Grizzly G0462 lathe enhancements

[Leland Frayseth]

I have had my Grizzly G0462 for almost 2 years now and I wanted to share these enhancements I found helpful to me.

I can get the speed down to 540 rpm with a link belt, removing links as the belt stretches and wears. I find the reeves pulleys are hard on the belts but so what I know guys with expensive lathes that have problems with their variable frequency drives not running at all or requiring a dedicated circuit or worse yet a 220 volt dedicated circuit I just don't have that kind of room in my sub panel.

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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And just arrived today this bowl tool rest on sale at Grizzly which will handle a bowl 8" high by 30" diameter on a faceplate. I have a 24" American elm I am going to level with the router sled and cut into circle with a router mortesing flute before mounting so it is fairly well balanced. I need to weld up 2 clamp blocks for my 1-1/2" ways on my lathe bed because the ones that came with the bowl tool rest are for 2" ways. I may also hollow out the blank with a angle grinder and my carving disk and 36 grit disk turning the spindle by hand to get the weight and angular momentum down.

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https://www.grizzly.com/products/Gri...ol-Rest/T28011

Happy turning Leland

[Dave Mount]

Hey Leland--

A G0462 was my first full size lathe, and it's actually still in my shop, though owned and used by a friend who doesn' have his own shop. That thing does eat belts, though I'm not sure it's just the Reeves drive itself, as much as the misalignment between the pulley on the motor and the pulley on the headstock. Mine were offset to a pretty signficant degree, and not much of a way to correct it. When we replaced the bearings a while back, we were able to decrease the speed a little by adjusting the positioning of the pulley on the headstock side. I always went back and forth between finding cheap sources of 3L240 belts (like $4 each) and stocking up, or buying better quality belts (e.g., Gates) that would last longer than cheap belts, but cost more to replace. Be interesting to know how much service life the twist belt gives. . .though I get that the belt wear is less of an issue if you can reduce the length as it wears.

Next to the inability to slow the drive down more, the biggest gripe I had about the G0462 was the banjo, which was not really up to the task. It comes with a two-piece pivoting arm, but that setup had way too much flex for me and I got rid of the extension within the first 10 minutes and just used the base. However, it turns out that the banjo from the G0632 will fit the G0462, with the exception that you have to keep the "clamp" (the piece of steel that rides between/under the ways to allow the banjo to clamp down) from the G0462. You also need to buy the tool rest for the G0632 -- the one that comes with the G0462 isn't compatible. Have to just order it all as parts (can't buy the whole banjo assembly) but it only costs like $95 total, and it's a *huge* improvement. Only downside is that the G0632 banjo has a slightly higher profile on the bed, and with the limited quill travel on the tailstock, you can sometimes struggle to fit the base of the banjo between the tailstock and a large blank, especially if it isn't flat. In your case, using your outboard turning setup for bigger blanks would give you a way around that.

Despite the issues, I think the G0462 is an amazing value in a lathe, and it served me well for a long time before I went to a PM. I don't regret buying it a bit, even though I ended up buying something else later on. It's just that at its very low price point, it comes with some "features." Workarounds like yours help get the most out of it.

Enjoy!

Dave

[Leland Frayseth]

Thank you Dave for the tips on pulley alignment and G0632 banjo I will check those out.

[Leland Frayseth]

Dave I ordered the pieces for the G0632 banjo from Grizzly it will compliment by homemade banjo that requires a wrench to move around but is very solid. I had bought the morse taper extension for the tails stock so I will be okay with the swing over the banjo. Thank you again for your suggestions. The link belts do eventually break but I get about 3 removing 1 link tightening before the belt breaks much better than the stock belt from Grizzly. Leland
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[Dave Mount]

I think you'll be very pleased with the new banjo. It's longer and wider than the stock base, so it slides around easier, and has a long angled cam lever which is way easier to lock than the original. Wax your ways and you'll find yourself repositioning the banjo just for entertainment.

Please report back once you get the new banjo installed.

Best,

Dave