Help newbe to lathe leadscrew not engaging

Hi I hope you can help it is saturdy happy Thanksgiving I have a leave a grizzly lathe G0776I was running it through the break in and cannot get the lead screw to turn at all need help am I doing something wrong according to the book im not grizzlies closed can't get them to answer

You could see if this is in the center instead of right or left

I’ve never run a Grizzley lathe, but I’m unfortunately burdened at work with the Jet 1440 that’s a similar model.

The Jet has both a lead-screw and feed-screw disengagement lever. It doesn’t appear that model Grizzley does, but I would start with this lever:

Make sure it’s actually in mesh...

There’s a ton of slop in the gearbox levers on the Jet, I’ll assume the same for the Grizzley.

With the machine off and in a high gear, turn the chuck by hand and make sure all the levers on the gearbox are actually meshing. If the screw turns with the chuck, you’re done. Carry on with the break-in procedure and... “enjoy”?!?

Last possibility, other than Chinese “QC” would be the banjo:


If those two gears aren’t in mesh, you’ll never get anything transmitted to the feed/lead-screws.

I don’t wish to be too disheartening, but prepare yourself to be underwhelmed at best. My boss, and a friend, bought the Jet we use against mine and everyone else’s advice in 2017. To date:
The headstock seals are shot...
One of the Chinesium compound locking bolts literally vibrated all of its threads off...
I discovered there’s no drive-tang in the MT3 tailstock ram, so no tapping above 3/8”-16 in most materials.
That same tailstock ram appears to be made from the same material as the compound lock bolts... fortunately the drill chuck Jet supplies is even softer. Big-boy chucks and their arbors, not so much. Point being, you WILL eventually spin the MT3 shank in the ram and it WILL chew up the ram... QUICKLY!
The “lifetime”, sealed work light made it less than a year.
I gave up trying to level the machine, as the sheet metal stand deflects before you impart any force on the bed.
The 3 & 4-jaw chucks supplied are total garbage. The 3-jaw isn’t even heavy enough to make a good doorstop and I’ve found the 4-jaw has to be indicated EVERY TIME, but at least it actually holds material.
My boss liked that it was shiny and new... and it was for a month or so. Now it’s perpetually covered in oil, the paint is jumping off the bed, splash-guard and chip pan.

Best hope is that running this thing won’t put you off the craft completely and you’ll send it on on the way to a better machine soon enough.



Be safe and stay healthy



Jeremy

Is it supposed to have power feed ?

Simple way to check is grip the leadscrew in one hand ,change lever positions with other ,and rotate....you will feel it catch in the drive position........And I might add,any lathe is 100 times better than no lathe at all,and the Chinesium may have faults,but they have sold a shipload of these machines to generally happy users.......for about 50% more money ,you can get solid cast iron Chinesium,proper industrial standard in a similar sized machine.............dont buy hobby if you need industrial.

john.k said:

dont buy hobby if you need industrial.

Click to expand...

I cannot argue with the above sentiment.

Getting OT, but the Jet I use at work is billed as “solid cast-iron Chinesium”... with a price point to match.

The OP’s Grizzly:


My boss’s Jet:


Note the difference in price-point...

I did get the boss to spring for the factory mounted DRO and taper attachment, but I don’t think he paid much more than Northern Tool’s advertised price.

My point to the OP, is that regardless of price-point, or intended end use, there are places I’ve found where these machines Just. Fall. Flat.

I tried to get my boss to give me $10k and was CERTAIN I’d bring him back change... like 4-digit change AND get him a working lathe that would turn circles around the Jet. Even in the machine-tool-desert Southeast, I was confident of that.

And ultimately, his argument, and what he based the decision on, was wanting something NEW! “But Dave! If it gets used, it won’t stay new long, and if it stays new, WHY spend the money at all?!?”

So Dave, my boss, got himself a new Jet lathe, for something near-north of $10k... the year after he bought himself a new Jet mill, also for right around $10k. The budget for tooling got gone in the initial purchase. The mill is currently down, after the start capacitor let its magic out and the lathe is drowning in its own oil. Yeah... he spec’d AND paid extra, for single-phase on both machines.

In my personal shop, I haven’t gotten any screaming deals, they’re hard to find in this region, but I’ve bought well and would hazard I’m scarcely at $10k yet for a mill, a lathe AND a ton of tooling. The biggest difference is that don’t think I’ve bought anything more than tooling new.

For the OP, if the machine actually doesn’t work COULD BE the best thing. In my mind at least. Eat the return shipping and find a used machine that is still as serviceable and meets the Grizzly’ specs.

I’m no gunsmith, but I imagine the 1400-RPM top-end isn’t gonna be fast enough for the typical stock size... it’s got a factory spider... something you can make on ANY lathe.

This seems to be a BRAND NEW machine... that doesn’t work as it’s supposed to, and I’ll give the OP total benefit that he knows the basics. Smear the cosmoline back on it, screw the box back together and send it back. It’s not even broken in yet and it doesn’t work like it’s supposed to.

Find something comparable in price and capacity and move on.






Be safe and stay healthy




Jeremy

On my Chinese lathe you set a series of levers and dials to different positions for each thread pitch. The
last one in the series actually engages the lead screw. When you set everything in the right position the
lead screw is engaged. I tore my hair out for a half a day figuring this out because there's nothing in the
manual about it...

I thought this brand was Verboten on this site. Is someone asleep at the switch or have policies changed.

JH

Kind of hard to see. Is there a collar on the left end of the lead screw? If yes - it could slide left to right on the lead screw to engage or disengage.

Q thank you I found the problem there is a button There's on the machine that is labelled S and MI assumed one stood for metric in the other stood for SEA not the case it was labelled wrong what is engaged in the other is disengaged I had it on disengaged that's why the lead screw did not turn Even in the book it shows that stands for metric in standard actually Finally got a hole of the Tech I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to call them 1st thing I'm in California and he even admitted that everything was labelled wrong MS should stood for engage and disengage the lead screw Think you thank you so much for at least trying to help

Thank you, john