2 The hand wheel on the tailstock had a loose set screw so I tightened it. When the set screw went into the divot that holds the set screw, it moved the hand wheel closer to the tailstock and you were not able to turn the hand wheel. The only way I could use the lathe was to loosen the set screw and leave it loose. I contacted Grizzly about this problem and they sent me a new tailstock with a new quill and screw. The only problem is that the second tailstock must have been made by the same person that made the first one as it too was off. I contacted Grizzly again and they sent me a third tailstock and a new hand wheel. Believe it or not, the headstock point and the tailstock point was 3/16 off when you brought them together. and the hand wheel did not even arrive. The box that Grizzly shipped it in broke open and the only thing in the box was the third tailstock.
I again contacted Grizzly and they told be that I would have to return the whole lathe and they would fix all that was wrong and get it back to me. I live about 330 miles from Springfield, so I decided to take the lathe to them so I could show them what was wrong. They decided to give me a new 766 so I loaded it up and headed home happy to be free of the problem lathe. After the usual setup, I turned it on for the first time and the second 766 has a bad spindle bearing. The bearing in the live center is also not tight. With the live center in the tailstock morse taper, you can move the point of the live center about 1/8 inch sideways. It is after hours at Grizzly so I haven't contacted Grizzly yet.
John, it is likely that your alignment issue is due to the bed torqueing. If the ways are not level front to back, side to side and diagonally in both directions, it can throw off the alignment of centers. If there is more weight on one of the feet pads, it can roque the bed as well. I would loosen the leg castings from the bed, about 4 turns and start over, and reset everything with the headstock and tailstock off the lathe. This will probably fix your issue. Good luck!
Sorry John....I replied to the first post before I saw that there were other posts. Sounds like Grizzly is trying to get everything right. It is amazing to me that I and many others got a unit that seem to be fine, and then we hear of a very small amount of units that are in need of going over. I think the factory rushed to get these out the door and get them shipped, as there were delays in the original delivery time.........they need to tighten up on QC inspections!
John, how did you diagnose a bad spindle bearing? I ask because there is a spacer installed behind the spindle pulley during assembly that can mimic the sound of a bad bearing if it is slightly out of position, loose. Just want to be sure you've seen the following thread, if you haven't already: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/group.ph...737&do=discuss
David, I diagnosed the bad bearing from the sound. After reading your answer to my post, I inspected my 766 and I do indeed have a black spacer between the spindle pulley and the spindle bearing. I looked at the Grizzly parts diagram for the 766, and like you said, the spacer is not there. My question is, was it very much trouble to remove it. It looks simple, just remove the hand wheel and pulleys and then remove the spacer. If this is just an alignment tool, I wonder why it is getting left on the lathes at the factory?
John, I think that Roger might be correct on the bed torquing. When I was adjusting my levelers, I found the process to be imprecise. I found that with some out of balance pieces that I was getting a lot of vibration. I used my fingers to feel the point where the legs touched the concrete and noticed that it was moving. So I suspected that the bed was flexing a bit under load. I didn't have a lot of luck adjusting the leg that was too long or too short. So I used a hydraulic jack to lift the headstock end of the lathe. I put a piece of pipe between the hydraulic jack (on the floor) and the underside of the lathe bed. I used the square clamping piece that Grizzly used to hold the legs to the bed during shipment....
continued...So when I jacked up the headstock end so that the feet were perhaps 1/10 inch off of the floor, the lathe was basically supported on three points. That kind of guarantees a plane. Then I used a scrape of plastic as a feeler gauge and adjusted both of the feed under the headstock so they were equidistant from the floor. BTW, I noticed that the pads welded to the bolt aren't exactly perpendicular to the bolt but it wasn't a big deal. Then I slipped in a piece of butyl rubber (pond liner) that I had laying around and lowered the jack and the pads onto them. I found that it reduced the amount of vibration that I was experiencing. Perhaps this might be something for you to try for untweaking your bed. If your bed is not in a plane when you have it in the three-point mode, that would be a problem.
Thanks Brice, Your idea of using pipe and a jack to lift one end of the lathe against the square clamping piece just makes sense that it would give you a flat bed plane. I will give this a try on the replacement lathe that I received from Grizzly. Also, I have purchased a good quality level and will also make sure that everything is level both front to back on both ends, side to side and diagonally (Thanks Roger). The new lathe does not seem to have any of the alignment issues that the first one had but I can use this advice on setting it up. The problems I am having with the new lathe is a tick, tick, tick coming from the spindle area. I first diagnosed this as a bad spindle bearing, but I am not so sure after reading posts about an alignment tool spacer that is being left in by the factory. BTW, I am looking forward to talking about my wood turnings and not about lathe problems. I really do appreciate all the help from everyone though.
John, the "tick, tick, tick" you're hearing could be the spacer, but it might also merely be loose set screws that secure the spindle pulley on the spindle. That's the first thing I would check. Note that there are two M8 - 1.25 set screws. One seats against the key (part ref. 23 in the parts list on the Grizzly website) in the spindle's keyway. The second seats directly against the spindle. Use the allen wrench that came with the lathe. To tighten them sufficiently, you can grip the allen wrench with pliers. If tightening them eliminates the tick, tick, I suggest you remove them, apply blue (non-permanent) thread locker and reinstall. Also check the set screws on the motor drive pulley. There are two M6 - 1. Another clue that the tick, tick is from a slightly loose pulley may be that the sound goes away for a short while when you reverse the direction of the lathe as the set screws (cont)
