18 x 47 Grizzly ( Long )
Hi Rodger,
After a serious health scare in late September, I decided to upgrade to a larger lathe. I'm OK now.
Like John Jordan says, Life is to short to turn crappy wood, it's also to short to turn on a mini lathe all the time.
I ordered a Grizzly 18 x 47, was told it would be in by late Nov. Grizzly called me on the 23rd and I went to Williamsport on Black Friday and picked up the lathe. I live about 2 1/2 Hours away and saved a lot on the delivery charge. I set the lathe up that evening but was to tired to turn.
I didn't get to use it untill this past Friday, Dec 3rd.
There were a few things to do, file some sharp cast iron edges, the spindle threads needed to be filed, there was some roughness to the machining, this needs to be addressed by Grizzly. Other than that I was very impressed with the fit and finish of this lathe.
I mounted a 5" x 8" x 12" half log between centers and fired it up. I was testing it with an out of balance piece to see what and where the vibration would be, and at what speed. At about 600 RPM's it did a bit of a creep on the floor, I thought that was OK, and decided to turn something.
I mounted a 7" x 12" piece of Red Oak to make an end grain hollow form.
To make a long story shorter, I was able to rough turn to shape, I then drilled it out with a 2 1/4" Forrester bit to a depth of 5", this wood was very wet and it steamed off as I drilled it.
I finished hollowing, and decided to cut the form off of the log. I wanted to get two forms from the log.
I was cutting with a 3/16" diamond parting tool, and the tool got stuck in the cut, I apparently did not cut a wide enough area, and could not get the tool out.
As I was reaching for the off switch, I heard a loud pop. Everything stopped.
There was a little puff of smoke coming from the inverter box.
After turning everything off and unplugging the lathe, I started to look for the what the H-ll happened.
Up to this point the lathe was a joy to use, it was great to stand at the end to hollow turn, and not lean over the bed, the tool rest moved about with very little effort, and I was having a good time.
The 20 amp breaker in my sub-panel was tripped, and according to the Grizzly manual their is a fuse in the inverter box.
I checked the box and the fuse was gone, only the ends and a few shards of glass were left.
OK, a blown fuse, not a big deal, right.
This is a 20 amp 250 volt fuse, so off to the hardware store I go. This is not a little store, its a local guy and they seam to have it all, most of the time.
But not this time, I ended up searching for a fuse that, I'm almost possitive only can be found in China. Graingers did not have it, Radio Shack did not have it, nor did Auto Zone, Lowe's, or two other auto parts shops.
I called Grizzly tech support first thing this morning, they seamed to be concerned about the problem, untill I asked them where I could get this fuse. I told them all the places I had been to with no results. They told me that this had never happened before. I asked again where I could get this fuse, I wanted to know what Grizzly was going to do to help me, he then offered to send me one that he would take out of another machine.
This is not sitting well with me at all.
I hope that I have not got a lemon of a lathe. The tech was concerned that it might be something with the inverter.
I wanted to scream, holler, jump up and down and curse, naa, not worth it.
I told the tech that this must be resolved within seven days, or I will return the machine.
Wish me luck, Jim.
