Motor protection Enco Bench 9” x 20”- Grizzly G4000 9” x 20”- Harbor Freight 9” x 20”

[machining 4 all]

Motor Protection in ACM (Aluminium Composite Material)

[DIYer]

Thanks machining 4 all! We've added your Lathe Motor Protective Box to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: machining 4 all's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Lathe Motor Protective Box by machining 4 all

tags: lathe, safety, motor

[marksbug]

I also made one for mine, but I made a big drip/chip tray to go under that raped up around the back side, very similar to the one that came with my 7x14 mini. I also added a baffle under the head to keep the nastys out from under there and making thier way to the gear train. I have about 4 different smaller plastic trays under the lathe on top of the big steel tray I made so it stays nice and the chips contained and quickly disposed of. I also have a small tray under the gear train to catch oil there too.as well as one under the change gears to catch drippings. my lathe is labeled a enco....but enco says it's not...I bought it about 1 month before they went under...it had lost of issues...so..they said it wasent theirs.even though it's enco blue and has all the enco labeling.. what else would you expect from a company that sells crap and is going under.(closed down by parent company MSC).it now works great& oh so quiet now that Ive fixed it all.

[machining 4 all]

The lathe in general is not bad, I bought it used. Most of this equipment is Chinese, so it is necessary to improve small parts of the original project. Thanks for the comments!

[marksbug]

mine was horrific when it arrived on the pallet. I think enco took out the instruction manual because they said enco on it.... almost nothing worked.the transverse was way out of adjustment, asw ell as needing machining to bring the worm gear up so the lead screw wasent pulled down atleast 1/16".the linkage wasent even close to being right..the gears that go on to keyed bushings were way off center.it was the bushings, so I used my small lathe to center up the bushings inner hole and add a bush to them, so i have bushed bushings....that was most of the horriffic gear train noise that could be hears all over the shop. the motors tiny bolts were broke off the lathe bed, the head stock was way out of alignment.so much rong stuff I cant remember it all. the coumpound slide's lead screw was not true,& wobbely in the holder witch had a big hole in it for the wobble.I made a new holder and put 2 ball bearing's in it there.one on each side to take thrust.Ill do the same to the cross slide at some point...I may already have.. under the bed the bondo was all caked up so the tail stock could not slide... spindal nut was loose... I reworked the tail stock,dont remember why...and more, much more.put good hinges on the gear door.I may of made it eazely removable I dont remember. the belt tensioner was wonkey,,I added a start stop emergency switch box so I dont have to. reach over it all and flip the forward/reverse off switch..I worked ofn the change gears.deburring and polishing the rough shaft, they run quieter now, i also added moly lube to them. someday Ill remove the saddle assy and put a cover over the lead screw.I also deburred the lead screw, it was like they cut the threads with a rock...very jagged. as well as added a ever so slight chamfer to the key slot..one gib screw was striped...Im thinking about remachining the V and adding a brass gib between the steel one and the lower way.so the brass can be snuged up beter and the steel one spreads the load of the adjustment screws to eliminate tight&loose points for a better fit. while I had it all appart I also drilled the back of the bed for dro scale. as well as the cross slide.but have yet to instal them, i was going to use the battery operated ones I had on one of my mills when I put a glass scale dro on it....but wit the prices right I just bought 2 glass scale type dros.one for each. but not enough room for the glass scale on the cross slide...so I never did it..I also added a new 6" chuck, and bought anew 5" 4 jaw too self centering on both.I may get a independent 4 jaw at some point.I used the one that came with the lathe. what a pos... I also ordered a mt3 or 4 whatever the head stock is aliginemnt bar to get it perfect....ya perfect..the bed flexes so effing bad. it needs to be mounted on a 3/4~1" steel plate to eliminate it... or concerate.....but it's ok for what it is. it's too small for what i needed it for... but somehow I did that job on my 7x14 mini....go figure. although I havent messed a lot with it for that job so it may do it...but I doubt it I think I need a 12" but the price was right on this one...and I didnt have the $ for the 12" lathe. I have a lot of enco ****. I even have a enco mill drill from 1975 . it almost looks new. I havent used it since I get my 9x42 birdgported mill.that ws back when some good stuff was comming out of enco.but most is junk if it's got the enco name on it..

[marksbug]

I do still need to make a reverser for it... at some point. I think the motor was the only thing that I did not rebuild & fix before using it. had to remachine the pulley's too....

[machining 4 all]

I also intend to improve the equipment, there are numerous design flaws. I am currently working on improving the tool holder. Soon I will post the result. But, because it is a Chinese machine for hobbyists, at the moment it serves me reasonably.

[marksbug]

yes I spread the bolts appart on the cross slide round thingy as far as posiable.so it dont deflect real bad.I need to do a little more to it, but it works much better now. I put the quick change tool holder on it that I had on my mini, it was too big but worked great on the mini, I had to do some work to it for this lathe. it's acctuly to big for this too....if I ever raise the head stock&tail stock a inch or so it will be perfect... I think I put a thrust washer on each side of the worm gear too. the threading lever linkage is trickey to get just right.

[machining 4 all]

Man, your story with this machine is enough to write a book!

[marksbug]

I think since it was one of the last machines enco got they were probably all of them AFU from china.I do tend to rebuild most everything new & used I get befor usage any way so it wasn't a issue for me. but still...what if a true hobbyist or a new person to lathes and these kind of "toys" and they didnt know squat about this stuff get it??????they would possibly never figure out it isn't working right...and give up on all the fun. I haven't even found a SR# anywhere on this lathe.. but the motor has a date code that was about 3 months before I bought it, witch means manufacturing, crating,shipping, customs,and then to enco to be sold off quickly. all I can figure is enco put the SR#'s on them that they could trace.. about 8 years ago possibly 10 when we bought a new 9x42 mill from them it had a sr# 3 years later or so when ordering something they gave us a updated SR# for it.....I dont remember all the particulars as my brother was dealing with them on that. they had a hell of a deal on the machines, they had ordered 20 machines, but received 20 containers of machines....so they were sold off cheep quickley , just a few hundred above cost to pay for them. I think it was around $1500 delivered. thats a deal for a new full size mill. hell it cost me $300 to get mine across town to my house.... keep the chips flying and have fun doing it!!!