spindle bearings. If you have a oil drip channel going to the bearings put a few very small magnets in it.
Unfortunately magnetism is a property that requires it be applied to a primarily (roughly 50% or greater) ferrous metal such as steel or cast iron. It will do nothing for Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Titanium or Plastics and it goes without saying Wood. There are plenty of industrial environments where steel may be the only metal turned, but the chips flying off those machines would bury a magnet in a heart beat. That leaves hobby machinist and general purpose machinist who will find theirselves turning any or all Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Titanium and Plastics on a regular basis. I could be wrong, but I envision magnets being buried in fragments of the aforementioned materials further reducing their capacity to attract chips from turning ferrous metals. If the magnets actually do pickup the primary ferrous chips, it may not be worth its presence. There is another interesting physical property of steel one might consider. If excessive heat is generated during turning operations (common of us hobby machinist when long spiral pieces of steel grow from having less than ideal cutting tools, tool selection, turning speed, or tool to workpiece alignment, as the temperature continues to rise closer to its critical point it will lose its magnetic attractability until the spirals coil down and have landed. Then again, I doubt this is such a concern, if these chips are lucky enough to land on top of the magnet, they will hold once you come to clean it off. More of an issue is having a magnet with a large enough surface area to attract chips from the all of the places turning typically slings them. I like to use a magnetic roller to clean my garage floor, but also dont enjoy trying to fight the magnet which wont let go of its catch when I want it on the trash. If you agree the above to be true in your universe of turning, you are going to have to employ methods typically used by a professional machinist; brushes, compressed air and etc. I have an industrial vacuum mounted to my wall that makes cleaning everything in my garage effortless. Well, only if I didn’t get carried away with using coolant or oil. That said, you’re thinking outside the box. We just need a new type of magnet!
@@jtbrower what do you imagine the gears in there are made of? This is to catch bits of the lathe, typically tiny flakes from the gears. If swarf gets in there you have much larger problems.
I too used to have a mini lathe and it drove me crazy due to almost everything I wanted to do would fit and required so much mucking around to complete anything. I then purchased an old Emco V10p which is a similar size to yours and my life has changed. I was so impressed I then went out and bought a separate mill and that was pure luxury. I'll bet you wont regret your new lathe
15 years after selling my old Colchester Student, i went a similar route, small lathe very much like your old one, kept working on it to overcome limitations and finally realised a new, larger lathe was called for. Much the same as yours but with DRO and variable drive (actually the same lathe as Blonihacks uses). never regretted it!! I have a Sanou 160mm 6 jaw chuck with around 10-micron runout on a gauge pin - i tapped it in with DTI and soft blow mallet with the huk mount nuts just tight. Be interested to see the runout on yours after tapping in and the cleaning
Nice purchase and hardened ways this time. There was a multi part article by a guy that had bought a Chinese gear head lathe much like this new one in Model Engineer or similar and he detailed the stripping fettling and re-assembly. He was impressed by the quality and accuracy of the machining but not the assembly, likening the assemblers to monkeys IIRC. One main thing he brought up and I've seen it elsewhere as well, there was still casting sand in the headstock which he thoroughly removed and repainted with oil resistant paint inside. No magnets are going to do anything about loose sand in the headstock if any were to break free.
these beds while induction hardened are actually still just soft enough to scrape, the standard Sandvik scraper inserts hold up better than my Biax blades but you simply need to lap your blades more frequently. the fitting work on these al-250's specifically is hit and miss, one of my students who did a fantastic job scraping in his lathe found the leadscrew support bracket was so severely undersize that engaging the half nuts would cause the motor to fail. hafco replaced the motor under warranty at least twice from memory but when shown the root issue they simply swapped brackets with those on the showroom floor/their stock until they found a slightly thicker bracket. upon measuring it back at the shop it still needed a fairly thick brass shim to get it perfect.
Great video, I cried when you cut those wires to the safety switch. I would have loosened both terminals and moved the one wire to the other and tightened the screws again and put it back in. BASICALLY BOTH WIRES ON 1 TERMINAL.This way if you needed to return it back it would only take a few seconds and nothing gets cut. I’m sorry, it’s my OCD KICKING IN. GREAT VIDEO.ENJOY THE NEW TOY.
@@simonharris8817 well, good luck to you. The reason why we have safety rules is because people are bad at “making their own arrangements around safety.”
As a mini lathe user myself, I'll watch your progress with the new machine with interest. Looks to be much more substantial, yet still small enough for the small workshop 👍 🇬🇧
Excellent points about an old-school geared head vs new-fangled variable DC motor. Regarding the head "loosening up a little bit", the manufacturer recommended running under no load for 20 minutes. I did that in both directions; 20 minutes each way. But mine's a new-fangled variable DC.
The blue paint on the back of the scroll is to check backlash. It doesn't hurt the gearing in any way. It's common to see this in differential gears in cars too for the same reason..
As Mike suggested, run the lathe in as directed in the manual. Then change the headstock oil and drop in a magnet or two to collect swarf. Make sure the headstock lubrication system is working as it is supposed to. The main reason small lathes have variable spindle speeds is because they are cheaper to build. Look in an old text like "Advanced Machine Work" (which is available on-line) and it gives formulas for generating the intermediate spindle speeds given the lowest and highest speeds desired. It is a logarithmic progression. The only people who have a need to have the "absolute best" speeds and feeds are tooling and production engineers who are making a quarter-million part run where every second counts and tooling costs must be minimized. In the home shop you have the time to make several lighter cuts and save your tooling and wear on your lathe. Oil is the elixir of life to your lathe. Clean and wet the bed ways with way oil (or chain saw bar oil which is also sticky and won't run off ways and gears) every day you use the lathe. If the ways look dry... they are. Stop and reach over for the oil can. Often omitted from the lube charts is the worm gear for the carriage power feed. Disconnect the power from the lathe and feel under the bottom backside of the carriage for the worm. Make sure it is clean and then smear it liberally with grease. If the lathe power feed is used daily, lube the worm monthly. Normal hobby use, lube once every six months.
Hey, thanks for the information. I recently purchased my first lathe and am dealing with rust and other fun things from the previous owner. So, knowing how to keep from having to do this much work again is really helpful. Though re-building the thing is teaching me quite a bit...
I got for years a BV20 lathe (8x15), with a gear head. I changed all the spindle and gearbox bearings and it changed it completely. Runout down to 0.002 from 0.01 (SKF standard taper roller), and originally the lathe was with angular bearing. It was meant to be mounted with either angular or taper, went for taper instead. You can probably cut imperial thread by modifying the gear box input with a 127 gear somewhere, same for changing the thread list. Since the rebuild, I got myself a 1 ton lathe, 360x610 from 1950/60. definitely another level.
With the chuck using three bolts try moving the chuck into 3 different positions rotating the chuck. Also when you find the best setting try backing of the nuts a little and tapping the chuck in as good as you can. If you are happy with the chuck and it is running as true as you can get don't forget to centre punch the chuck to the back plate so you will always know the best position when removing and reconnecting the chuck! You probably know this already but it saves a lot of headaches. numbering the jaws to their slots on the chuck will help with removing and reinserting them as well! Enjoy the clean lathe because it will be the last time it is that clean!
You didnt need to cut and solder the wires for that switch, just move one over and it would have completed the circuit, or put both terminals on one screw.
@@artisanmakesnot only was it unnecessary because you could have just moved one terminal, but soldering and then tape is by far the crappiest (and least reliable) method. Solder is generally a bad idea anywhere near vibrations. Another option are screw terminals, but then you need wire ferrules. Which brings us to simply using WAGOs.
Great to see the new lathe. Regarding the leadscrew: the keyway is for power feeding in both axis and the threads are used only for threading. (If you want to have a look, I have a video showing the internals of a similar gearbox).
Just watched and it’s a great break down. I’ll have so open mine up and see if it’s similar. Still doesn’t explain the third worm wheel. I know for sure that’s not driven by the keyway
I had one of this sort of lathe decades ago. I put a 1/2" (12mm) piece of metal under the left end so that coolant will flow away to the right for recycling. I also made a chuck cradle out of scrap timber to aid on/off. On another matter, I put a dab of grease on the tailstock centre to reduce heat stretch problems.
I love seeing people increase the size of their machinery. I learned my lesson with aquariums, the bigger, the better. So my first lathe, and likely the last, is a Pratt & Whitney 16x30 with a 7.5 Hp motor!
*You should reference Stefan Gotteswinters vids on stripping down brand new low cost chucks and how to improve them.* He gets amazing performance out of them.
Thankyou Artisan. I have a Seig Micro lathe and needed to upgrade to something bigger. I got it cheap at the time and wanted something to hold clock barrel's because I only had a watch making lathe. I've not been too crazy about some of the Chinese lathes due to the low quality and therefore accuracy that you get. I have been considering getting a Myford lathe as they come up on Gumtree from time to time. Seeing your new lathe now has me rethinking which way to go, as I like doing things for motorbikes as well. Really enjoy watching your channel and look forward to the next episode.😁
I love how you over time, slowly shifted your style of content to be similar to This Old Tony, but you manage to deliver those dry, dad jokes the same amazing way, as Tony does. And in the mean time you retain your own charisma, that makes me love your videos
Congratulations on the new lathe. Looking forward to follow this step up (I'm coming from a Vevor MX210V wich has been a dissap...a challenge so far). However I had semi-good experience with their costumer service, which was a surprise.
Honestly I'd check out one of the electronic lead screw packages from some of the other youtubers. Being able to set things like stops, metric/imperial threading through a couple of button presses, is extremely powerful.
@@artisanmakes You still can - I did on my al250 and it’s great! It was a lot of work of course but the end result has been one hell of an upgrade! Thanks.
Recently got myself a Hafco AL51g lathe, the model down from this one. Not a bad little unit, but I took a bit of advice and stripped down the carriage. There was an astonishing amount of crap and grinding residue still inside, and I also stripped down the 3 jaw chuck and got a fair bit of swarf out of that. Sure they’re not all that bad, but worth checking out for future longevity.
@@bruceyork5260 had mine for a couple of months now, it’s my first lathe that I’m learning machining on. Pretty happy with it but like a lot of these smaller units rigidity is an issue. I’ve upgraded the compound mount / clamp down to one with 4 bolts not 2, seems to help a bit. Some people upgrade the headstock bearings too, I might have a go at that sometime. Overall I’d say it’s a capable machine but you’ve got to be working within its limitations.
I would pull the compound, cross slide and carriage/saddle apart and clean/deburr everything. I'd run the machine through the whole gear range running 10-15 minutes at each setting. Then drain and flush the gearbox and replace with fresh gear oil. The same grit you found in the chuck; you will find in the gearbox. Good luck with the new lathe!
I invested in a Engine hoist for getting my equipment in my garage. Such a handy tool to have. I also made a DIY pallet mover out of some boards and trolley wheels.
I find the best cheapest way to degrease and clean parts like that chuck, is to strip it completely, warm all the parts up in the oven, then drown them in a strong mix of boiling water and washing up liquid, and scrub with a cheap paint brush. Rinse in more boiling water, then dry in a warm place (oven again if necessary). Next you can use a degreaser such as brake cleaner etc. This method works on everything from engines to guns. The gearbox may need doing too. Good luck with your new lathe. Now I’m a bit jealous. Oh, as others have said, magnets, deeper splash tray, refit the rear splash guard with an opalescent Perspex light panel (with variable LEDs behind) to illuminate your chuck/work area. Peace
I love the way this channel is moving forward, have been watching (on and off to be honest) since you bought that little bugger lathe, then came the mill, and soo on. Over those years I have bought different equipment for my shop, I am in Europe soo most off it was big used old stuff, but I still found these videos helpful. Keep up the good work!
I am certain you will LOVE all the features! I also just upgraded from my SIEG C3 to one from Little Machine Shop (7550 Deluxe) and it is a whole different world.
Excellent video. I have an AL350B, B for belt drive, and it’s served me well. It had wear and play in it when I purchased it from a mechanical workshop years ago but I’ve learnt to account for that. It was made in 1989 so it doesn’t have all the safety features but honestly they’re a bit of a pain in the arse. Like you, I would remove the chuck guard. The first thing we were taught back in high school, 1976, was to always remove the chuck key and that rule has served me well, touch wood. Nothing like a high velocity chuck key hitting you in the face to remind you. A couple of years ago the motor on my lathe let the smoke out, literally. After chasing around for a replacement (eBay) I couldn’t find another one that would fit so I rang Hare & Forbes / Machinery Warehouse. They explained that the motor has a non standard mount and the output shaft was longer. They also said they had a replacement for mine but it was slightly different, my motor was 1hp but the replacement was 2hp otherwise it was identical. I think it was around $450 delivered and I couldn’t get my credit card out quick enough. I figured that if I get another 30 years out of the new motor then I’m getting excellent value for money and it will see me out. I also felt the backup service from Hare & Forbes was pretty amazing too. Cheers, Stuart. Canberra.
Rather than cutting off the terminals for the chuck guard, you should have just swapped the terminals. Definitely looked like a SPDT switch so would have had NC (normally closed) contacts. Using those contacts would effectively short the terminals unless the switch was pressed.
I would have just connected to 2 terminals together under the 1 screw and fitted the switch back in, so that if the lathe was sold at a leter date, you could switch it back to a stock setup and if the new owner wanted o change things, that they had no comeback if something happened because they modified it and not sold in that condition.
I'm kinda sad that you're giving up the old lathe. It was a joy watching you come up with new ingenious ways to eke out more performance from it and get it to do things it was never meant to do. I hope we get to see you make more improvements to this new lathe too!
There’s a few advantages to not having ground in surfaces on all non essentials, such as knowing non essential/ low tolerance for upgrades. Second the blue is to check engagement as those chucks have the engagement stack tolerance and if you’re getting good ridged contact, the drop of paint will swish and cover the teeth. Hope that helps
I just picked up a Lodge and Shipley AVS 2013 lathe a week or two ago and I just got it into my shop today. I have a Monarch 10ee and a Clausing 4913. I love my Monarch and Clausing but I get needing something bigger, that's why my new L&S is a 20-1/2" swing with 54" between centers 😁. My machine shop has ceased to be a hobby and is now my near full time employment. Keep up the great work I love the videos seeing you squeeze every last bit of efficiency of those small lathes and making super professional parts is always cool.
About time, all you need now is a bandsaw. I upgraded my mini lathe to an AL250g about 4 years ago. Changing chucks between 3 and 4 Jaw, is downright painful, Someone suggested drilling the bolt holes all the way through to the front and then counter bore the front holes, of course, you need to tap threads into the headstock faceplate, I added an additional face plate in between (4 jaw came with a suitable faceplate) to avoid playing with the one on the lathe, this new faceplate bolts on from the rear, but I have never had to remove it. If you get a 4 jaw, then I would highly recommend this mod, takes only a couple of minutes to change the chucks over instead of half an hour. I had to bore the centre of the new faceplate out to fit the MT4 taper, you can also use the threads to hold a bolt to power a dog to turn between centres,
Wow, congratulations on your new lathe! What a step up in capabilities vs. the mini-lathe. You have to still have respect for the little lathe too. It really treated you well even with it's limitations. I'm looking forward to what you make on this new lathe in your upcoming videos!
I own a Sherline lathe and a Logan & Chace lathes but scared of buying something new because of the “little” issues you point here! Bad finishing, sharp strings left behind, and little small detail you and I wouldn’t let go without addressing… for 2600$ !!!!!! Tell me it ain’t that scary!!!!! Thank you for sharing your experience!
best wishes with new purchase. I have same model but different label. done heaps of mods to suit me. I too found fitting chuck quite awkward but notched flange bigger which helps. latest purchase was a full set of change gears ex China. I'm happy with my set up
I am a complete newbie to machining, having bought my first ever lathe about a month ago.... and it is a used Hafco AL-250G! I will definitely be taking a keen interest in your exploits with your new AL-260G from here on in. 👍
Nice. The 10x20 size lathe feels like the transition between hobby and a "real" machine. My lathe is similar but older vintage. I recently scraped the cross slide and tightly fitted gib. When you get tired of making things, you can level up by "taking your lathe to bits" and investing 80 hours in scraping and making gages, and re-fitting the cross slide. But hopefully you'll finish lots of projects before you embark on this side quest.
A few things I had wrong with my lathe. 1. Lots of noise due to an over sized spacer in the thread cutting gearbox 2. Lead screw unscrewed from the gearbox Don't be afraid of calling H&F to send out a technician if necessary. Also, your kit should have an imperial change gear for cutting UNC threads.
Congrats! Definitely do a dro, I thought for years that it was not needed on a lathe until I got one. Makes everything so much easier. Also drop a magnet on a stick into the gear box, theres usually a ton of metal down there from the factory
I bout one strait off the bat, so happy with mine, as will you with yours, keep your crosslide angle at 30 deg I've found it to be the most rigid, it prevented me from breaking parting Inserts lol, went through about $150 worth of inserts lol. Have fun and enjoy, hope to see more videos on the new machine.
Well did I call it a new lathe on the bench. It looks very good and is a good size for the home work shop. There are always up grades to be undertaken on any new equipment, these provide ease of use for better parts. Now what about the job market those newly acquired skills and degree needs to put to work. Have a good week. ⚙🔧👨🎓👨🔧😀
I have an AL250. Highly recommend an oil change and cleanout of the gearbox first up. Mine had a lot of casting sand, grinding dust and burrs in it. It will extend the life of your lathe to do it fist up. Same for the carriage, it had no lubricant and was full of sand. Still a great machine for a hobby shop. I really enjoy you videos and look forward to many more on this new lathe. 🎉
Its like in cars, you repair, tune optimize your old junker to its full potential, but just a week later you trade it in for the new ride you should have gotten in the first place. The old lathe did great, I really enjoyed watching you do all the improvements on it :)
You actually might want to change the oil somewhat soon, get rid of the debris from the initial wear-in. There might be a recommendation on that in the manual.
Great to see the upgrade. Love watching your grass roots approach and the amount of work you do by hand. I have had my HF AL-330 for 25 years and I recently fitted a DRO to it...I should have done that 20 years ago. Best thing I have ever done to it. I too recently upgraded my motor to a 3 phase but used a inverter so I have speed control plus the gearbox this has also made a great difference. The next upgrade is I have here the Clough 42 electronic leadscrew here which I will fit. The only thing I hate about the lathe is the threading side of the gearing and steps. Love your channel and look forward to many more great videos
@@SimjetAU It's a small world, do you watch Mark Presling if so, the Ronald D Sivyer that he named his bridge after was my next-door neighbour back at Gordon Park
So cool that you got a bigger lathe! You've done amazing things with that little one, beyond what most could have. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with this one! A tip- I recently picked up a 9x32 to extend my turning capabilities much like you have, and after reviewing a lot of video advice and tearing into mine I can say this- the best advice I found was to do a full teardown and clean and set it up before even first cuts. There is so much grinding dust and casting sand left in these that the spindle bearings and other components (just as you found in your chuck) will wear prematurely. Mine is resting gently on it's new bench until I complete the rebuild. 😆
Maybe this is lathe heresy but could you use the MT4 dead center to aid in mounting the 3 jaw chuck. put the dead center in and slide the chuck over it. With the jaws slightly loose, rotate the bolts until they pass through the face-plate then get the nuts on. Tighten the jaws around the side of the dead center to center the chuck for the most part. Get the nuts tight enough then using a dead blow hammer as others have suggested, adjust the chuck on the bolts for best run-out. I suppose it requires the dead center to be long enough to be grabbed by the jaws, but it seems like a plausible way to mount the chuck without having to hold it in one hand and thread nuts with the other.
Woooo! Nice upgrade. That’s a dapper lathe. I’m a tad jealous. I doubt you’ll regret the lack of continuous variability. Between the gear head on my mill and the variac electronic control on my lathe I much prefer the gear up or down option. Less fuss in the torque range. I’m super excited to see what you do with this machine.
Nice purchase, I looked at a bigger lathe like this, but due to my budget, I settled on a slightly smaller lathe which I enjoy. I also found grit in my chuck when I got it home and needed to clean it out and grease it. Some people don't mind that their lathe only cuts metric, but it can be handy that the lathe can cut imperial as well, though there is not a lot of imperial if at all machinery here in Australia. I see that to change from the chuck to the face plate or to even use a 4 jaw chuck, you have to unbolt it from the faceplate. Perhaps you might see if there is a mod to allow the quick change from one to another as I see that there is no longer a faceplate made for this lathe unless you machine one up yourself. I probably live within a 15 klm radius from you and I could've lent you my engine hoist that I brought to move such machinery.
I really hope you keep getting new lathes and upgrading them for a few years and then doing again with the next size up. 20 years from now youll have a 10 ft south bend turnado or something doing the same thing!
Love to see it! Something about smol industrial equipment (or, almost-industrial) is just so fun and interesting. I work on Haas CNC Mills but a lathe like this is somehow more alluring to my crafty tendancies. Cheers!
When turning small diameters between centres the crossfeed is restricted with the top slide hitting the tailstock. There are work-arounds which affects riggidity. Chosing the right pitch for screw cutting is limited and will require change gears to be swapped around. There are no "T"slots in the crossslide for line boreing. The tailstock spindle could be bigger. Generally suited for hobby use when time is not an issue. Cheers
as one of your german viewers i feel kind of obligated to ask if you thought of getting a PeWeTools-style quick change multifix toolpost? Both Abom76 and Clough42 have these running and i find it amazing that this just this one german guy making these.
BTW......the chuck guard you tossed is a necessary feature as it can be rolled back for normal work but when you cut brass at speed you tend to get the stuff in your hair, eyes and down your back.......all commercial lathes have a chuck guard that rolls back but is always there for when it's needed, especially when you bore and the coolant sprays out at the chuck face..........it work too when you cut leaded or free cutting steel at speed and the short chips come off like bullets. Next big spend out will be a QCTP....European style.....and probably a coolant system.
We'll deal with that when the time comes, but none of the big lathes i've used have had them. I don't think I'll be doing any flood cooling, mostly relying on drip cooling. We'll wait and see
Ha I knew it, after the last video I knew you were getting a new lathe lol. Congrats! With a few upgrades like a DRO & quick change tool post along with a few others you're going to have a capable little lathe on your hands. 👍👍 Btw the blue paint was for checking the mesh of the gear, looks like they left it on so the owner could see that it was meshed properly from the factory. Those chucks need a lot of deburring and edge easing to make them touch safe, you could see most of the edges were sharp. I cringed in horror when you ran your finger along the Chuck jaw a lot of times that edge is sharp AF. Looking forward to see what you have planned. 👍
Congratulations on the new lathe! Would love to see what upgrades you will be doing on this one! I have the same model, well slightly different but probably from the same factory in China. As said before by others, good machine but the fit and finish is a little lacking. On mine I did a quick disassemble cleanup and deburring. Only issue that I had was that the motor burned out (after the one year warranty expired) with the machine only having worked for about 4 hours runtime, this was caused by the wires at the motor terminals not being fastened correctly. As a side note to this, when replacing the motor I opted not to purchase a replacement from the distributor where I got the lathe as the pricing was ridiculous, little did I know that this 1HP motor is not a standard frame or shaft size (Standard for a 1HP is 80 Frame with a 19mm Shaft, the motor used on the lathe is a 71 Frame with a 16mm Shaft). So after purchasing the new 80 Frame motor I now have to make a new mounting plate to accommodate the different bolt hole pattern and I need to replace the motor pulley. The existing pulley has enough meat in it to bore out and cut a new keyway, but as my lathe isn’t running I can’t do this. The only replacement pulley available has a slightly (63mm vs 57mm) larger diameter so a slight increase in spindle speed will be the result. As for accessories, mine only came with the MT4 and MT3 Dead Centers. Everything else needs to be purchased separately, but the steady and follower rests and faceplate aren’t sold by the distributor. The rests will be quite easy to make on the fly, but the faceplate is a different story as I wasn’t able to find any information regarding the size etc. I have a good cast iron supplier close by so will be able to source raw stock for it. Would you be able to take some measurements and do a rough sketch of yours so I can copy it? I would really appreciate it if you could. Enjoy the new machine and I'm looking forward to seeing all the mods and new projects that will be born from this acquisition!
I've got the AL-320G, fairly similar, but with manual change gears. If you're going to use the thread dial, make sure to deburr the gear and the lead screw key way. Mine caught on a burr... luckily no permanent damage.
That was originally the lathe I was going to buy. It looks like much more solid machine than this. But the lack of a gearbox and having to change pulleys for the high and low gears set me in the 250g
Really enjoy your vids. I visited Sydney recently and saw a couple of Hafco lathes. Forgot to check if they had spindle indexers and carriage locks. I'm sure these will be upgrades you will be aiming for on your AL250.
Now you have a lathe similar size than I have. You don't want to use it on wooden table. It'll ruin the surface quality because you'll easily have vibrations. It also don't stay aligned. First I made a table from thick steel but it wasn't good either. There's an cheap and easy way to make a good table for a lathe like this. I bought two steel barrels with 10€. I cut the top off. On the buttom, I put three steel pipes with threads inside. Then I filled the barrels with large rocks and concrete on the proper height and put a 5mm steel plate with threaded rods in correct spots. After the concrete was hardened, I trimmed the barrels, painted them and put bolts as adjustable legs. Last I bolted my lathe in. Those barrels weight about 300kg per each. They can be moved pretty easily by rolling, if necessary. Lathe stand is very rigid and easy to align using 6 adjustment points. Rocks were free for me and I made my concrete from 0-16mm chippings I had on my yard.
3 thou runout is indeed pretty normal on a 3 jaw chuck like that. Sanou make a set true 3 jaw with soft jaws. I just bought one and am currently filming a review on it. Allegedly it is possible to get it to 5 tenths TIR. I'll be posting that this week in case that is of interest. Mostly I use a collet chuck or my 4 jaw if I need that kind of accuracy, but I've run into a few cases where it would have been really convenient to be able to set the run out of the 3 jaw. The soft jaws are the main reason for getting it though - some good benefits to having those. Anyway - TL;DR. NIce lathe - nice add to the shop.
We're still in mostly planning stages of building a lathe for our shop, been buying a chuck here and there, and everyone has been a basket case like yours, as far as the safety switch goes, think would have extended wires and used as a brake, a simple 3-4 ft piece of diamond steel or aluminum as a brake pedal hooked to opposite post on factory switch on floor could save tooling and crashes. Just couple thoughts/ideas, nice upgrade 👌
Hafco are good machines... I have a Hafco mill.... works really well. When I can afford it, if that ever happens, I'll replace the Boxford lathe with a new Hafco.....
A tip for anyone who needs to move pallets over grass: if you lay a ladder on the ground and grease up the stiles, you can easily slide a several hundred kilo pallet across it by hand. With two ladders, you can build a kind of crude railway, sliding the pallet from one to the other in a leapfrog fashion.
Thanks for sharing that
Yep, that certainly works and works well.
Awesome tip! Thanks a lot.
Great Tip!
As grease you can use soft soap [1] ... if you want to reuse your ladder or wooden beams:)
[1] potassium soaps, "green soap", in German "Schmierseife", I am not sure if "soft soap" is the correct term, as it seems it is also used for hand-washing soaps and the like. I mean the soap with a very viscous consistency, often used to grease rubber when mounting car-windows f.e.
@@dieSpinnt yea, I have used "dish soap for cleaning eating and cookware" before, not on a ladder but just some boards acting as runners, most of it is harmless to yards and washes off easily enough with a hose. Fun side note for lawncare, there was a fad of "liquid aeration" a few years ago... it was a very mild dish soap in a hose end spray bottle
It’s so awesome getting to watch you grow in your machining capabilities! I remember starting out I had a little grizzly lathe and an angle grinder in my parents garage, and now I’ve got 4 full size manual lathes, 2 CNC lathes, 3 manual mills, 4 CNC mills (one of which is horizontal), several surface grinders, heat treat equipment, and much more. It’s just so cool watching others get to expand their machines and abilities as well.
Yeah sure you do. And I have a bridge for sale, 2 high rises, and a donut stand. Maybe some people will believe your BS but I can spot BS a mile away.
dude that’s awesome! how did you expand your machine collection?
@@sasukecruz2000 Hey, thanks man! And thanks for asking! I started machining in high-school with my little grizzly lathe, then joined the military. When I got out, there was a few months where I just didn’t know what the next step was, so I just started messing around with making guns on my mini lathe. A neighbor saw me and offered me a position as an aerospace machinist for the company he was working at, so I did that for about 2 years and learned a ton. The company got bought out, and they decided to outsource machining and sell a bunch of equipment for relatively cheap. So I scrambled on the opportunity, got a loan, bought the equipment and made a bid to be their outsource company. Did that for about 4 years, and made enough to purchase a shop (instead of renting) and buy several more pieces of equipment. Then the company I was doing the work for went under, so I switched to gunsmithing, and I’ve done that for over a decade. I’m very lucky with how it all happened, I was at the right place at the right time and was also willing to take on a huge risk. I know most people aren’t going to expand as rapidly as I did, but I still get excited when other people get to purchase equipment that expands their capabilities.
@@fakerfake1 That's an awesome story. It sounds like a big risk, but at the same time you had a major opportunity you were able to take advantage of. I'm glad it worked out for you. Not surprised the company went under, given they decided to outsource their machining to the person they just fired. Not that using you was bad, in fact it was probably the best deal they could have gotten. Rather their costs went up, and control went down. If you hadn't stepped in, then they'd be working with a brand new manufacturer who didn't have that personal relationship and knowledge.
It did seem to be a lot noisier than what I would have expected. Yes it needs a quick change tool oost and DRO. I'd love to have an upgraded size.
Turning between centers can be a very useful method. You don't need to switch the chuck out for the faceplate and M4 center. Just put a piece of round stock in the chuck and turn a 60° point, and drive the dog with a chuck jaw. I keep such a shop made center and give it a skim cut to true it up every time I use it, so it's always perfect. I made a parallel clamp style dog that fits anything from tiny to about 70mm so I don't need a whole set of dogs.
Yeah, I do the same, been doing that since my apprenticeship days in the 50's.
that intro had such This Old Tony energy, I love it
The paint on the gear was probably used to check gear mesh. I used paint to check the mesh on the ring and pinion on my truck when I rebuilt it. I want this lathe and will be getting one once I get my shop set up. Looks to be easier to set up and get going then the mini lathe which works for me. Looking forward to seeing you useing this to make some cool stuff.
Consider some neodymium magnets in the gear sump to catch chips. It doesn't take much to take out the spindle bearings. If you have a oil drip channel going to the bearings put a few very small magnets in it.
Unfortunately magnetism is a property that requires it be applied to a primarily (roughly 50% or greater) ferrous metal such as steel or cast iron.
It will do nothing for Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Titanium or Plastics and it goes without saying Wood.
There are plenty of industrial environments where steel may be the only metal turned, but the chips flying off those machines would bury a magnet in a heart beat.
That leaves hobby machinist and general purpose machinist who will find theirselves turning any or all Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass, Titanium and Plastics on a regular basis.
I could be wrong, but I envision magnets being buried in fragments of the aforementioned materials further reducing their capacity to attract chips from turning ferrous metals. If the magnets actually do pickup the primary ferrous chips, it may not be worth its presence.
There is another interesting physical property of steel one might consider. If excessive heat is generated during turning operations (common of us hobby machinist when long spiral pieces of steel grow from having less than ideal cutting tools, tool selection, turning speed, or tool to workpiece alignment, as the temperature continues to rise closer to its critical point it will lose its magnetic attractability until the spirals coil down and have landed. Then again, I doubt this is such a concern, if these chips are lucky enough to land on top of the magnet, they will hold once you come to clean it off. More of an issue is having a magnet with a large enough surface area to attract chips from the all of the places turning typically slings them.
I like to use a magnetic roller to clean my garage floor, but also dont enjoy trying to fight the magnet which wont let go of its catch when I want it on the trash.
If you agree the above to be true in your universe of turning, you are going to have to employ methods typically used by a professional machinist; brushes, compressed air and etc.
I have an industrial vacuum mounted to my wall that makes cleaning everything in my garage effortless. Well, only if I didn’t get carried away with using coolant or oil.
That said, you’re thinking outside the box. We just need a new type of magnet!
@@jtbrower what do you imagine the gears in there are made of?
This is to catch bits of the lathe, typically tiny flakes from the gears. If swarf gets in there you have much larger problems.
I too used to have a mini lathe and it drove me crazy due to almost everything I wanted to do would fit and required so much mucking around to complete anything. I then purchased an old Emco V10p which is a similar size to yours and my life has changed. I was so impressed I then went out and bought a separate mill and that was pure luxury. I'll bet you wont regret your new lathe
15 years after selling my old Colchester Student, i went a similar route, small lathe very much like your old one, kept working on it to overcome limitations and finally realised a new, larger lathe was called for. Much the same as yours but with DRO and variable drive (actually the same lathe as Blonihacks uses). never regretted it!! I have a Sanou 160mm 6 jaw chuck with around 10-micron runout on a gauge pin - i tapped it in with DTI and soft blow mallet with the huk mount nuts just tight. Be interested to see the runout on yours after tapping in and the cleaning
Nice purchase and hardened ways this time. There was a multi part article by a guy that had bought a Chinese gear head lathe much like this new one in Model Engineer or similar and he detailed the stripping fettling and re-assembly. He was impressed by the quality and accuracy of the machining but not the assembly, likening the assemblers to monkeys IIRC. One main thing he brought up and I've seen it elsewhere as well, there was still casting sand in the headstock which he thoroughly removed and repainted with oil resistant paint inside. No magnets are going to do anything about loose sand in the headstock if any were to break free.
these beds while induction hardened are actually still just soft enough to scrape, the standard Sandvik scraper inserts hold up better than my Biax blades but you simply need to lap your blades more frequently. the fitting work on these al-250's specifically is hit and miss, one of my students who did a fantastic job scraping in his lathe found the leadscrew support bracket was so severely undersize that engaging the half nuts would cause the motor to fail. hafco replaced the motor under warranty at least twice from memory but when shown the root issue they simply swapped brackets with those on the showroom floor/their stock until they found a slightly thicker bracket. upon measuring it back at the shop it still needed a fairly thick brass shim to get it perfect.
Great video, I cried when you cut those wires to the safety switch. I would have loosened both terminals and moved the one wire to the other and tightened the screws again and put it back in. BASICALLY BOTH WIRES ON 1 TERMINAL.This way if you needed to return it back it would only take a few seconds and nothing gets cut. I’m sorry, it’s my OCD KICKING IN. GREAT VIDEO.ENJOY THE NEW TOY.
My thoughts exactly. I always prefer to make any modifications reversible.
Yeah I had the same reaction plus you can return it to factory if needed
Me too. It’s a problem with a deliberate disregard for safety.
@@melgrossA deliberate disregard for safety?
No offense meant but hes an adult he can make his own arrangments around safety.
@@simonharris8817 well, good luck to you. The reason why we have safety rules is because people are bad at “making their own arrangements around safety.”
As a mini lathe user myself, I'll watch your progress with the new machine with interest. Looks to be much more substantial, yet still small enough for the small workshop 👍 🇬🇧
Hopefully, you will be able to get a four jaw chuck and maybe a collet chuck.
Excellent points about an old-school geared head vs new-fangled variable DC motor.
Regarding the head "loosening up a little bit", the manufacturer recommended running under no load for 20 minutes. I did that in both directions; 20 minutes each way. But mine's a new-fangled variable DC.
The blue paint on the back of the scroll is to check backlash. It doesn't hurt the gearing in any way. It's common to see this in differential gears in cars too for the same reason..
DRO was the best upgrade I did for my lathe after a QCTP speeds up lot. 😀 nice to have a brand new lathe.
Finally a bigger lathe, but please change the oil. You already saw the condition of the chuck. Also give all oil points a good service.
As Mike suggested, run the lathe in as directed in the manual. Then change the headstock oil and drop in a magnet or two to collect swarf. Make sure the headstock lubrication system is working as it is supposed to.
The main reason small lathes have variable spindle speeds is because they are cheaper to build. Look in an old text like "Advanced Machine Work" (which is available on-line) and it gives formulas for generating the intermediate spindle speeds given the lowest and highest speeds desired. It is a logarithmic progression.
The only people who have a need to have the "absolute best" speeds and feeds are tooling and production engineers who are making a quarter-million part run where every second counts and tooling costs must be minimized. In the home shop you have the time to make several lighter cuts and save your tooling and wear on your lathe.
Oil is the elixir of life to your lathe. Clean and wet the bed ways with way oil (or chain saw bar oil which is also sticky and won't run off ways and gears) every day you use the lathe. If the ways look dry... they are. Stop and reach over for the oil can.
Often omitted from the lube charts is the worm gear for the carriage power feed. Disconnect the power from the lathe and feel under the bottom backside of the carriage for the worm. Make sure it is clean and then smear it liberally with grease. If the lathe power feed is used daily, lube the worm monthly. Normal hobby use, lube once every six months.
Hey, thanks for the information. I recently purchased my first lathe and am dealing with rust and other fun things from the previous owner. So, knowing how to keep from having to do this much work again is really helpful. Though re-building the thing is teaching me quite a bit...
Does that thing sound exceptionally loud?
@@n.b.p.davenport7066 No
I got for years a BV20 lathe (8x15), with a gear head. I changed all the spindle and gearbox bearings and it changed it completely. Runout down to 0.002 from 0.01 (SKF standard taper roller), and originally the lathe was with angular bearing.
It was meant to be mounted with either angular or taper, went for taper instead.
You can probably cut imperial thread by modifying the gear box input with a 127 gear somewhere, same for changing the thread list.
Since the rebuild, I got myself a 1 ton lathe, 360x610 from 1950/60. definitely another level.
Yeah for sure, I’m sure there is a ratio that I could find using a 57 or 127 tooth gear. Fingers crossed I can avoid having to :)
With the chuck using three bolts try moving the chuck into 3 different positions rotating the chuck. Also when you find the best setting try backing of the nuts a little and tapping the chuck in as good as you can. If you are happy with the chuck and it is running as true as you can get don't forget to centre punch the chuck to the back plate so you will always know the best position when removing and reconnecting the chuck!
You probably know this already but it saves a lot of headaches. numbering the jaws to their slots on the chuck will help with removing and reinserting them as well!
Enjoy the clean lathe because it will be the last time it is that clean!
You didnt need to cut and solder the wires for that switch, just move one over and it would have completed the circuit, or put both terminals on one screw.
Yeah. I dunno when your in the moment and the camera is rolling sometimes you gloss over the small stuff.
I was thinking the exact same thing, but then being in front of the camera I can also understand artisanmakes blonde moment too.
@@artisanmakesnot only was it unnecessary because you could have just moved one terminal, but soldering and then tape is by far the crappiest (and least reliable) method. Solder is generally a bad idea anywhere near vibrations. Another option are screw terminals, but then you need wire ferrules. Which brings us to simply using WAGOs.
yeah I know
@@artisanmakes You'll remember me in five years when the solder joint breaks and the glue on the tape will have turned back into dinosaur juice
Great to see the new lathe. Regarding the leadscrew: the keyway is for power feeding in both axis and the threads are used only for threading. (If you want to have a look, I have a video showing the internals of a similar gearbox).
Then I’d have to wonder what the worm of for, because I can feel it engaging
The worm rides on the leadscrew (constantly). What you feel engaging should be a gear in the apron. Have a look at my gearbox 😊
Just watched and it’s a great break down. I’ll have so open mine up and see if it’s similar. Still doesn’t explain the third worm wheel. I know for sure that’s not driven by the keyway
@@artisanmakes humm, maybe have a look in the manual, the response might be there!
The manual is a bit vague. Ill have to find out once I find the time to get the apron pulled apart
I had one of this sort of lathe decades ago. I put a 1/2" (12mm) piece of metal under the left end so that coolant will flow away to the right for recycling. I also made a chuck cradle out of scrap timber to aid on/off. On another matter, I put a dab of grease on the tailstock centre to reduce heat stretch problems.
So glad you bought this, I've been mulling over this purchase for weeks and you've really helped. Thanks!
I love seeing people increase the size of their machinery. I learned my lesson with aquariums, the bigger, the better. So my first lathe, and likely the last, is a Pratt & Whitney 16x30 with a 7.5 Hp motor!
Mate, compared to most of the machining videos on youtube, yours are really good and no BS. Coming from a qualified machinist.
*You should reference Stefan Gotteswinters vids on stripping down brand new low cost chucks and how to improve them.*
He gets amazing performance out of them.
Thankyou Artisan. I have a Seig Micro lathe and needed to upgrade to something bigger. I got it cheap at the time and wanted something to hold clock barrel's because I only had a watch making lathe. I've not been too crazy about some of the Chinese lathes due to the low quality and therefore accuracy that you get. I have been considering getting a Myford lathe as they come up on Gumtree from time to time. Seeing your new lathe now has me rethinking which way to go, as I like doing things for motorbikes as well. Really enjoy watching your channel and look forward to the next episode.😁
I love how you over time, slowly shifted your style of content to be similar to This Old Tony, but you manage to deliver those dry, dad jokes the same amazing way, as Tony does. And in the mean time you retain your own charisma, that makes me love your videos
Congratulations on the new lathe. Looking forward to follow this step up (I'm coming from a Vevor MX210V wich has been a dissap...a challenge so far). However I had semi-good experience with their costumer service, which was a surprise.
Honestly I'd check out one of the electronic lead screw packages from some of the other youtubers. Being able to set things like stops, metric/imperial threading through a couple of button presses, is extremely powerful.
If I didn't have the gearbox I would
@@artisanmakes You still can - I did on my al250 and it’s great! It was a lot of work of course but the end result has been one hell of an upgrade! Thanks.
Sure but is it really necessary?
@@artisanmakes hes not wrong and its one of those type of improvements thatll have you woondering how the heck you ever lived without it.
Yeah but I already have the gearbox to the lead screw. I don’t see why you’d need to add the ELS
Recently got myself a Hafco AL51g lathe, the model down from this one. Not a bad little unit, but I took a bit of advice and stripped down the carriage. There was an astonishing amount of crap and grinding residue still inside, and I also stripped down the 3 jaw chuck and got a fair bit of swarf out of that. Sure they’re not all that bad, but worth checking out for future longevity.
I’m looking at buying the AL51G Lathe, have you had your for awhile and are you happy with it?
@@bruceyork5260 had mine for a couple of months now, it’s my first lathe that I’m learning machining on. Pretty happy with it but like a lot of these smaller units rigidity is an issue. I’ve upgraded the compound mount / clamp down to one with 4 bolts not 2, seems to help a bit. Some people upgrade the headstock bearings too, I might have a go at that sometime. Overall I’d say it’s a capable machine but you’ve got to be working within its limitations.
I would pull the compound, cross slide and carriage/saddle apart and clean/deburr everything. I'd run the machine through the whole gear range running 10-15 minutes at each setting. Then drain and flush the gearbox and replace with fresh gear oil. The same grit you found in the chuck; you will find in the gearbox. Good luck with the new lathe!
I invested in a Engine hoist for getting my equipment in my garage. Such a handy tool to have. I also made a DIY pallet mover out of some boards and trolley wheels.
I find the best cheapest way to degrease and clean parts like that chuck, is to strip it completely, warm all the parts up in the oven, then drown them in a strong mix of boiling water and washing up liquid, and scrub with a cheap paint brush.
Rinse in more boiling water, then dry in a warm place (oven again if necessary). Next you can use a degreaser such as brake cleaner etc. This method works on everything from engines to guns. The gearbox may need doing too.
Good luck with your new lathe. Now I’m a bit jealous.
Oh, as others have said, magnets, deeper splash tray, refit the rear splash guard with an opalescent Perspex light panel (with variable LEDs behind) to illuminate your chuck/work area.
Peace
I love the way this channel is moving forward, have been watching (on and off to be honest) since you bought that little bugger lathe, then came the mill, and soo on. Over those years I have bought different equipment for my shop, I am in Europe soo most off it was big used old stuff, but I still found these videos helpful. Keep up the good work!
I am certain you will LOVE all the features! I also just upgraded from my SIEG C3 to one from Little Machine Shop (7550 Deluxe) and it is a whole different world.
Excellent video. I have an AL350B, B for belt drive, and it’s served me well. It had wear and play in it when I purchased it from a mechanical workshop years ago but I’ve learnt to account for that. It was made in 1989 so it doesn’t have all the safety features but honestly they’re a bit of a pain in the arse. Like you, I would remove the chuck guard. The first thing we were taught back in high school, 1976, was to always remove the chuck key and that rule has served me well, touch wood. Nothing like a high velocity chuck key hitting you in the face to remind you. A couple of years ago the motor on my lathe let the smoke out, literally. After chasing around for a replacement (eBay) I couldn’t find another one that would fit so I rang Hare & Forbes / Machinery Warehouse. They explained that the motor has a non standard mount and the output shaft was longer. They also said they had a replacement for mine but it was slightly different, my motor was 1hp but the replacement was 2hp otherwise it was identical. I think it was around $450 delivered and I couldn’t get my credit card out quick enough. I figured that if I get another 30 years out of the new motor then I’m getting excellent value for money and it will see me out.
I also felt the backup service from Hare & Forbes was pretty amazing too.
Cheers, Stuart. Canberra.
Rather than cutting off the terminals for the chuck guard, you should have just swapped the terminals. Definitely looked like a SPDT switch so would have had NC (normally closed) contacts. Using those contacts would effectively short the terminals unless the switch was pressed.
Oh well, you miss these things when you’re in the moment
I would have just connected to 2 terminals together under the 1 screw and fitted the switch back in, so that if the lathe was sold at a leter date, you could switch it back to a stock setup and if the new owner wanted o change things, that they had no comeback if something happened because they modified it and not sold in that condition.
I'm kinda sad that you're giving up the old lathe. It was a joy watching you come up with new ingenious ways to eke out more performance from it and get it to do things it was never meant to do. I hope we get to see you make more improvements to this new lathe too!
Same. I now that's what brought me to the channel, and helped convince me to get my lathe.
If he continues upgrading this one to the extent he did the other, pretty soon he'll be turning train wheels.
Looks like a sweet upgrade. The QC gearbox makes getting a nice finish so much easier.
There’s a few advantages to not having ground in surfaces on all non essentials, such as knowing non essential/ low tolerance for upgrades. Second the blue is to check engagement as those chucks have the engagement stack tolerance and if you’re getting good ridged contact, the drop of paint will swish and cover the teeth. Hope that helps
I just picked up a Lodge and Shipley AVS 2013 lathe a week or two ago and I just got it into my shop today. I have a Monarch 10ee and a Clausing 4913. I love my Monarch and Clausing but I get needing something bigger, that's why my new L&S is a 20-1/2" swing with 54" between centers 😁. My machine shop has ceased to be a hobby and is now my near full time employment. Keep up the great work I love the videos seeing you squeeze every last bit of efficiency of those small lathes and making super professional parts is always cool.
About time, all you need now is a bandsaw. I upgraded my mini lathe to an AL250g about 4 years ago. Changing chucks between 3 and 4 Jaw, is downright painful, Someone suggested drilling the bolt holes all the way through to the front and then counter bore the front holes, of course, you need to tap threads into the headstock faceplate, I added an additional face plate in between (4 jaw came with a suitable faceplate) to avoid playing with the one on the lathe, this new faceplate bolts on from the rear, but I have never had to remove it. If you get a 4 jaw, then I would highly recommend this mod, takes only a couple of minutes to change the chucks over instead of half an hour. I had to bore the centre of the new faceplate out to fit the MT4 taper, you can also use the threads to hold a bolt to power a dog to turn between centres,
I agree regarding bolt on chucks, when I brought my lathe a deal breaker for me the lathe had to have a quick change D1-4.
I like that your videos are crossing into This Old Tony territory
Wow, congratulations on your new lathe! What a step up in capabilities vs. the mini-lathe. You have to still have respect for the little lathe too. It really treated you well even with it's limitations. I'm looking forward to what you make on this new lathe in your upcoming videos!
I own a Sherline lathe and a Logan & Chace lathes but scared of buying something new because of the “little” issues you point here! Bad finishing, sharp strings left behind, and little small detail you and I wouldn’t let go without addressing… for 2600$ !!!!!! Tell me it ain’t that scary!!!!!
Thank you for sharing your experience!
congrats on the new lathe. I took the plunge 2 yrs ago and got a new AL336D. great unit
I cannot think of anyone that is more deserving, well done Sir and I look forwards to the upgrades and the new parts/tools you will be fabricating.
best wishes with new purchase. I have same model but different label. done heaps of mods to suit me. I too found fitting chuck quite awkward but notched flange bigger which helps. latest purchase was a full set of change gears ex China.
I'm happy with my set up
I got the AL-51GG for the price it does what you need. Would have preferred your model but it is what it is.
Neat. I had a quick look at the 51G when I was at the warehouse. Looks to be a solid machine, ive seen quite a few people use them on youtube
A gear head in that size!? That’s freaking awesome! Congrats, you are gonna love that gear head.
I am a complete newbie to machining, having bought my first ever lathe about a month ago.... and it is a used Hafco AL-250G! I will definitely be taking a keen interest in your exploits with your new AL-260G from here on in. 👍
That is awesome. Pretty good lathe eh :)
Nice. The 10x20 size lathe feels like the transition between hobby and a "real" machine. My lathe is similar but older vintage. I recently scraped the cross slide and tightly fitted gib. When you get tired of making things, you can level up by "taking your lathe to bits" and investing 80 hours in scraping and making gages, and re-fitting the cross slide. But hopefully you'll finish lots of projects before you embark on this side quest.
I didn't expect it so soon either :o . Or the last video.
Kudos and cheers on the future projects you'll be able to do !
A few things I had wrong with my lathe.
1. Lots of noise due to an over sized spacer in the thread cutting gearbox
2. Lead screw unscrewed from the gearbox
Don't be afraid of calling H&F to send out a technician if necessary.
Also, your kit should have an imperial change gear for cutting UNC threads.
thanks, its hard to find competent reviews on this lathe, very useful info
Congrats! Definitely do a dro, I thought for years that it was not needed on a lathe until I got one. Makes everything so much easier. Also drop a magnet on a stick into the gear box, theres usually a ton of metal down there from the factory
I bout one strait off the bat, so happy with mine, as will you with yours, keep your crosslide angle at 30 deg I've found it to be the most rigid, it prevented me from breaking parting Inserts lol, went through about $150 worth of inserts lol.
Have fun and enjoy, hope to see more videos on the new machine.
Very happy to see those carbide tools working as hard as they're supposed to.
Well did I call it a new lathe on the bench. It looks very good and is a good size for the home work shop. There are always up grades to be undertaken on any new equipment, these provide ease of use for better parts. Now what about the job market those newly acquired skills and degree needs to put to work. Have a good week. ⚙🔧👨🎓👨🔧😀
I appreciate the subtle tribute to This Old Tony
Congratulations on your purchase! Looks like a *solid* little lathe!
I have an AL250. Highly recommend an oil change and cleanout of the gearbox first up. Mine had a lot of casting sand, grinding dust and burrs in it. It will extend the life of your lathe to do it fist up. Same for the carriage, it had no lubricant and was full of sand. Still a great machine for a hobby shop. I really enjoy you videos and look forward to many more on this new lathe. 🎉
Thanks for the tip. Couldn't find a huge amount of into on this lathe online before buying it. So ill probably line that up in the next week or two
Its like in cars, you repair, tune optimize your old junker to its full potential, but just a week later you trade it in for the new ride you should have gotten in the first place. The old lathe did great, I really enjoyed watching you do all the improvements on it :)
You actually might want to change the oil somewhat soon, get rid of the debris from the initial wear-in. There might be a recommendation on that in the manual.
You can't buy a lathe that nice in the US. My congratulations on your new lathe! You chose wisely. Good luck!
Great to see the upgrade. Love watching your grass roots approach and the amount of work you do by hand. I have had my HF AL-330 for 25 years and I recently fitted a DRO to it...I should have done that 20 years ago. Best thing I have ever done to it. I too recently upgraded my motor to a 3 phase but used a inverter so I have speed control plus the gearbox this has also made a great difference. The next upgrade is I have here the Clough 42 electronic leadscrew here which I will fit. The only thing I hate about the lathe is the threading side of the gearing and steps. Love your channel and look forward to many more great videos
Is that the Mark Kyle, just up the road from me (several streets and a creek), that used to live across from the Wooloowin state school?
@@graemetho9805 yes it is
@@SimjetAU It's a small world, do you watch Mark Presling if so, the Ronald D Sivyer that he named his bridge after was my next-door neighbour back at Gordon Park
A Video with a HINT of This Old Tony :) *love it*
So cool that you got a bigger lathe! You've done amazing things with that little one, beyond what most could have. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with this one!
A tip- I recently picked up a 9x32 to extend my turning capabilities much like you have, and after reviewing a lot of video advice and tearing into mine I can say this- the best advice I found was to do a full teardown and clean and set it up before even first cuts. There is so much grinding dust and casting sand left in these that the spindle bearings and other components (just as you found in your chuck) will wear prematurely. Mine is resting gently on it's new bench until I complete the rebuild. 😆
Maybe this is lathe heresy but could you use the MT4 dead center to aid in mounting the 3 jaw chuck. put the dead center in and slide the chuck over it. With the jaws slightly loose, rotate the bolts until they pass through the face-plate then get the nuts on. Tighten the jaws around the side of the dead center to center the chuck for the most part. Get the nuts tight enough then using a dead blow hammer as others have suggested, adjust the chuck on the bolts for best run-out.
I suppose it requires the dead center to be long enough to be grabbed by the jaws, but it seems like a plausible way to mount the chuck without having to hold it in one hand and thread nuts with the other.
Woooo! Nice upgrade. That’s a dapper lathe. I’m a tad jealous. I doubt you’ll regret the lack of continuous variability. Between the gear head on my mill and the variac electronic control on my lathe I much prefer the gear up or down option. Less fuss in the torque range. I’m super excited to see what you do with this machine.
When chucks are ground in they only use one key hole. Try all three, one will likely be a lot less runout. Then just always use that one.
Nice purchase, I looked at a bigger lathe like this, but due to my budget, I settled on a slightly smaller lathe which I enjoy. I also found grit in my chuck when I got it home and needed to clean it out and grease it. Some people don't mind that their lathe only cuts metric, but it can be handy that the lathe can cut imperial as well, though there is not a lot of imperial if at all machinery here in Australia.
I see that to change from the chuck to the face plate or to even use a 4 jaw chuck, you have to unbolt it from the faceplate. Perhaps you might see if there is a mod to allow the quick change from one to another as I see that there is no longer a faceplate made for this lathe unless you machine one up yourself.
I probably live within a 15 klm radius from you and I could've lent you my engine hoist that I brought to move such machinery.
Congratulations!! On the new lathe
Outstanding. I just did the same thing. Upgraded to Little Machineshop 7500. I couldn't be happer. LOVE it. Power CrossSlide is a MUST.
I really hope you keep getting new lathes and upgrading them for a few years and then doing again with the next size up. 20 years from now youll have a 10 ft south bend turnado or something doing the same thing!
i love the TOT energy this video has
Love to see it! Something about smol industrial equipment (or, almost-industrial) is just so fun and interesting. I work on Haas CNC Mills but a lathe like this is somehow more alluring to my crafty tendancies. Cheers!
Got a lotta "This Old Tony" vibes from this video. Love it
blue paint on gears is to check the mesh of the gears... was it even or uneven
When turning small diameters between centres the crossfeed is restricted with the top slide hitting the tailstock. There are work-arounds which affects riggidity. Chosing the right pitch for screw cutting is limited and will require change gears to be swapped around. There are no "T"slots in the crossslide for line boreing. The tailstock spindle could be bigger. Generally suited for hobby use when time is not an issue. Cheers
as one of your german viewers i feel kind of obligated to ask if you thought of getting a PeWeTools-style quick change multifix toolpost? Both Abom76 and Clough42 have these running and i find it amazing that this just this one german guy making these.
I’d love to but I can’t pass up the opportunity to try and make some type of dovetail QCTP. Myself
BTW......the chuck guard you tossed is a necessary feature as it can be rolled back for normal work but when you cut brass at speed you tend to get the stuff in your hair, eyes and down your back.......all commercial lathes have a chuck guard that rolls back but is always there for when it's needed, especially when you bore and the coolant sprays out at the chuck face..........it work too when you cut leaded or free cutting steel at speed and the short chips come off like bullets.
Next big spend out will be a QCTP....European style.....and probably a coolant system.
We'll deal with that when the time comes, but none of the big lathes i've used have had them. I don't think I'll be doing any flood cooling, mostly relying on drip cooling. We'll wait and see
Ha I knew it, after the last video I knew you were getting a new lathe lol. Congrats! With a few upgrades like a DRO & quick change tool post along with a few others you're going to have a capable little lathe on your hands. 👍👍
Btw the blue paint was for checking the mesh of the gear, looks like they left it on so the owner could see that it was meshed properly from the factory.
Those chucks need a lot of deburring and edge easing to make them touch safe, you could see most of the edges were sharp. I cringed in horror when you ran your finger along the Chuck jaw a lot of times that edge is sharp AF. Looking forward to see what you have planned. 👍
I’m very jealous. This is the model I should have bought.
In my ignorance I bought the model below this.
Congrats buddy! Those darn mini lathes are a gateway drug. Looking forward to your projects with this extra pep to really flex your skills.
Congratulations on the new lathe! Would love to see what upgrades you will be doing on this one!
I have the same model, well slightly different but probably from the same factory in China. As said before by others, good machine but the fit and finish is a little lacking. On mine I did a quick disassemble cleanup and deburring. Only issue that I had was that the motor burned out (after the one year warranty expired) with the machine only having worked for about 4 hours runtime, this was caused by the wires at the motor terminals not being fastened correctly. As a side note to this, when replacing the motor I opted not to purchase a replacement from the distributor where I got the lathe as the pricing was ridiculous, little did I know that this 1HP motor is not a standard frame or shaft size (Standard for a 1HP is 80 Frame with a 19mm Shaft, the motor used on the lathe is a 71 Frame with a 16mm Shaft). So after purchasing the new 80 Frame motor I now have to make a new mounting plate to accommodate the different bolt hole pattern and I need to replace the motor pulley. The existing pulley has enough meat in it to bore out and cut a new keyway, but as my lathe isn’t running I can’t do this. The only replacement pulley available has a slightly (63mm vs 57mm) larger diameter so a slight increase in spindle speed will be the result.
As for accessories, mine only came with the MT4 and MT3 Dead Centers. Everything else needs to be purchased separately, but the steady and follower rests and faceplate aren’t sold by the distributor. The rests will be quite easy to make on the fly, but the faceplate is a different story as I wasn’t able to find any information regarding the size etc. I have a good cast iron supplier close by so will be able to source raw stock for it. Would you be able to take some measurements and do a rough sketch of yours so I can copy it? I would really appreciate it if you could.
Enjoy the new machine and I'm looking forward to seeing all the mods and new projects that will be born from this acquisition!
I've got the AL-320G, fairly similar, but with manual change gears.
If you're going to use the thread dial, make sure to deburr the gear and the lead screw key way. Mine caught on a burr... luckily no permanent damage.
That was originally the lathe I was going to buy. It looks like much more solid machine than this. But the lack of a gearbox and having to change pulleys for the high and low gears set me in the 250g
Interesting, didn't see that coming, since you just did the motor upgrade, but it'll be interesting to see you use the new capabilities👍👍👍
Awesome review. I've had one on my wish list for years. Tempting now while they are having the sales on
I couldnt tell you the last time i hand fed a carriage that had power feed, except to sneak up to my zero. Thats pretty much obsolete.
Really enjoy your vids. I visited Sydney recently and saw a couple of Hafco lathes. Forgot to check if they had spindle indexers and carriage locks. I'm sure these will be upgrades you will be aiming for on your AL250.
The best upgrade to any lathe is to get a second lathe. Having 2 (or more) will open up a whole new world to you.
Blue paint for checking tooth engagement. Something similar is done on axles when regearing for vehicle differentials.
Now you have a lathe similar size than I have. You don't want to use it on wooden table. It'll ruin the surface quality because you'll easily have vibrations. It also don't stay aligned.
First I made a table from thick steel but it wasn't good either. There's an cheap and easy way to make a good table for a lathe like this.
I bought two steel barrels with 10€. I cut the top off. On the buttom, I put three steel pipes with threads inside. Then I filled the barrels with large rocks and concrete on the proper height and put a 5mm steel plate with threaded rods in correct spots.
After the concrete was hardened, I trimmed the barrels, painted them and put bolts as adjustable legs. Last I bolted my lathe in.
Those barrels weight about 300kg per each. They can be moved pretty easily by rolling, if necessary. Lathe stand is very rigid and easy to align using 6 adjustment points.
Rocks were free for me and I made my concrete from 0-16mm chippings I had on my yard.
Hello, Did you notice any difference in the electric bill now that you have 3-phase power?
No not really.
3 thou runout is indeed pretty normal on a 3 jaw chuck like that. Sanou make a set true 3 jaw with soft jaws. I just bought one and am currently filming a review on it. Allegedly it is possible to get it to 5 tenths TIR. I'll be posting that this week in case that is of interest. Mostly I use a collet chuck or my 4 jaw if I need that kind of accuracy, but I've run into a few cases where it would have been really convenient to be able to set the run out of the 3 jaw. The soft jaws are the main reason for getting it though - some good benefits to having those. Anyway - TL;DR. NIce lathe - nice add to the shop.
We're still in mostly planning stages of building a lathe for our shop, been buying a chuck here and there, and everyone has been a basket case like yours, as far as the safety switch goes, think would have extended wires and used as a brake, a simple 3-4 ft piece of diamond steel or aluminum as a brake pedal hooked to opposite post on factory switch on floor could save tooling and crashes. Just couple thoughts/ideas, nice upgrade 👌
Best luck with building that lathe then :)
Hafco are good machines... I have a Hafco mill.... works really well. When I can afford it, if that ever happens, I'll replace the Boxford lathe with a new Hafco.....
I love how in the intro you didn't leave the chuck key in the chuck, nice touch.