Jet 1642 Owners Chime In

[Nick Mastropietro]

Today is the day - sometime between 2-4pm I should be the happy owner of a Jet 1642. Do you have any practical experience warnings you can share concerning the assembly process, stuff like alignment, step by step procedure and the like. I would appreciate the advise. Thanks to all.

[Robert Parrish]

Get some help with the heavy lifting! Assembly is easy, you shouldn't have any problem. Check the belts and make sure they are tight. After that just enjoy the beast!

[Chris Stolicky]

Its nice to have some help lifting the pieces. I did it myself and had sore muscles I didn't even know existed!


One thing that many of use did not realize is that the face plate has set screws that need to be loosened before you can remove it. Take a look so you don't damage the threads on the spindle.

Enjoy it.

[steven carter]

+1 on what Chris said. One person can do the assembly, but it will be strenuous. At least that's what I thought when I did it at age 55, and no that is not a challenge, I didn't have any choice in the matter. My turning room is pretty small and two people were one too many for the space. I used mineral spirits to clean up the gunk on the ways, then gave it a good waxing. Sinice then I have been using Boeshield t-9 on the bed, and it does a good job of protecting it. I do a lot of green roughing and the wet shavings can really rust things up if you don't do some kind of protection.
Have fun and good luck!

Steve

[Gary Chester]

As said above, it is heavy, get some help if possible.

I assembled my bed and legs upside down and then rolled it up, others put the bed on sawhorses at just the right height and attach the legs, that may be a better idea.

Be sure to get the bed level using the adjustable feet.

Turn it on and jab a tool into a chunk of wood and just try to keep from smiling!.

CONGRATS!!!

[charlie knighton]

the face plate has set screws that need to be loosened before you can remove it. Take a look so you don't damage the threads on the spindle.

ditto on what Chris said, +2

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nick - I used sawhorses to hold the bed while attaching the legs. I managed to put it all together myself - so, while heavy, it's not impossible.

Looking forward to seeing the photos!

[Montgomery Scott]

Make sure you set it on a flat surface when you place the lathe. Some have noted that the quill doesn't line up with the headstock and this is due to a slight amount of twist from the legs not being aligned in the same plane. Put your spur/steb drive in the head stock and push the quill to check for proper alignment.

[Jeff Rich]

DO NOT drop the cast iron Leg on your leg!!!
Bad words will be said and "goose eggs" will result.
Luckily my leg was still intact.
If possible, get help putting it together, it is heavy.
Get some good cleaner to get the gunk off the lathe and wax the ways and the bottom of the headstock and tailstock.

[Rich Aldrich]

Today is the day - sometime between 2-4pm I should be the happy owner of a Jet 1642. Do you have any practical experience warnings you can share concerning the assembly process, stuff like alignment, step by step procedure and the like. I would appreciate the advise. Thanks to all.

Nick,

Congratulations.

Check out this link. I just put one together 8 days ago. Pictures are towards the end of the thread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=132713

Everyone in my family was fishing, so I had to do it all myself.

[larry cronkite]

Make sure you set it on a flat surface when you place the lathe. Some have noted that the quill doesn't line up with the headstock and this is due to a slight amount of twist from the legs not being aligned in the same plane. Put your spur/steb drive in the head stock and push the quill to check for proper alignment.

I had this problem of misalignment and called the factory on it and they told me that adjusting the legs would solve the problem - it did but because I had the casters that were installed when the lathe was a store demo two of the caster bolts bent. AAARGH! After replacing the casters I added 300 lbs of sand to a ballast box and have had no alignment problems since no matter where in the shop I roll the lathe to.

[Ryan Baker]

Be careful with the weight -- especially the headstock, because it is heavy and there isn't a very good way to grab it.

Make sure to get it level. A floor jack under the leg crossbar makes that job a lot easier.

And most importantly ... loosen the set screws before removing the faceplate!!