# Acceptable



## MLWilson (Jun 28, 2015)

Oh, how I'd love to have a "modern" lathe, Rick. Especially a Nova. Namely, a Galaxy, like Jim has. My sixty-year-old SS gets by, though just barely.


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## Mike_D_S (May 3, 2012)

Rick,

I have this same lathe, but mine may be a newer version so my comments may not apply 100%.

1. My belt cover has a star knob you have to unscrew to open the cover. I bought mine used from the local woodcraft where it was a demo machine for classes, so that may not be stock.

2. In the pics, you don't seem to have the locking level for the top of the tailstock. If you have it and it's not in the pic, then no worries. But if not, I would suggest getting at least an M8 bolt to put in there. While you can probably get by without the locking aspect, on mine the tail stock quill rotates without the level being installed which can be a hassle. The tail stock was dropped on accident at the WC and the threaded insert had knocked loose. I used the lathe a couple of times before tack welding the insert back in and found the quill rotated some an also has a tendency to creep a little so on mine I had to keep tightening it down every 3 or 4 minutes.

3. Agree on the levers, I've pretty much got mine setup so I can lock down pretty good with 180 degree turns, but it's a hassle. A little higher thread pitch would be better.

4. My belt may be stretched, but I can give it a push and rotate the pulleys by hand to change pulleys without actually loosening the motor. The ribbed belt is a little finicky to get set exactly right, but I can change pulleys in a minute or so. Maybe you don't have the stock belt?

5. Agree with the control box vent comment, it's just a crap design choice.

6. I've actually had a chance to play with two of these, mine and a buddies. Both of them develop an annoyingly loud tick on highest speed pulley with the lathe running fast. I suspect it's the bearings as I can't locate any possible points of contact anywhere else. But with that being said, I also made a *********************************** timing light using a piece of posterboard, a 3/4 dowel and a black cat strobe light I put out at halloween. I marked an X on the posterboard with a marker and then screwed it into the end of the dowel. I ran it at speed and played with the strobe until the flash was about the right frequency. While the lathe ticks annoyingly, that tick doesn't seem to translate to the spindle motion. That doesn't necessarily mean anything for your lathe, but since I've seen two do the same thing and the tick doesn't seem to impact the spindle rotation, I've sort of chosen to just ignore it as I rarely use the high speed pulleys anyway. Also, I don't have any growl, just the tick.

While I'm not an experienced turner and don't really have any experience on other lathes, other than sometimes wanting a bigger one, I don't have many complaints about the lathe itself and it seems to work as required.

Mike


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

Good commentary.



> 2. In the pics, you don t seem to have the locking level for the top of the tailstock.
> 
> 4. My belt may be stretched, but I can give it a push and rotate the pulleys by hand to change pulleys without actually loosening the motor. The ribbed belt is a little finicky to get set exactly right, but I can change pulleys in a minute or so. Maybe you don t have the stock belt?
> - MikeDS


2. It was missing so I made one from Delrin and an M8 bolt.






4. Looks like an original belt.



> 6. I ve actually had a chance to play with two of these, mine and a buddies. Both of them develop an annoyingly loud tick on highest speed pulley with the lathe running fast. I suspect it s the bearings as I can t locate any possible points of contact anywhere else. But with that being said, I also made a *********************************** timing light using a piece of posterboard, a 3/4 dowel and a black cat strobe light I put out at halloween. I marked an X on the posterboard with a marker and then screwed it into the end of the dowel. I ran it at speed and played with the strobe until the flash was about the right frequency. While the lathe ticks annoyingly, that tick doesn t seem to translate to the spindle motion. That doesn t necessarily mean anything for your lathe, but since I ve seen two do the same thing and the tick doesn t seem to impact the spindle rotation, I ve sort of chosen to just ignore it as I rarely use the high speed pulleys anyway. Also, I don t have any growl, just the tick.
> 
> Mike
> 
> - MikeDS


I can't imagine what would make the noise if not spindle related, maybe the electronics?

Vid of motor bouncing added to OP. You can also hear the growl that occasionally happens.


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## Mike_D_S (May 3, 2012)

Interesting, if your knock was a little higher pitched, it would sound like my ticking noise and be just about the exact same frequency. Maybe my motor is bouncing as well, but the size of the bounce is just a little smaller and I didn't pick up on it. I'll have to try it out tonight.

It does make sense that it might be motor bounce, with the motion being larger or smaller and producing a slightly different sound. The next test would be to remove the belt entirely and see if it still does it without the deflection force on the shaft. My guess is no, but you never know.

I work in the oilfield and we see all kind of complex harmonics in rotating equipment with bending moments applied. Thinking about it, the noise could be rotor slap due to harmonic resonance in the motor itself. A bit farfetched, but maybe the little motor isn't really rated for side loads on the shaft. A little bit undersized shaft coupled with a small weight imbalance in the rotor and you could get something like this I think. Removing the belt and/or lowering the tension down a bunch should produce some change in the behavior if that is the case.

I don't have any kind of noise like that growl. To me that sounds like straight bearing wear.

I did notice that the indexing plate on the spindle was loose on mine. I don't remember it making any real noise, but I caught it early when I was just going through the machine after getting it home, so I may not have actually run it. I doubt that is your issue, but I'd check the screws on the indexing plate anyway.

The videos really help out.

Mike


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