Palmgren issues

[Jim Podsedly]

I finally got the legs and the lathe put together.

I turned three pens all with purpleheart and turned out very nice.

Last night I was starting on my 4th pen made with Bocote and the gfci tripped. I reset it and turned the lathe back on and it seemed to run ok but was making loud noises from the back of the head stock. Grinding noises, not high pitched.

This morning i went to turn on the lathe and nothing. The motor did not turn on. I thought ok it must be the switch after looking at the wall outlet that is on a dedicated 20A breaker.

Took the headstock apart and no loose wires, made sure the juice was making it to the switch. tried the switch again and viola it turned on...

What a dissappointing morning. Not knowing why the lathe is reacting like this. I started tuning the pen again and the loud noises starting coming from the back of the headstock.

I have Palmgrens' 800 number and will be contacting them Monday morning but how dissappointing to have a brand new tool and it fails expectations. Hopefully it is a temporary thing!

Has anybody else had motor/electrical issues with the Palmgren?

thanks,
jim

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim....Do you have air in your shop? I had an constant issue with an old table saw I had. Periodically I had to blow out the switch on the thing as sawdust would get into the switch and cause it to malfunction. Blowing it out would remedy it. Might be worth a try.

[Jim Podsedly]

I will give that a try. Thanks.

[Jim Podsedly]

No such luck. Blew out the headstock and no better.

It is actually worse, probably not because of blowing it out though.

I turn the switch on and the motor is running and the spindle is not.

It sounds like there is definetely something wrong with the motor. Loud grinding noises from it on periodic basis.

[Jim Podsedly]

Just wanted to update everybody about the great customer service Palmgren is showing.

Mark, from Palmgren, walked me through all sorts of diagnostics. Determine that something was wrong with the rotary switch and stationary switch.

They are sending out a new headstock, not just a switch but the entire headstock!

Customer service these days has gone away for the most part and it is so rare to receive great customer service.

Jim

[Daniel Heine]

Jim,

I agrree, I have had my Palmgren lathe for about a yesr, and I am very happy with it. Mark at Palmgren is a first rate member of a great team. Not many place left that provide that level of service.

Palmgren is a relatively new entry to the market. They have made tools for Sears for a long time, but just recently under their own name. Please take the time to express your feelings about the lathe, and the service on the Amazon customer rating.

Happy Spinning,
Dan Heine

[Bernie Weishapl]

I had about 3 problems crop up in the first 2 months I had mine bought from Sears. Problem was it did not even have a sticker on next to the speed control knob giving model, serial #, etc. When I finally got fed up with Sears I called Mark. When he found out it had no sticker he was hot. He overnighted and I mean I talked with him on Tuesday morning by Wednesday afternoon it showed up. I was impressed to say the least. That will be about a year ago June and it is still going strong with no problems.

[Jim Podsedly]

Got my new headstock today. 2 days after talking with Mark at Palmgren.

He was mad when the lot # was not filled in on my sticker as well.