I ordered the lathe on Saturday and received a call from the shipping company on Tuesday, talk about fast service! The delivery actually took place on Thursday due to the shipping companies truck routes. The shipping company was Saia. I had to have lift gate service because the lathe was being delivered to my home. The driver was nice enough to drop the pallete in my garage instead of leaving it on the street.
I was so busy assembling the lathe that I forgot to take pictures. I didn’t have any help so I had to assemble it solo. To assemble it the headstock, tool rest and tailstock were all moved to one end of the lathe. I propped the other end on a jig, (note to self, that was dangerous, don’t do it again). The leg for that end was then tipped to match the angle of the lathe bed and then screwed on. Next the tailstock, tool rest and headstock were moved to the end attached to the leg. The other leg was set next to legless end of the bed. The bed was then lifted and placed on the leg, aligned and screwed on. Although I was able to do this I would not recommend any one else do it, my back still hurts from all that heavy lifting.
Once assembled I moved the tailstock next to the headstock to check the alignment of the two centers. The tailstock is slightly lower than the headstock. I wrote to Grizzly to find out how to fix this issue. They suggested that the tailstock be shimmed. To shim it they suggested using aluminium from a pop can attached using spray adhesive. I haven’t done this yet so I’ll let you know how this goes.
See the pictures below.
Shipping boxes:
Assembled Lathe:
Alignment of centers:
-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter
7 comments so far
Scott Bryan
home | projects | blog
9026 posts in 303 days
posted 167 days ago
Hi Owen,
This is a nice lathe. You are going to have some fun once you get it up and running. I will be looking forward to a review on this one. I have a lathe on my wish list and this looks like a good one for me.
Thanks for the post.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
trifern
home | projects | blog
3972 posts in 248 days
posted 167 days ago
I am excited for you. Warning, once the wood is mounted and the shavings start to fly, you may be addicted from that point on.
-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.
jjohn
home | projects | blog
393 posts in 195 days
posted 167 days ago
Really a nice looking lathe. Much better than the one I bought from Harber freight. The body is much, much more sturdy. I screwed mine down to a table to help with the mounting stability . Hope it will be a good one for you.
-- JJohn
Todd A. Clippinger
home | projects | blog
2535 posts in 580 days
posted 167 days ago
My envy meter just spiked!
I hope the shim action works out ok.
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
GaryK
home | projects | blog
8482 posts in 469 days
posted 167 days ago
I think I would spend $7 at at an auto parts store and get a feeler gauge. Take it apart and use that for the
shims. It’s steel so it won’t wear like aluminum. Plus you get .001 adjustments. Being off .001 side to side
won’t be that big a deal either.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
jockmike2
home | projects | blog
4129 posts in 728 days
posted 166 days ago
I think I would write to Grizzly and ask them for a tailstock that fit my new lathe…. just my 2 cents. mike
-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com
tman67
home | projects | blog
1 post in 89 days
posted 89 days ago
I have the same lathe. I bought it last year. Good deal. My only negative opinion is the tailstock not that great. There are adjustments that have to be just right to operate and then the bolts slip when using the lathe. Within the first two months the motor went dead. Grizzly shipped me a new headstock and everything. I gave them mine and changed one lever, very quick changeover. If you look at the prices of the other lathes the only other wood lathe I might haved purchased was the Jet JWL1236. (Better tailstock plus it has a through hole.) All in all good lathe for the money, but very bad tailstock. I don’t think this one will be out very long. You get what you pay for.