I have been trying to decider between a Grizzly G0770 and the Jet 1642 and have reached my decision well sort of reached it. The specs say that the lathe is 80 inches long but considering the bed is 47 inches I can't see where the extra 33 inches come from. I understand the distance is longer than 47" because of the tail and head stock. I called Grizzly and they read the same specs out of the catalog. So my question is, is it actually 80" long? Also has anyone anything bad to say about the lathe that I should consider?
Art, I have the G0733. Just took some measurements for you. The overall length of the bed (ways), end to end, is 66-1/8". If the headstock is slid all the way to the left and the tail stock all the way to the right (for maximum in-board turning), the overall length is actually 83-1/4". The added length is due to the overhang of the motor housing to the left and the tail stock casting and adjustment wheel to the right. Hope that helps clarify. I've had this lathe since July 2012 and am very pleased. The G0733 is essentially the same machine as its predecessor, the G0698, with a couple of tweaks. It has a Delta inverter and new motor design. Several members of this group have the G0698 or the G0733, in case you have more questions. I'll post some more thoughts in a follow-up, as the text limit's got me. David
Some further thoughts. As with the G0698, the G0733 has no hand wheel for the headstock spindle. But if you want one, that's easily remedied with a shop-made wheel. Can at the same time incorporate a DIY vacuum adapter into the hand wheel if you want to pull vacuum directly through the spindle without the need for a Holdfast-style adapter. I posted some pics and a description of this awhile back. These are beefy lathes, so the temptation for me is to go big with bowl blanks. Adding ballast is easy because of the design of the cast iron legs. If you look at the photos on the Grizzly site you'll see that there are two cast stretchers at each end, one at the bottom and another higher up. The bottom stretchers are a nice feature. After padding them up about 1" (for toe clearance while standing at the lathe), you can build a ballast box over them to hold 350 lbs of sand. The packing crate the lathe comes in has some nice plywood that can be re-purposed for this. David
Thanks David that clears things up. I couldn't understand ho it could be so long. All I have to do is figure out how to get it off the truck. Once in the drive I can bring it in in sections.
Forget that tiny thing. Get the Grizzly G0694. It is 103" long. I think I would need to add on to my garage to move around it (proud Delta Midi owner)
Brian I actually looked at the bigger ones, Grizzly as well as Powermatic and Jet. I see that you have a Delta midi. I have the 2 month old 46-460 myself but am rather frustrated (and that's being kind) with their parts department. This is the reason I am looking for a new lathe.
I have the GO698. I ended up installing the wire basked outboard, where it is more useful. On the other end, I added the outboard extension designed for the lathe, which Grizzly doesn't sell, but Laguna and Busy Bee do. These changes make the machine well over 8 feet long. As for getting it off the truck, I paid for the liftgate service from Grizzly. Because I have a long driveway, I still had to take a flatbed trailer out to the road for the driver to put the crate on. The lathe is shipped with the headstock and tailstock installed, but by removing these, I was able to get it into the shop with a pretty stout dolly.
