Thumping sound from new lathe... errr... help?

[sploo]

You've been very unlucky. Mine runs like a sewing machine and there are lots of others out there that run fine. I'm really intrigued now to know where the noise is coming from. I'm also wondering about the "drum" effect of your bench?! :wink:

Yea, it is a shame. The two units have similar serial numbers (approx difference of 90).

The drumming sound is simply because the machine is vibrating. If I cup the motor with my hand I can feel it "kicking", and that's obviously causing the bench top to vibrate. If I bolted it down to a slab of concrete I'm sure it'd help, but I'm reasonably confident the standard legs (which I haven't got) would also suffer - i.e. the problem isn't because it's on a bench.

I was also looking at the Jet 1221VS, but went for the Axy due to the motor. Perhaps the Jet's cheaper motor has allowed a bit more quality on the rest of the construction. Certainly I'm beginning to wonder if I made the right choice. I'm not sure I want to risk another 1416VS at this point, but do I go for the Jet or sink cash into the 1628VS...

Still, it was nice of them to make sure the second one was perfect before sending it. :roll:

Well, they did actually say they would check the new one first, but obviously I can't be certain if it'd been opened and tested (though I can take a guess).

 

[woodpig]

Heres hoping so. I am thinking of getting one as well.

Well, keep your eye on ebay then - there'll be a refurbished customer return coming up from Axminster soon :wink:

Yes, once repaired they'll be a couple of heavily discounted ones coming up on eBay by the looks of it.
If memory serves they still come with some sort of guarantee.

 

[sploo]

Finally some progress - I was reluctant to go for another 1416VS, and negotiated a discounted upgrade to a 1628VS. I appreciate the discount - but don't worry, I haven't got the deal of the century (in hours terms it wouldn't get near to covering the time I've spent sorting out the earlier issues).

Anyway, a 1628VS arrived on a pallet yesterday. First observation is that it's much easier to lift onto a bench (despite being twice the weight of the 1416VS). Although the headstock has cables to the bed (the inverter is mounted under the bed) the cables are long enough to allow the headstock to slide to the end of the ~115cm long bed - so they're also long enough to allow you to move the bed and headstock from a pallet to a bench as two separate (and reasonably easy) one-man lifts.

As yet, I've not had time to do anything other than plug it in, and run it up to speed on both belt settings. Even ignoring the thumping problem I had on the 1416VS (which was otherwise pretty quiet), this thing is quiet. Incredibly quiet in fact. And no thumping :wink:

The lowest claimed speed (150rpm) on the high ratio is difficult to set (right on the point the motor cuts out) but despite it sounding as though it should be quite weak at that rpm, there was no way I could stop it by grabbing the spindle's hand wheel - so there appears to be bags of torque available. I guess it'll probably stay on the high ratio until I one day graduate to really large bowls.

It shares the same odd mix of metric and imperial parts as the 1416VS, and it's clearly too big for my bench ( :mrgreen: ) but the initial impressions are definitely positive.

EDIT: Axminster did say they'd let me know what was wrong with the two 1416VS units, but so far I've heard nothing back.

 

[Sheptonphil]

Glad you are now sorted Sploo.

The two lathes in question really are two brilliant but different beasts. I've had both and say there should never be a reason for most to ever upgrade from the 1628. Much as I thought of the 1416, and I did do a lot of turning on it, I got ambitious with off balance and eccentric turning, and found I didn't have enough mass with it. Now I've got the 3520b, I do sometimes wish I'd kept the 1416 for smaller work like pens and boxes. I did though grin every time I turned the 1628 on.

Enjoy it.

Phil

 

[sploo]

Glad you are now sorted Sploo.

The two lathes in question really are two brilliant but different beasts. I've had both and say there should never be a reason for most to ever upgrade from the 1628. Much as I thought of the 1416, and I did do a lot of turning on it, I got ambitious with off balance and eccentric turning, and found I didn't have enough mass with it. Now I've got the 3520b, I do sometimes wish I'd kept the 1416 for smaller work like pens and boxes. I did though grin every time I turned the 1628 on.

Enjoy it.

Phil

I must admit I'm liking the bulk of the 1628. The 1416 is likely more than enough for me, but the 1628 just feels that bit more assured.

Obviously there's now the problem that at spindle turning I suck. Badly. I guess it's just going to have to come from that dirty word "practice". I'd like to get at least a little bit of competence before I move on to bowls - even though that (bowl turning) is my primary intention.