New lathe arrived today : The ongoing saga

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

There are three belts on this lathe. Should they be replaced regularly or do I just wait until something breaks ? I am going to order the belts next week to have on hand ; at this point I do not know how much they cost.

Edited By Brian John on 10/07/2016 08:24:40

[John RuddParticipant @johnrudd16576]

Posted by Brian John on 10/07/2016 08:17:52:

There are three belts on this lathe. Should they be replaced regularly or do I just wait until something breaks ? I am going to order the belts next week to have on hand ; at this point I do not know how much they cost.

Why fix something thats not broke?

Just ensure that the belts are tensioned correctly and are kept free from contaminants, they should last quite some time before needing replacement. Having spares on hand is a good idea especially if you are in the middle of something…

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

What do you mean by contaminants ?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Brian John on 10/07/2016 08:17:52:

There are three belts on this lathe. Should they be replaced regularly or do I just wait until something breaks ?

.

You need to ask yourself another question, Brian

… What will be the 'impact' of belt-breakage ?

That will inform your decision.

Example: Some overhead-cam car engines are intolerant of belt breakage, because valves and pistons collide with catastrophic results … These belts should be replaced regularly.

However: In the case of your lathe, it is likely that no physical damage would be done; and the 'impact' would merely be 'loss-of-use'. … You might therefore want to have a spare set to hand, but not need to replace them until they fail.

MichselG.

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

It could be worth having a spare set about but it wouldn't surprise me if you never use them. The main thing about maintaining a lathe is periodic lubrication = slide way oil ideally. Headstock bearings are often difficult to re lube so in many respect it's best to ignore until they need replacing. At some point though they probably will need adjusting but again that is best left alone until there are signs that it needs doing as playing around can easily wreck them.

Good grief. This thread has had nearly 90,000 reads. Interesting as it mostly cropped up down to one fault on the lathe – wrong part securing one end of the leadscrew.

John

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[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Use until they let go if that ever happens, handy to have a spare for each as its bound to happen when you need teh machine.

Have a look on the belts for any code numbers as it will probably be cheaper to source them from a belt supplier is Oz than have them ordered in from Optimum if the supplier does not keep them in stock.

Contaminates – swarf, oil, grease, etc

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

The lead screw has become quite stiff and hard to turn. Assuming that this is a bit of swarf caught in there somewhere, do I have to pull off the whole carriage to get it clean again ? What else could be causing this ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Should be able to loosen that grub screw that held the collar in place on teh R/H end and then slide the screw out which will also slide the carrage along. You can clean both ends like that and also feel if teh carrage is sliding freely.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

First thing to check might be the nut holding the handwheel on the end of the leadscrew. Make sure it is tight. Make sure the handwheel has not rotated and tightened up on the bracket. So loosen the nut, back off the handwheel a fraction of a turn and tighten the nut up again and then see if leadscrew action loosens up.

Check too that the custom-made eccentric sleeve in the right hand leadscrew bracket has not come loose and rotated. There is a small divot drilled into the sleeve for the grub screw to locate it in the correct place. Keep this sleeve and leadscrew where it passes through it well oiled.

Otherwise, as Jason says, undo grub screw and slide the whole lot to the right. If the leadscrew is tight to turn in the carriage when in this position, it is jamming in the carriage with swarf etc and a little working it back and forth and cleaning the screw should free it up. WD40 is your friend.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

1. The hand wheel has not rotated and tightened up on the bracket. I have just checked it now.

2. The eccentric sleeve was still in its correct position.

3. I undid the grubscrew and attempted to slide everything to the right but it only moved about 50mm. It is now stuck there. It will not move left or right. It is late here now so I cannot do anything else. I suspect that the problem lies in the carriage adjustment so I may have to turn the lathe over to get underneath the carriage tomorrow.

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

With the hand wheel off, I managed to get the carriage moving back and forwards but it was quite stiff. I applied plenty of WD40 and after a few minutes of sliding it by hand it seemed to be moving much better. I suspect that a bit of swarf may have got in there somewhere under the carriage. With everything reassembled it is working freely with no problems ; it is nice to have an easy-fix for once !

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

I found out today while in Coles Air Tools that they are an agent/distributor for Optimum lathes and mills. What SHOULD have happened when I ordered my lathe from Brisbane is that they should have immediately directed me to call Coles Air Tools to place the order. Had that happened, then none of this nonsense would ever have occurred. I would have just taken it back to the shop here in Cairns after the initial problems became evident and they would have sorted it out very quickly…..it is so frustrating to find this out now !

All that trouble because somebody did not follow correct procedure.

Edited By Brian John on 04/08/2017 12:17:17

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Brian John on 04/08/2017 12:16:26:

I found out today while in Coles Air Tools that they are an agent/distributor for Optimum lathes and mills. What SHOULD have happened when I ordered my lathe from Brisbane is that they should have immediately directed me to call Coles Air Tools to place the order. Had that happened, then none of this nonsense would ever have occurred. I would have just taken it back to the shop here in Cairns after the initial problems became evident and they would have sorted it out very quickly…..it is so frustrating to find this out now !

All that trouble because somebody did not follow correct procedure.

Edited By Brian John on 04/08/2017 12:17:17

And in another thread someone complained that a UK lathe company directed them to a local distributor rather than supplying direct…

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Aussies!

Ian S C

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Comments;

1) Glad that, at long last, Brian has most of the problems behind him

2) He has learned a lot on the way.

3) He already knows this, that he has a LOT for which to thank Hopper. (Who is a shining example to us all).

4) All of Hopper's pictures have appeared as a message from Photobucket to update my profile for remote hosting.

(Doesn't happen with anyone else's, or on other threads, so what is the solution, since I have no knowledge of Photobucket?)

Finally, Good on yer, Hopper, and Enjoy yourself Brian!

Howard

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

HPosted by Howard Lewis on 04/08/2017 21:31:46:

Comments;

1) Glad that, at long last, Brian has most of the problems behind him

2) He has learned a lot on the way.

3) He already knows this, that he has a LOT for which to thank Hopper. (Who is a shining example to us all).

4) All of Hopper's pictures have appeared as a message from Photobucket to update my profile for remote hosting.

(Doesn't happen with anyone else's, or on other threads, so what is the solution, since I have no knowledge of Photobucket?)

Finally, Good on yer, Hopper, and Enjoy yourself Brian!

Howard

Photobucket are demanding money in order to allow you to use your photos on 3rd party site many forums are now having a problem with this photos being replaced with the image below, pure blackmail don't pay if no one pays to upgrade there account then at least they will have to come up with a cheaper solution alternatively move to a rival photo hosting company

H

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Howard Lewis on 04/08/2017 21:31:46:

 

4) All of Hopper's pictures have appeared as a message from Photobucket to update my profile for remote hosting.

(Doesn't happen with anyone else's, or on other threads, so what is the solution, since I have no knowledge of Photobucket?)

Howard it is not you that needs to update your profile it is the person who's photos are hosted by Photobucket. otherwise what Harry says. You will find it on quite a few threads and on many forums.

Edited By JasonB on 05/08/2017 07:33:20

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Grief, it hadn't occurred to me but yes, it's very easy for people with nothing to do with photobucket to think they need to pay.

I wonder if anyone has paid up because of this?

 

By the bye, I can't quite see the point of an image hosting site if you can't share the images…

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 05/08/2017 09:00:26

[marko veicParticipant @markoveic82700]

Hello everyone. I wonder today (a few years later) if the Optimum 1503 is still working and if there were any more problems. Thank you

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Yes, I've been wondering how things were going. Well I hope

Howard

[Brian JohnParticipant @brianjohn93961]

The lathe is still going but I have not had much chance to use it lately. I moved house two years ago and things have been very hectic since. I also have a new job now and I am working six days a week. I just sink into a chair exhausted at the end of the day

[marko veicParticipant @markoveic82700]

I'm glad it's still in operation. I wish him a lot more work. All the best to you!

Cheers

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