The Grizzly G4000 Lathe
The Lathe Comes Home!
Inside that 300 pound carton is my new Grizzly G4000 lathe. 300 pounds doesn't sound that heavy until you try to get it out of the back of a mini van, and down the basement steps. With the help of my oldest son, we got it that far without any damage.
At these pictures show, there's a lot of cleaning up to do. These lathes are manufactured in China and all of the unpainted surfaces are coated with heavy cosmoline rust preventive. All of that needs to be cleaned off before the machine can even be turned on for the first time.
The accessories included with the G4000 were what made me decide on it over the other two lathes. It came with: (1)Extra C-Type Tool Holder (2)Face Plate (3)Allen Wrenches (4)Extra Jaws for 4" 3-Jaw Chuck (5)Oil Bottle (6)7" 4-Jaw Chuck (7)&(12)Chuck Keys (8)Threading Change Gear Set (9)Tool Set (10)Tools for Removing the Chuck (11)Extra Hardware (13)Tool Box (14)3MT Dead Center for the Head End (15) 2MT Dead Center for Tail Stock and (16)2MT Dead Center for Tail Stock
After several hours of dismantling cleaning and reassembly. The lathe was bolted securely to the bench I had built earlier. It feels solid and is about ready to run.
Next project was to wire a new circuit to power it.
There just happened to be an unused 15Amp breaker in the basement box. That was far too easy! I ran a new 12-2 with Ground wire from that breaker to a new outlet box, mounted in the rafters directly above the lathe. One outlet is switched for the 4 foot shop light, that will light the area. That leaves an outlet for the lathe and one open outlet. The lathe and light are the only things on this circuit.
I've rounded up several 3/8" and 5/16" Brazon tools, as well as some HSS tool steel. I have a set of indexable carbide tools as well. (shown in the 3ed picture) They are strictly finishing tools. And, it's ready to run!
The first attempts at cutting were nothing less than horrible. Terrible chatter and little control of size. After checking the machine over more carefully, I found the spindle bearing preload was way too loose. After adjusting that up, it cuts great! Another thing to note is that these little machines are very sensitive to tool height.
This brass test piece has a 32rms finish on both the OD and face. That is better than I ever imagined it would do.
Best advice I can offer anyone who buys a 9 X 20 lathe for Grizzly, Harbor Freight or Enco, is to plan on taking it completely apart and reassembling it correctly. It almost seems like this machine was assembled with everything just hand tight. Once it's put together right, it's a great little lathe!!!
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Now to make it better.
Click the Picture below for the Modifications Page
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The Tooling and Mics
Click the Picture for the Tooling Page
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Threading On the Lathe
I've never threaded on a lathe before. Trying to make a new mixture needle for the carb of my Jaeger engine, showed it was time to learn. The first needle I made was threaded with a die. It tore the threads, and wasn't acceptable. So I turned another one and gave threading a shot.
I used the 60 degree 3/8" shank tool that came with the tool set I bought. I'd say it will do. This machine made it easier than I ever thought it would be.
As I get deeper into the model steam engine building I I had to make a smaller threading tool to cut the fine small threads called for in the plans.
The picture above shows a finished 10-32 thread cut with the mini hand ground tool. It happens very quickly as this video shows.
