# Cleaning a New Lathemaster 9 x 30



## Kermit (Dec 15, 2008)

Okay, I'm starting my cleanup and first up is the tailstock.







According to my owners manual I have one! That's a good start. 

Next I removed it from its position on the bed and removed the offset adjustable base piece. This was stuck and required some gentle rubber mallet pursuasion. 




The mating surfaces are pretty "rough" and lots of primer and paint was smeared between the pieces, but a few strokes with a file gave it a smooth(er) finish. I also dressed up the corners in order to feather out the paint which is rather too thick. I'm hoping this will cut down on the number of chips I get in the Lathes' finish coat of paint. Here it is after I dressed up the corners and removed the paint from around the edges.




And finally there was the problem of the "missing" set screw to lock the offset adjustment. A look at the exploded view in the manual and the removal of lots of paint revealed a hex set screw!





The mechanism looks pretty simple. Is there anything I should look out for as far as "tricky" or difficult reassembly problems I might encounter?

There are two places where the travel catches and drags a bit and two other spots where the travel is very loose and the handwheel can be turned by pushing back in on the spindle at these loose points. With the spindle lock engaged the free wheel backlash on the handwheel is only .002 (two divisions of the scale).

I assume depending on the reason for this that most if not all of this "play" can be adjusted out and the assembly tightened up to a little closer tolerance?

??

I'll share some tea with the wife and await a reply,
Kermit


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## Mike N (Dec 15, 2008)

Don't worry about .002" backlash it will turn into .010" after you run it for a while. :


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## Kermit (Dec 15, 2008)

Oh, uh, I see!  


  Think maybe some 5000W grease would work to take up some slop on them threads!

 ;D   It was what I could afford and love her anyway! Back to the fun


Kermit


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## Mike N (Dec 15, 2008)

Kermit,

I bought a 14 40 Jet lathe last year & I had to do exactly what you are doing to your new lathe. Cleaned paint from where it doesn't belong & de-burred the castings. I added digital readouts & a quick change toolholder. It is still better than buying an old wore out domestic machine. One good thing about all of this Chinese junk, it allows us to have a hobby shop. When I started out I would buy 30 year old equipment & rebuild it before I could make anything with it!


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## chuck foster (Dec 15, 2008)

kermit:
     every lathe has backlash and little quirks, you will get used to all its little trouble spots and turn out great work with it.

i have a 9" south bend lathe that was made in the late 30's and it has about 0.020" backlash in the cross slide but it will make some small accurate parts if you know how to use it.

keep us posted on your adventure with your lathe..............and remember to have fun ;D

chuck


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## Kermit (Dec 15, 2008)

Reassembled and liberally greazzzy.  Any problems using the standard greenish yellow tinged pennzoil bearing lube.  Looks like vaseline but is the color of 30W motor oil.

-The two loose spots and the two tight spots have disappeared - to be replaced by one slightly tighter area right at 46mm on the scale.  

 ;D  I'm a happy camper.  It GOT BETTER.  


Let's hope this is a preview of things to come, Goodnight
Kermit


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## Kermit (Dec 17, 2008)

It may not make a bit of difference but I've noticed some discrepancy with parts according to the so called manual. I've got the HD250 x 750 model, but the bottom section of my tool post matches the HD210. The Saddle matches the HD250 drawing.



















































So now I have two bolts to remove and their is not enough room for a standard size wrench to get to it. To THICK. The ones that are thin enough are to small to get around the hex head. 

Guess I'm looking for a chinese wrench of some kind ;D   Stupid place to put a bolt. Now if they just used some one inch long threaded ones I'll bet set for cussing for the whole month.


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## BobWarfield (Dec 17, 2008)

Get yourself a set of "cone" wrenches. They're relatively cheap and needed for working on bicycles.

Lots of sets available on eBay. You'll find later they make the process of changing the gears MUCH nicer (I'm a fellow 9x30 owner) and they'll let you get in wherever your wrenches are too thick. 

Cheers,

BW


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## Kermit (Dec 17, 2008)

Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of taking that set of chinese wrenches that came with it and trying out the hardness of the OEM stock grinding wheels on my HF bench grinder.  

Sparks sooth the savage soul,
Kermit

Goodnight again to all my new friends


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## BillH (Dec 18, 2008)

I've been spending the last few nights cleaning up my new Lathemaster 8x14.


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## Kermit (Dec 18, 2008)

BillH  said:
			
		

> I've been spending the last few nights cleaning up my new Lathemaster 8x14.



Is it a creamy off white color? I was just a tiny bit disappointed after spending so many weeks becoming accustomed to the soothing shade of green in all the websites pictures of their Lathes.

  So you gotta post a pic if your cleaning up a new Lathemaster lathe in my Cleaning a New Lathemaster thread.  8 x 14? 9 x 30? Details, details.  Don't be so picky...I started this thread.  

Welcome from this not?green member, ??? (but I like green)

Kermit


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## bentprop (Dec 19, 2008)

Don't fret,kermie :big:
The hd250 and hd210 bottom parts may be the same on both machines.Wouldn't make sense to write a completely new manual for 1 part.Mind you,There are probably more parts that are the same on both machines.They also don't seem to update their manuals very often,so if your machine is slightly different,it could be the manual itself.
If you don't like the colour it is,paint it,my man! 8)
Well,maybe not right now.
Congratulations,you're one step closer to swarf production! ;D


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## BillH (Dec 21, 2008)

Well My 8x14 had an issue, the cross slide lead screw was damaged in shipping. Bob sent me a new screw very quickly. Well the screw does not fit well with the nut, so I spent the next couple of days "fitting" the screw to the nut and now it is running smooth with .002 backlash. 
Pictures, I should take some being that I own a canon 20D... 
Well this little lathe works nicely. I need to adjust the motor though, it is very hard to change the speeds, belt is too tight and the motor needs to be aligned better.

Yes, this lathe is mostly a creamy white color which is perfectly fine by me.
A simple mod I made to the lathe was to buy some 8x35 mm stainless bolts, cut off the heads and use the studs into the back of the chucks I bought. I sure as heck am not going to dick around with an allen wrench to undo the bolts countersunked into the back of the spindle. Took me nearly 20 minutes to remove the chuck.
Simply use a wrench, few turns, remove the bolts holding the chucks via the studs, exactly like a sieg mini lathe is done.
Next item on the list to do is adapt a way for a dial indicator to measure cross slide movement. The mighty mag base I have works great for the carriage. I know, pictures are worth a thousand words...
I should also post pics of my L1011 throttle quadrant project...


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