I have been chasing a vibration problem since I bought my lathe back in May. I haven't called Grizzly or posted here as it really didn't bug me that much. I did find another thread on a different forum here and to make a long story short I leveled my machine better and replaced the belt and all is good. But during the process I noticed the pulley spacer appears to be way out of round. I really thought that was my initial problem so I removed it. I put the lathe back together without it and still had the vibs. The issue with my spacer is the diameter of the hole in it is way bigger that the shaft. It's not out of round lot of play. Probably between 1/16 and 1/18 of an inch. While the lathe is now running smooth it still bugs me. I am sure some of you have had that spacer off to replace the spindle shaft or just looking like me. Did they put the wrong spacer on mine? This can't be right. Thanks for any comments. Harold
Call Grizzly and have them replace that spacer. That is the correct fix, and will leave you most satisfied in the long run. Especially if it is still in the warranty period. Did you tighten it down? The pulley has a recess into which the spacer fits snug into it, and that should eliminate any play or out of round. The set screws on the pulley hold the whole thing fast on the spindle if I recall correctly.
Roger, I called tech support and they had no idea if it was ok or not. I took it off again. The back of the pulley is smooth. Spacer is just too loose. He was going to have a guy in the warehouse take a spacer and see how it fit on a spindle and get back with me tomorrow. The spacer is only $7.25 so I ordered one. The lathe runs OK now that I leveled it and bought a new belt. The belt took out what the leveling did not. What's left is very little that you wouldn't normally notice. I hate to say it but I won't buy another Grizzly product again. Everything else I have is Jet except my midi lathe which is Delta. They all run like they are suppose to. I'll report back when I get the new spacer. Their parts inventory is really lacking currently but maybe Covid has something to do with that. Harold
When I first got my G0766 - maybe 3 or so years ago, it had some minor vibration issues. They were resonance points. I leveled it and adjusted the load on each leg (my own precise technique documented here if you look far enough) and then I added 250-300 pounds of ballast sand. Since then, all of the vibration seems to have disappeared - - not immediately but eventually. I don't know if it was the sand packing, the cast iron relaxing or what. I can't imagine that the plastic spacer could be much of a factor in the vibration. I'd suggest taking a deep breath, and then another and ask yourself: is the vibration so severe that you can't turn? is the vibration so severe that it affects your quality of your work? end of part 1
Part 2: Initially I was dissatisfied with my lathe spindle. Griz eventually took care of it. I think that I was too fussy. Although I have a now-spare perfect spindle, I am still using the one that I complained about. When you put a blank on your lathe, it WILL vibrate. When you are turning something irregular and non-symmetrical it WILL vibrate. Even things that are perfectly round will vibrate because the end greain is more dense than the side grain. Just saying...
Brice, thanks for your comments. Like I said after leveling it and changing the belt it’s fine. It really doesn’t vibrate enough to worry about now. It just feels like it’s running a little rough at around 1900 now. I was surprised at how much better it runs after the new belt. I am happy with the lathe. I had to go thru a couple of bango’s and going on 5 months waiting on my converter cover to replace the rusted one. My hole on the shaft of the quill was not drilled in the right place for the wheel. I fixed that. My tail stock is looser at the far right of the bed than the working position closer to the head so the bed rails must not be casted consistent alone the bottom. I was able to find a place with the nut where it holds all the way across. just some headaches I would not be willing to put up with in the future if I needed a new machine of some sort. Harold
Part 2 Brice, I am satisfied with the lathe now. You have to remember I had to go thru 3 bango’s to get one casted properly I am still waiting on a new inverter cover that was all rusted out of the box. My instruction manual had a large hole all the way thru it. It was also backordered for 6 months like the inverter cover. I had to replace the belt. My wheel on my quill would not tighten properly because the hole was misdrilled. Instead of replacing the quill during assembly they just left the set screw loose. my tailstock locks tight on the left side of the bed by the head. At the same setting it just flops loose on the far right of the bed. Casting under the bed must not be consistent. I found a harpy place with the nut adjustment that I can live with. cont.
Part 3 Brice, . My forward/reverse switch is way off. In the “o” position it’s almost to the reverse marking. Grizzly was out of them so I just ordered one off Amazon for $20 and replaced it. there is more but you get the gist of why I would not purchase anything Grizzly again. I just be glad when I get my backordered warranty parts hopefully in September. I asked them to expedite My warranty parts and they said the would not do that. They have been delayed for the second time. Now scheduled for September 16th. We’ll see. On the positive side one of this has kept me from using the lathe and turning some nice projects. I think I repeated some things. This iPad is hard to use on this forum. Harold
Harold, you sure have had your share of problems. It is good that the new belt and leveling have essentially fixed the vibration. It is good that you found a position of the nut that works all the way. I actually have two banjos - - the original short one and the longer one that they shipped out about 5 or 6 months later. Unless I am turning something quite big, I actually prefer using the shorter one. But on that one I don't have a Nyloc lock-nut. So, periodically (once a month of so) I have to reach under the bed and hand turn it about a half turn. But it is an operation that only takes a few seconds. BTW, you might find it interesting to use a micrometer or caliper to measure the thickness of the lathe bed ways. Perhaps when they machined both sides of the bed they didn't keep things parallel.
BTW, I just did a cursory check of my G0766 way thickness after I posted. The way closest to the operator is thinner than the opposite one by about 0.010 to 0.014". Also, the way thickness varied from the headstock to the right end by a few thou - - except at the far extreme right end where it got about 15 thou thinner than the middle and left side. But when I shined a light on the underside it appeared to have paint on it. So, maybe the paint isn't a uniform thickness or perhaps there is some other crud on the bottom side. But, operationally it doesn't really affect how I use the lathe and the tailstock, so I'm probably never going to try to change it.
