I recently sold , on Gumtreee, an Emco DB5 woodturning lathe.
I purchased this lathe (pre-owned) with the intention of doing some metal spinning, but that never happened, and the lathe had very perfunctory use during the time I owned it. On the rare occasions it was used, it performed perfectly ... no problems whatsoever.
When I installed it in my workshop, I took care to bolt it down securely onto my concrete floor, as I was well aware that rigidity is essential.
So the lathe was taking up space in my shop which i had other uses for ...I advertised it ... sold it for £400.00 ( which also included a stack of accessories) . delivered it to the customer and thought all was good. Obviously I didn't hang around to install it ... I assumed he was able to do that.
Next thing I know I get a call saying that he isn't happy with the lathe .... he alleges that the spindle in the motor is "twisted" and causing problems I think "whaaaat ?" but nevertheless I drive out to see what the problem is. Turns out that what he is moaning about is that the motor , which is what I would call a "gravity feed motor" for want of a better term, (it swivels, and its own weight maintains the necessary belt tension to drive the headstock spindle) vibrates slightly when under power, which IMO is inevitable is such a design. I took the belt off and rested the motor on the housing, and switched it on to show him that there was no distortion whatsoever in the motor, but he still maintained that it was causing problems.
At this point I observed that he had only screwed the legs of the lathe onto his (wooden) floor at the front edge of the legs ... the rear legs were completely unfastened ). The lathe legs do give the facility for bolting down at the back as well as the front.
So, my thoughts are that I should ask him to bolt down the lathe securely, possibly with the addition of another two pieces of plywood secured to the floor, with the legs bolted down onto these pieces. I am certain that the lack of "bolting down" is the cause of his perceived vibration problems.
Is this a reasonable assumption ?
All opinions welcome.
TIA.
I purchased this lathe (pre-owned) with the intention of doing some metal spinning, but that never happened, and the lathe had very perfunctory use during the time I owned it. On the rare occasions it was used, it performed perfectly ... no problems whatsoever.
When I installed it in my workshop, I took care to bolt it down securely onto my concrete floor, as I was well aware that rigidity is essential.
So the lathe was taking up space in my shop which i had other uses for ...I advertised it ... sold it for £400.00 ( which also included a stack of accessories) . delivered it to the customer and thought all was good. Obviously I didn't hang around to install it ... I assumed he was able to do that.
Next thing I know I get a call saying that he isn't happy with the lathe .... he alleges that the spindle in the motor is "twisted" and causing problems I think "whaaaat ?" but nevertheless I drive out to see what the problem is. Turns out that what he is moaning about is that the motor , which is what I would call a "gravity feed motor" for want of a better term, (it swivels, and its own weight maintains the necessary belt tension to drive the headstock spindle) vibrates slightly when under power, which IMO is inevitable is such a design. I took the belt off and rested the motor on the housing, and switched it on to show him that there was no distortion whatsoever in the motor, but he still maintained that it was causing problems.
At this point I observed that he had only screwed the legs of the lathe onto his (wooden) floor at the front edge of the legs ... the rear legs were completely unfastened ). The lathe legs do give the facility for bolting down at the back as well as the front.
So, my thoughts are that I should ask him to bolt down the lathe securely, possibly with the addition of another two pieces of plywood secured to the floor, with the legs bolted down onto these pieces. I am certain that the lack of "bolting down" is the cause of his perceived vibration problems.
Is this a reasonable assumption ?
All opinions welcome.
TIA.
