Just noted the last week or so that activity on the GGMG is at a crawl. My guess is that summer has brought with it additional work load like lawn care, gardening, fixer upper jobs, and for some, the heat may be a bit prohibitive in their shops. Just wanted to keep things active, and also see how everyone is getting along with your summer responsibilities? Chime in if you have a minute and say hello to the group. I have been turning a bit more than usual for stocking the gallery, and my G0766 is really showing its performance. This is such a great lathe, especially for the money I paid. If I had a bigger shop, I would probably get another one!
I have been building stuff for under the bench of my G0766. First I made a ballast box to fit between the legs at the headstock end of my lathe. It replaces a 5 gallon pail full of sand (about 60#) and has a capacity of around 150-175#. Then I built a set of four drawers with slides for under the shelf on the lathe. I kept the depth short so that I would have a "toe-kick" under the primary working side of the lathe. Next I am going to build another ballast box for the tailstock end of the lathe. General question: do most people weight down both ends of their lathe or primarily just the headstock end? I'll post some pictures above.
I ended up getting a new chuck for my 766 which I love (Oneway Stronghold) This summer I have also setup my dust collection to a 2 stage system with pvc piping running to my main machines. The floor sweep is awesome and is fairly close to my lathe to make cleanup so much faster. Granted I do need to clean out the can more often. Second, I got a lot of hickory logs from a arborist and well I have decided I dislike turning hickory.
Roger, I tried to post some photos in this section and am having some problems. I went to the group photo section and uploaded them to my own sub-group of photos. Then I dragged them down to get posted and clicked done. Then a page opened with my two photos in a frame that said "pending photos". It appears that I have the following options: (1) delete photo, (2) change the caption and (3) "save changes". When I clicked on "save changes", the screen goes white and basically "hangs". The address at this point is http://www.sawmillcreek.org/group.ph...res&groupid=29. So I'm wondering if there is a bug or if I'm doing something wrong. Since this is your forum, I thought that I should ask you.
Not sure Brice......it could be a sizing problem, and I am not sure if the groups have the same allowed size of pics as the general forum. I know our messages are limited in amount of characters we can type. BTW, I do not consider this "my forum." I just started it to facilitate information for folks interested in Grizzly lathes, or owners to speak to any issues like the banjo hole, etc. You have certainly added to the amount of available info, and that is a good thing!
I finished assembling my second ballast box for my G0766. I was admiring it (I built it with all new 3/4 inch plywood!)... and then I noticed that it is bigger than the one under the headstock. It was EXACTLY 1.00 inches longer. hmmm.... I could have swapped the two, putting the bigger one under the headstock, but I decided to cut it apart (it was stapled, screwed and glued - - it isn't going to come apart without a fight!). and finished it the same size as the first one. Now, I'm drying the wet sand before I load it inside the ballast box (HD sells the stuff wet apparently). I suspect that the two larger ballast boxes willl be a whole lot better than the two 5 gallon pails of sand.... I'd post some pictures, but I am currently unable to post pictures on this community forum (sigh).
Looking forward to the pics, Brice. I plan to build one when I can get the time and perhaps when I move into a bigger shop. Might do it before then, but I use the space under the lathe for wood blanks storage..........not the best and certainly not the easiest to clean up shavings/chips!
Not really something to brag about, but - My 14 year old daughter busted the handrail off of the wall in a fit of teenage anger. My wife asked, since we had replace the broken bracket, could I make a new hand rail (because the old one was white, and had 6 coats of paint on it). Well, I just put the 5.5 foot long painted hand rail on my G0766 with the homebuilt extension, and used a roughing gouge and skew to remove all of the paint. And, stained the old oak to match the new Brazilian Walnut stair nosings, to boot. Utility, man, utility.
Cool stuff, Mark!
