oh god what have i done!!!

[radish]

oh if any of you guys need any measuring equipment take a look in Comag they are usualy the best quality and price

If anybody does happen to go to Comag in Brisbane, then make sure you go just down the road to Hare & Forbes as well, to do a price and quality comparison.

These two companies are with-in a kilometer of each other.

The cheaper stuff that Comag is selling, is of doubtfull INDIAN origin and is about the same price, or a bit dearer, than Scary Forbes, so, fore-warned is fore-armed.

The boss has been burnt once too often by that lot, not any more though.

regards radish

[blackfrancis]

Good stuff Patrick, when your bank balance recovers you'll probably be glad you got the better machine

[new_guy90]

The cheaper stuff that Comag is selling, is of doubtfull INDIAN origin and is about the same price, or a bit dearer, than Scary Forbes, so, fore-warned is fore-armed.

........you get what you pay for .....Mitatoyo thats it

[new_guy90]

well me and a mate took a trailer out and picked up the lathe today they used a crane to lift it on the trailer and it was very easy to get home but then the hard part was unloading it with the help of granddad and my next door neighbour we slowly slid it off the trailer on some posts and used pipe rollers to get it into the only clear space that left in the shed and so we didn't have to leave the car outside for god knows how long all in all a good day

im very pleased with my purchase and after i was a little surprised with some of the accessories. it came with all the normal stuff 3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks, face plate, steady and follow rests, toolbox, Alan keys and spanners, oil can, drill chuck with 3rd MT arbor, change gears, 3MT dead center and 5th to 3rd MT sleeve it also came with a quick change tool post with 3 tool holders and a micrometer carriage stop. the mic stop very nice but looks hard to read and the locking is done with a grub screw in a rut on the mic sleeve so there is heaps of slop in the screw but ill fix that . im very happy i got the stand for it, it looks nice and solid but on closer in inspection of the tailstock end cabinet it only has 2 bolt holes for to the floor and i was expecting 4 like the headstock end cabinet, i want to put leveling feet on the cabinets so might drill new holes to make it more stable but ill leave that till latter. latter i need to get a sparky in to put a plug on the lathe and i think it will need a 15amp plug for its final placement so i need to do some thinking as to where its going to finally sit. all in all it looks great with just a few things i can improve before its finally set up to run so ill keep you guys updated.

tomorrow cleaning

almost forgot here is a pic

[new_guy90]

well started cleaning the lathe accessories i don't want to start on the lathe its self until i have the way oil more on that latter. i took off the compound slide so i could get a small feel for how well the overall machining was and well it was a little mixed. it was a little hard to get apart being careful not to break anything and the gib was a little weird it has a tapper adjustment sort of thing and there is a little grub screw that im thinking is a slide lock ill do more reading into it and maybe re-thread it so i can put a proper screw in it. all in all it was machined fine apart from some odd burs left on holes, the underside of the slide that bolts to the cross slide was very rough like it hadn't been machined fully, one one side of the gib looked like it hadn't cleaned up but on the other side the important side had been surface ground. almost no rust on it and some places looked like they had been given the once over with a scrapper to put in the oil nicks that are meant to help with lubrication. from a production point of view i think the little things left from the factory are fair for this low priced machine and i don't think i can improve on it much so im happy about the rest of the machine but i may take the cross slide off for a look latter.

im having some trouble with the oil i went to the local supplier (the Haggarty Group here in Ipswich) they were extremely helpful and pointed me to Castrols Technical line where i got all my answers problem is the local supplier only sells it in 20 liter's or larger does anyone know where i can get Castrol Magnaglide D68 and High Spin AWS32 in a smaller quantity?

[.RC.]

I think Hare and Forbes sell small containers of oil... If you get really stuck, I could send you a litre of slide way oil, I do not know how to freight it though, I imagine it would be classed as a "dangerous goods"..

[brisbanefitter]

hare and forbes sell 5 litre containers of gulf western 46 grade hydraulic oil and apparently recommenrd it for lathe headstocks, geared head drill and mill drill heads etc.

A mate of mine bought some recently to top up an AL-330 lathe that lost some over time.

As for magnaglide, I got no idea. You could just about use the same oil as you put in the headstock.
At the very least probably use a pretty thin oil of some kind on the bed and in the little oiling points on the machine, I dont know what I used to use, the oil can was always full and i never asked what was in it just knew to grab the green can and go for it, the joys of being an apprentice once upon a time.

any oil is better than none to keep it lubed up and moving free.

[Grahame Collins]

well started cleaning the lathe accessories i don't want to start on the lathe its self until i have the way oil more on that latter. i took off the compound slide so i could get a small feel for how well the overall machining was and well it was a little mixed. it was a little hard to get apart being careful not to break anything and the gib was a little weird it has a tapper adjustment sort of thing and there is a little grub screw that im thinking is a slide lock

The gib is double taper and shaped in section like a trapeziod .The grub screw puts end pressure on the gib for adjustment.It only fits the one way. Don't drop it as I think its cast iron.

Chain saw bar oil works ok for way oil.

Check the gearboxes as mine ,the same model as yours Metal master 12 x 36 came with free swarf in the gearboxes. The head stock gear box lid comes off ok and you can use a magnet in a plastic bag to pull the crap out.

The apron box was washed out with flushing oil until I got clear reading on the filter I strained it through.

Grahame

[Geoff Stevenson]

An engine hoist will do it. Bought one from SuperCheap originally to move around small stationary engines. That was after I pushed a small engine off the back of a truck onto a pile of wooden fruit boxes employing the controlled crush method of shock impact. It worked well enough but a hoist is the go. Then I got an AL60
which is a bit smaller than your machine. I took off everything that would come off easily. And used a series of short chains hooked together with D rings to get the lift even. Extend the boom as far as the weight will safely allow. Otherwise you will have the legs of the hoist up against the wall before you get over the bench. All I can say is take it easy and don't let it start to swing. And enjoy that very nice machine.
Cheers, Geoff.

[new_guy90]

wow got a good response now. ill call around more for the oil and will check for the swarft in the gear box. im going to get the engine hoist to move it but im just waiting to figure out how im going to make the leveling feet without the lathe then it should be going up. had some trouble with getting the chuck off but a few posts on HMEM and its sorted.

[new_guy90]

well i got some work done today so ill post some pic's. me and the old bloke from next door knocked up a small 4x4 wall in the back its great im going to hang my tools on it for easy access from the bench under it and the wardrobe at the end meant that i didn't need to make the wall all the way along and there is a small gap so i can get to the back for more storage. i hit a snag after than i have to think more about where the lathe is going to go ill post a pic of the possible locations latter. the shed is still a great huge mess and i didn't really bother to get it all organized after pulling it all out for the day but it should be cleaner after the garage sale the weekend after next im hopefully going to get the lathe up early next week i just need to think about its final position and how im going to make the leveling feet, im really not sure about having it sit on the heads of six 18mm bolts if anyone has any suggestions as to how i can make them with out a lathe it would be much appreciated

enough talk picture time

[.RC.]

wow got a good response now. ill call around more for the oil and will check for the swarft in the gear box. im going to get the engine hoist to move it but im just waiting to figure out how im going to make the leveling feet without the lathe then it should be going up. had some trouble with getting the chuck off but a few posts on HMEM and its sorted.

My levelling feet on my lathe is made from a 100mm square of steel 10mm thick, with a shallow flat bottomed hole in the middle that the levelling bolts sit on..

I will try to get some pictures tomorrow...

[.RC.]

As promised (a few days late) here are some pictures

First the pads under the lathe....Notice the nice clean machine and oil free concrete (well it is a Hare and Forbes machine with it's patented anti rust device)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...inefeet001.jpg

Here is the pads I put under the turret mill to level it....They are identical to the ones under the lathe...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...inefeet003.jpg

[Darren_111]

ok where do i start .....ok well on Wednesday i went for a trip to shaw machinery with the intention of getting one of there 9x20" lathes or the bigger 1022. i simply wanted to go in talk about the machines and chose a machine which would have been the 1022 .......that worked for the first 10minutes i was there until the store owner showed me this baby ...

OK, so I'm making my first post in an old thread...

I was wondering if the SM-1236a owner (or anyone else) had any feedback to offer on this lathe after all this time? It's on my short list for a new purchase. Originally I was looking at the Titan Machinery TL330 (Titan Machinery - TL330...$2465.00), but got sucked into the "for not much more" whirlpool. Don't know if I'll ever get out

[damian]

As with buying anythng you first have to decide what you want to do with it, and ideally set a budget.

I assume your not a machinist by trade ?

Have you considered buying second hand ?

That 330 is a very handy size, but as always what is it going to be doing ? That swing is handy for brakes and lazy susans but if your making model steam engines you can probably get away with smaller. I love a power cross feed, and a power compound slide is better again, but your talking big $ for machines with that capability.

I'm always banging on about hercuses and colchesters but the truth is there are many quite serviceable lathes out there for good prices second hand.

Anyway, something to consider.