New Rikon Lathe

[John Meikrantz]

Finally got a Rikon lathe, after looking at many other brands of mini-lathes. My decision was helped by some of the comments here on SMC, and so far I am thrilled! A few minor glitches with fit and finish, but nothing too bad. One minor problem is the live center. The point is not centered perfectly in the cup, so it spins a little eccentricly. (Not bad, maybe 1/64" of an inch or so). The cup itself is centered, just the point is off. Is there a way to adjust the center? I see there is a "mini" knockout bar for the tail center, but I can't figure out how it works. Is this level of eccentricity a problem? So far I've turned a few practice shapes, and it hasn't seemed to make any difference...

Thanks,

John

[Lloyd Frisbee]

John,
I also picked up my Rikon on tuesday. I couldn't figure out the tiny knockout bar either. It comes with a bigger one for the headstock. This is a replacement for my HF piece of junk lathe. Had some trouble installing the tool rack screws. Clogged threads I think. My wife was the first to use it with a longworth chuck to finish the bottom of a bowl she turned. Her lathe is currently being used in a Bonnie Klein workshop here at our club. We will have her demo on sunday. We met her last night.

Lloyd
Silicon Valley Woodturners
San Jose, CA

[Don Baer]

John,
I would take the live center back to the store. I assume you bought it from woodcraft. I am sure they would replace it.

I've had mine for over a month and realy love it.

[Jason Boushard]

tap the point out and reseat it the point comes out so it can be replaced maybe its just not centered

[Corey Hallagan]

Congrats on the new lathe, hope it works well for you!

Corey

[Keith Christopher]

You'll love the new lathe, I LOVE mine ! Congrats !

[Jim Davenport]

Congrat's on the new Rikon. You'll really enjoy it. I love mine.
I think they changed the design of the tailstock so it will self eject the center. I believe the short drift rod is a left over from the original design. I can't figure any other use for it.
I've never used the live center that came with it. I had a good one, that I used with the shopsmith, I just use that.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

The center points can be replaced. I think that they run about .50.

Might try a new one to make sure where the problem is.

Bruce

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on the new lathe John. Heard a lot of good things about the Rikon. Have fun and enjoy.

[John Meikrantz]

tap the point out and reseat it the point comes out so it can be replaced maybe its just not centered

I can't seem to get the point out of the center. The lathe came with a small tommy bar for that, but it wasn't explained anywhere in the instructions, and my feeble attempts to use it didn't seem to have any effect on moving the point. Do I just need to whack it harder?

John