Another G0766 Arrival

[Robert Willing]

Got my G0766 Wednesday and with the help of my son we unloaded it from my trailer and put it together on Thursday. Other than a little confusion on the truck terminal where I picked it up all went well (UPS Freight LTL is actually US Special Delivery Freight up here and they have two different terminals within the same town). The only damaged carton was on the hydraulic lift table I ordered as well to facilitate the moving and assembly. The unpacking took about 20 minutes and most of the time was spent unscrewing the bolts holding the legs in place.

I have not installed the banjo and tool rest. Just concerned with the post diameter being less than 1", and the head stock and tail stock not being on the same centers.

How can I tell what size the new banjo is to be so I can check mine and determine if I will be getting a different one.

The packaging was excellent no internal or external damage. I think I will make drawers for my tools with the packing plywood.

I hooked it up to power and everything ran just great. There is a label in very fine print stating that the lathe will not run once the panic stop button is pressed and you need to go to the reset mode.?

I will critique more later stay tuned!

[Brice Rogers]

Got my G0766 Wednesday ...

I have not installed the banjo and tool rest. Just concerned with the post diameter being less than 1", and the head stock and tail stock not being on the same centers.

How can I tell what size the new banjo is to be so I can check mine and determine if I will be getting a different one.

... There is a label in very fine print stating that the lathe will not run once the panic stop button is pressed and you need to go to the reset mode.?

I will critique more later stay tuned!

The original (undersized) banjo was about 11-5/8 long. The new one is about 18 inches long. Some owners had tolerance issues with the banjo and sliding washer inside of it. In the last 10 days, Grizzly has sent out a new sliding washer that is about 1/8 inch larger in diameter and while is not supposed to get stuck sideways under the banjo. Check out the discussion on the Grizzly Green Monster Group. I have posted the dimensions of the old and new washer.

25mm Tool rest versus 1". I didn't particularly like the original tool rest and wanted to make some special purpose rests or be able to easily buy (versus custom order). Since I live in the US, 1" diameter steel is readily available, whereas 25 mm steel bar would either be a special order or would require machining. So I "bit the bullet" and bought a 1" Silver and Deming drill bit (with 1/2 inch shank). I clamped it to the drillpress (important unless you like triangular holes) and drilled the banjo out. The drill bit drilled a little undersized, so I ended up using sandpaper on a dowel to open it a few more thousanths. The whole job was perhaps 1/2 hour.

Your comment about the headstock and tailstock not being on the same centers puzzles me. When I got mine in September, I put in a spur center and a live center and slid the tailstock towards the headstock. The two lined up nicely. Are you talking about a small amount of difference, or is either your headstock or tailstock the wrong part?

[Roger Chandler]

Robert......the centers on my G0766 line up perfectly. I suspect you have not leveled the bed ways nor the leveling feet on your unit. It is ESSENTIAL that you level the bed front to back, side to side and diagonally. If you do that your centers will align with one another. What happens is that if the bed is torqued just a smidgen out of level it will affect the alignment of centers on your lathe.

You should not be concerned about the 25mm tool rest post. Just know that as with most manufactured equipment that comes from overseas, there are metric items .......true on most cars, etc. Such an easy adjustment to make to imperial dimensions [1"] This lathe is also sold in Europe and other places on the planet that use metric dimensions, here we like to use inches........just enlarge the hole a smidgen with a 1" twist drill bit, and have it spinning slowly before you ever make contact with the hole.......best to use a drill press and have your banjo clamped to the drill press table for stability and safety.......use oil to lubricate the cut!

[Robert Willing]

I'll check now that I have the lathe in it's final resting spot, but yesterday I had to lift or nudge the head stock to get them to align after putting in the spur and live center. I have not put a level to them just glad my daughter was here to help get my old lathe and new lathe in different spots. That hydraulic lift table sure comes in handy. I do things a little at a time. Tomorrow I will do more and let you know how everything goes. By the way I do plan on getting a 1" drill bit and I do have a DP.

TBC!

[Brice Rogers]

Robert,

My tailstock and headstock align nicely.

I think that the bed of the lathe twists a bit. I have a 60 or 70 pound bucket of sand on a shelf at each end. Although I had adjusted the feet levelers so that all were touching the floor, I think that one of the legs was not holding its fair share of the weight. So, when I put in a heavy unbalanced log, I felt the lathe vibrating. I put my fingers at the point where the levelers touched the floor and could feel that the foot was moving a bit. I tried adjusting it, but couldn't get it perfect.

Eventually, I used a hydraulic jack on the floor to push up against the underside of the lathe ways and raised the two legs under the headstock off of the floor by perhaps 0.050 ". Because I was raising the lathe that high, the legs were dangling and I knew that there was essentially no twist in the bed. Then I adjusted the two legs until the gap was equal on both legs. I then slipped a disk of some inner-tube rubber under each of those two adjusters and lowered the lathe. I found that it does MUCH MUCH better without out-of-balance loads. Eventually, I'm going to increase my ballast to perhaps 300-400 pounds. But in the mean time I'm getting used to turning bigger things.

[Jeramie Johnson]

At first, I thought my tailstock and headstock were off on my '0766, but after checking everything and using non-Grizzly live center, found the Grizz live center was not true. They sent me a new one quickly.

[Robert Willing]

I must have the new banjo it is 17 1/4" long. Just need to get a 27mm wrench, hate to use an adjustable but will until I can get one. Grizzly mentions adjusting it as part of the PM. I also think I have the one with the better guide washer because there was a note in the box stating the change. I was also expecting them to mention the newer banjo but they did not. So I guess I am up to date.

[Roger Chandler]

I must have the new banjo it is 17 1/4" long. Just need to get a 27mm wrench, hate to use an adjustable but will until I can get one. Grizzly mentions adjusting it as part of the PM. I also think I have the one with the better guide washer because there was a note in the box stating the change. I was also expecting them to mention the newer banjo but they did not. So I guess I am up to date.

You are correct Robert......you got the updated banjo. I think they are likely shipping out with the new part standard issue now.

Update: went to the mailbox this afternoon, and my new Grizzly catalog was in it. Page 144 clearly shows the updated banjo [featured in pic insert of its own] and it is what is being shipped with all new 0766 units.

[Robert Willing]

I leveled the bed and now the head and tail stock align as close as my eyes can determine. Thanks for the instructable all:)

[Leonard Niemi]

Robust lathe will custom make tool rest for the G0766.