Grizzly G4003G lathe inbound!

[Charles Coolidge]

Placed my order today for this 12" x 36" 2HP 240v gunsmith's lathe, with any luck this lathe should touch down before Christmas! For a while I have had it in my head to meld wood and metal together in wood working so this is the first tool in that goal. Inspired mostly by antiques that mixed wood and brass. Plus every time I turn around I need a metal lathe for something so this will come in handy.

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[Matt Day]

I don't know much about metal lathes, but that thing looks serious! Nice score, congrats

[Mike Heidrick]

This is in addition to a wood lathe you already own then? Metal lathes are super sweet! Do you have tooling for the new green beauty? Is this your first metal lathe?

[Ronald Blue]

Looks sweet Charles. Gear head, gap bed, follow and steady rest, quick change gear box, live center, 3 and 4 jaw chucks. I don't know all the features but can see enough to know it will do a great job for you. Please post photos when you get it set up. I am jealous. Good luck.

[Ryan Baker]

Nice! I have that model on my short list too.

[Charles Coolidge]

Matt - thanks its got great reviews for the most part.

Mike - I don't think I'm wood lathe material I just don't have the talent for that tool (channels Clint Eastwood) a man's got to know his limitations.

Ronald - Thanks, yeah this is a real lathe that can do real work. I have no illusions though its still way down the scale of lathes. It's certainly not a run all day production lathe. Power cross feed was a must have and it seems like you have to jump up to the 12"x36" to get that so that's where I landed. This has some other features like the quick change tool post which is nice.

[Brian W Smith]

It usually takes a cpl years but............


One day,in the future,you'll be in your woodshop and need a threaded sumthin or other,a bushing turned down,etc,etc.And,you'll walk over to your lathe,turn out said part,no drama.....then go back to what you were working on.The whole event taking not much longer to do than write about.Then it will hit you,how easy that was.

We're knee deep in work in the cabinet shop right now.But yesterday needed a special airline part(vacumn chuck/work holding fixture).Didn't really have the time,but fixture was stalled without it....walked over to machine shop,made the part,no drama.

Just be patient and careful with your rigging,they're very top heavy.

[Charles Coolidge]

Brian ARRRGH this already happened to me this week! I'm restoring a radial arm saw, I needed some shields for some carriage bearings. A .030 washer of the proper ID and OD and I would be golden. I hit two major hardware stores plus McMaster Carr and nada. Because I didn't have the right tool I ended up purchasing a 3/4" leather punch, a shield of .010 brass which really wasn't thick enough, punched the ID out in a hydraulic press with the punch (that kind of worked), cut the OD with some left hand aviation snips which I also had to purchase, sandwiched it between a couple washers using some metric nuts to center it on a bolt, chucked it in my drill, and filed down the OD with a file. Not only did that cost me a lot of time but I'm probably $50 in tools and materials and gas. Did I get it to fit...sort of it was dragging on the ID and it wasn't a good press fit and it wasn't thick enough. That's an example of what drives me nuts about not having the right tool.

[Brian W Smith]

I hear ya.....you are going to really like having the options a lathe brings to your woodshop.

I thought about you today and had to smile.Was using a full size HVLP gun to spray some parts.It's a top loader(gravity) that came with the std big cup.Awhile back I turned an aluminum adapter that changes thread size so we can run a small cup from our touchup gun.It's no big deal really,but try finding that pce....it's a metric thread on one,SAE on the other.

Gotta go hit the shop again,it's very busy here.

[Charles Coolidge]

That's another good example Brian. I predict my trips to the hardware store calipers in hand will go way down. UPDATE: UPS Freight called the lathe will be delivered tomorrow a mere 48 hours after I ordered it!

[Bruce Page]

Congrats! I think you're going to love it.
I can't tell you how many times my lathe has come to the rescue. I'd be lost without it!

[Mikail Khan]

Congratulations.

I have the 4003. You will need some oil for the headstock and ways. Download the operating/maintenace manual from Grizzly's website.

Mikail

[Charles Coolidge]

I had hoped to post some uncrating pics today but UPS freight idiots never showed up for the appointment, no call nothing. I waited another hour and called them...the story they gave me was the 3 crates on the truck didn't have pallets so the driver could not get his pallet jack under them...wait for it...THEN they had the nerve to blame Grizzly for this, wow! No call just left me hanging all day waiting. Stay tuned hopefully tomorrow, man I hate they keep moving this thing around the longer its in their possession the greater the risk they will damage it.

[Charles Coolidge]

Touchdown, this is the largest crate so far. Arrived safe and sound, no damage that I can see.

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[Jacob Reverb]

Best of luck and please give us a full review once you get it set up. I've had my eye on that exact same lathe for several years now.