Originally Posted by
Randy Hogan
I swept the shavings for the first time in awhile from around the base of the lathe. I noticed the whole thing had 'walked' several inches to the left. I've had, what appeared to be 'whole machine vibration' at the headstock end when I'm taking a big bite with a gouge at a fairly fast feed rate. I've checked and leveled the legs a couple times. It appears that the ballast weight of the machine is not substantial enough for the size of work I'm turning. I'm sure all of this isn't helping my wobble problem, although I have done some work recently without much run out at all. I think my next step is to put in some anchors in my concrete floor and anchor strap the head stock end down as tight as I can get it and see if this eliminates the vibration. When I first installed the lathe I had no vibration whatsoever so something obviously has changed. In addition, with a 22" swing, it doesn't appear the overall mass of the G0766 is heavy enough to handle it. The largest bowl I've turned is 16". But then again I'm new and I might be all wet.