The General has arrived!

[Gary DeWitt]

Well, I did get that 16" General, hauled it home and set it up. So far, I only roughed out a 13" bowl, starting from a very unbalanced chunk of wood. I found I had to start at around 75 RPM and slowly, over the next hour, was able to get it up to around 300. If I went any faster, the lathe threatened to tip over, seemed kind of like a harmonic self increasing shimmy, like that bridge that went down in the wind. I'm thinking of building a plywood box to replace the tool tray they supply, leaving a bit of room on top for tools, and filling it with sand, should hold several hundred pounds. See the last picture, the blue area. The box should also eliminate any flex in the legs. What do you think? Should this help?
Other than that, I am really pleased with it, runs very smooth and very strong. I'm looking forward to getting the chuck adapter from Oneway and getting my vacuum chuck set up on this machine and just turning up a storm! My wife figures she'll have to come dig me out of the shavings now and then for meals...

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Let me be the first to congratulate you Gary!!

Looks great!

I'd just build the sandbox below the existing tool tray, I'm sure the amount of sand you can get in there will be enough, and you keep your tool tray.

Make the sandbox go nearly to the floor, less floor that needs sweeping :D

I found that with my DVR, the sandbox made a HUGE difference, make sure you buy the dry sand, not the stuff or mixing concrete, you don't want mould in there, and one more thing, leave the sand in bags if you can, then if you have to move the lathe, you can just remove the sand bags, instead of having to scoop out the sand.

Looks really good, I guess we can add this lathe to the list of under $2000 lathes!

Cheers!

Edit;

...........looks like you could fill them legs with sand as well........?

[Keith Burns]

Congrats Gary :) :) :) Nice looking machine. Just be thankful you can go down low now on the speed. It is like with anything new, it takes a little time to figure it out and get used to it.

[Dennis Peacock]

Very nice lathe there Gary.!!! General made/makes some pretty good machines. That one should server you well for a long time. Congratulations!!! :D

[CORY FETZER]

congrats gary wish i could afford one like that right out the shoot i know small steps

cory

[Karl Laustrup]

Nice lathe Gary. Looks like it should serve you well for many years.

Looks like you should cover the saw. Might as well so it doesn't collect a lot of dust. :eek: :D

Karl

[Bill Grumbine]

Very nice Gary. The sand will help, but not as much as if you add a couple of extensions to the legs. Where the feet bolt on, you can add some dimensional lumber to extend the footprint out to form an inverted T shape looking at the lathe on end. That will increase the stability incredibly. I do not know where the centers are in relation to your own height, but if needed, you can also make the stand to move the lathe so that the centers are close to your elbow height. That makes for more comfort while turning. Then add your sand.

I built a stand years ago for my Nova and filled hollow plywood pillars with sand. I was able to remove it very quickly with a shop vac. Someone on one of the forums suggested that, and it works very well!

Good luck with it.

Bill

[John Shuk]

Gary,
Looks like you are going to join the many other happy General owners!
John

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

..................... I was able to remove it very quickly with a shop vac.................

Bill

Good idea, I'm going to have to try to remember that one! :D

Wide Heavy Stands do work well!!

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/lathe/stand_ballast.jpg

Cheers!

[Mark Pruitt]

...leave the sand in bags if you can, then if you have to move the lathe, you can just remove the sand bags, instead of having to scoop out the sand....
I went the extra step of "bagging the bags"--double garbage bags--to help prevent an accidental puncture/spill.

Gary, congratulations! I like Bill's idea of using dimensional lumber to stabilize the unit. That sounds like the easiest solution.

Enjoy!!!

PS--ONLY a 13" bowl for starters???? Geez, Gary, you gotta get away from that tiny stuff!:D :D :D

[Andy Hoyt]

All right Gary. Canadian Iron rocks!

Too bad about the shimmy shimmy coco bop; but here's something that might help. It's hard to tell from your pics (or General's webpage) but I'm guessing that the two legs have four levelers each. It's essential that each leveler contact the floor and share the load equally. It is not essential that the lathe be level. So....

By whatever means available raise the lathe up off the floor about two and a half snoodges. Then bring each leveler at the tailstock end down to meet the floor firmly and evenly. Make sure the head stock is still fully off the floor. Bring the two levelers on the back side of the headstock down down to meet the floor firmly. Mount a chunk of something heavy and do so such that it is definitely out of balance. Turn on the lathe at the slowest speed and gradually increase rpms until the shimmying begins. Leave the lathe running with the shimmy and now bring the remaining two levelers down to the floor firmly. As you do so, you should notice that the shimmying disipates. Adjust and fiddle with it as required 'til it's gone. And again - the lathe does not need to be level.

This has worked very well for me on a number of machines for myself and friends. Good luck.

[Corey Hallagan]

Congrats Gary, that's a great looking machine!

Corey

[Paul Engle]

nice score man:D , dont forget to static balance you chuck to the new lathe, that will help keep the lope down, each one is different.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Gary. That is a good looking piece of machinery. I think if you widened the footprint with 300 lbs or so of sand you should be able to turn anything. Nice one Gary.

[Cecil Arnold]

Great looking lathe Gary. Andy and Bill seem to have the shimmy problem nailed down. Did the residual check come in?

[George Conklin]

Hi, Gary.

What a great looking lathe. I have always been a big fan of the General lathe. Maybe because it's what I have seen many of the guys on the videos using.
Good luck with her. Now go out and turn something nice:) .

[Gary DeWitt]

Thanks everyone for your kind missives, and especially Bill and Andy for the advice.
Larger footprint sounds good, my Delta midi is on a stand that widens at the bottom in all directions. Seems odd this 400lb behemoth (to me) has straight legs. I'll need to use steel plate, as the spindle is already a scosh above my elbow with the current feet.

Andy - sounds like the best solution, sort of "tune" the lathe's contact with the floor. There are four leveling feet with rubber bottoms on each leg. In cases where this has worked for you, have you or your friends also added weight, or cross bracing between legs?

Cecil - nope, no residual check. I sold off everything that wasn't nailed down. Most of it I had to scrape the couple-years layer of dust off just to see it! In other words, I sold everything I hadn't used in over a year.

[Pete Jordan]

You have to make room for more wood!
Its a beaut!

[Ben Rafael]

Congratulations, enjoy your new late.
May I ask why you chose the General over the similarly priced Jet?

[Andy Hoyt]

.... In cases where this has worked for you, have you or your friends also added weight, or cross bracing between legs? ..... Nope. Not one bit. Nor any bracing.

Of course, the only friends I have are those who turn on you know what, and they're too well built to need anything added.:D

I just recalled that a few years ago another friend stabilized a big lathe on a thoroughly wonky cement floor by elevating the lathe (to the desired height, of course) and then pouring molten lead into forms built around each contact point to a depth that just covered the leveling pads. Worked great, but it's only good for that one location.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Congratulations Gary. Nice looking lathe.

[Gary DeWitt]

Andy - hmmm, the lead seems a little too toxic to work with (I know, I know, plumbers used to use it all the time) but I'm thinking epoxy. With etched concrete under the area, and metal, not rubber feet, epoxy might actually help hold it down to the floor as well. I'll look into it, and thanks for the idea.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Gary I did something similar and the bad part is it transmitted a LOT of sound to the rest of the building.

I think a nice wide stand full of sand will do you well, no need to bolt, lead, or epoxy it down.

Cheers!