IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!

 

Now I know how Dr Frankenstein felt when he powered up his monster. The lathe works! There is always a little trepedation when I switch from an old faithful tool that I've been very comfortable using, to a new one that I just bought. The queeziness is heightened when I've built a lathe based on someone else's plans, and hope, but don't absolutely know for a fact, that it will work to my expectations. Holding on to the tried and true means that I still find myself heading for the old Sears band-saw and ignoring the new Laguna band-saw sitting right next to the old one. A habit I am trying to break.

Anyway, I put the new lathe through a full day of turning yesterday and was very pleased with the lathe's performance. As I did on the Sears lathe set up, I used a pair of bungee cords to tension the drive belt and overcome the motor's tendency to kick back when I start the lathe.After turning the first leg, I noticed that the bungee cords weren't pulling the drive belt tight enough. So, I added a couple of old window sash wieghts on the outboard side of the motor to tighten up the belt tension and that fixed that problem. I also noted an unfamiliar thrumming noise coming from somewhere on the lathe. After sticking my deaf ears next to all the moving parts I discovered that the noise was caused by the wooden on/off bar that, loosely slotted and screwed to the front lathe bed rail, vibrated and created the unfamiliar noise. The on/off bar works better than I expected. I was wondering whether I might need to add some wooden knobs along it's length to get a good grip on the bar. When turning chair parts, I am always turning the lathe on and off so I can check the turning with my calipers. Thanks for dropping by. Have a good day. STB