So heres a head scratcher for you

[Jim Kountz]

Well I got my new Jet 1642EVS the other day and had to order a new adapter for my chuck since my old lathe was a 1"x8 and the Jet is a 1.25"x8. So while I waited I did some spindle turning and was just getting the feel of the new beast. Today I got my adapter and spun on the ol chuck for some small lidded boxes I was going to try. I turn the lathe on and the chuck is wobbling! Bad enough that I could see it right away. I thought something must be wrong with the insert or maybe the chuck got dropped or something. So I put the chuck back on my old lathe with the old adapter. Ran true as can be as checked with a dial caliper. So back to the Jet. Check everything with the dial caliper and the needle didnt even move, the Jet was also true as can be. So not knowing what to do I spun on the faceplate that I got with the Jet. It wobbles too!! arggggghhh!! How in the world can the spindle check out to be perfectly and I mean right on the money true but yet anything thats threaded on it wobbles. Could the threads have been cut wrong on the lathe? Both the faceplate and the chuck run true on my old lathe. This is making me sick to my stomach. Any ideas guys??

[William Bachtel]

Oneway - Powermatic - Jet

[Thomas Canfield]

Jim,

I have both a Jet adapter and a PSI adapter that are 1 1/4" to 1". The Jet adapter has longer thread lenggth and a chuck in the closed position will bottom out on the thread end and not the shoulder. The PSI is shorter and threads do not bottom out. I had a similar experience and found that to be the problem. (PS - the PSI adapter is a lot less $$, but the Jet is probably a better piece overall except for use with a small chuck).

[Jim Kountz]

Oneway - Powermatic - Jet

Uhhhh. alrighty then??

[Wayne Bitting]

Jim - Last weekend I had the same problem with my new chuck (had to reduce down from 1.5x8 to 1.25x8, I have the same lathe as you). The toothed washer that the was supposed to be used between the adapter and the chuck threw everything off, badly. Got rid of the washer and its true now.

Wayne

[Brian Weick]

Jim,
I have a spacer plate that goes on over my spindle (spacer) when I use any of my face plate hubs ~ it must be used in conjunction with the spacer plate~ it runs true as can be, but take it off , tighten the hub up and it will run out of round ~ I don't know what the set up is for your Jet~ but, something is definitely not write~ that's for sure. Have you tried any other attachments on the spindle shaft to see if they are running true?
All I can suggest is that you narrow it down some how,,.
MR.20C
Brian

[Jim Kountz]

Ok heres an update. A machinist friend of mine came over with all his gadgets and calipers, micrometers etc. The spindle itself is dead on true, inside and out. The threads however are totally screwed (pun intended) . Thats the problem. He brought some face plates that had been trued and used just for checking things like this and when we threaded one of those on the spindle and check it with the dial caliper it varied from -.005 to +.012. Not acceptable at all. So anything thats threaded on the spindle wobbles. Not sure how this is going to pan out with Jet but we will see. Im glad I bought it local instead of over the net so at least I can deal with actual people I can see. This whole thing just makes me ill though. It figures if there was one in a million, Id get it.

[Philip Duffy]

Time to pack it up and take it back to the dealer!! Phil

[Matt Hutchinson]

I know that if I had a new tool I would want to be using it right away. How frustrating! Good thing you have people to deal with, and hopefully you will be able to get things straightened out in a timely manner.

Hutch

[John Shuk]

Jim,
That bites. Not to fear Jet will make things right I'm sure.
Stuff happens but how it's handled can really set manufacturers apart.

[Richard Madison]

Jim,
Are you measuring axial runout or radial runout? Did you measure axial runout of the spindle shoulder? As Thomas Canfield said (I think), anything screwed onto the spindle should bottom out against the shoulder of the spindle. This would include the faceplate supplied with the lathe. Just trying to understand the problem.

[Lee DeRaud]

As Thomas Canfield said (I think), anything screwed onto the spindle should bottom out against the shoulder of the spindle. This would include the faceplate supplied with the lathe.

What they said. I had a similar issue with a Grizzly chuck on the Jet mini: spindle ran out of threads about a full turn before the chuck hit the shoulder, resulting in a truly scary wobble. A 1/4" thick spacer made it good (or at least as good as a $40 chuck gets).

[doug young]

Thanks for your post. It makes me think that i am not crazy. I ended up taking the headstock down to the repair facility that jet mentioned and they said it is all true. But when they put on the faceplate they said the faceplate was bad. Jet sent a new faceplate and i keep telling myself it is better and that i am a beginner and don't know what i am doing but it still seems off to me. the serial number on my machine is 7072695. If you talk to jet you might mention that another guy is struggling as well and is there a possibility that it was in the same run. I will follow this post to see what happens. thanks, doug

[Greg Ketell]

The threads on the spindles are not precision items; it is up to the backing plate to true everything up. Try what folks are telling you, get a true/accurate spacer so that the faceplate and chuck bottom out on the trued surfaces before they threads hit inside the item. The only time you will need to replace the actual threaded portion is if it is so very far off that the trued spacer is prevented from hitting the trued portion of the spindle.

[Jim Kountz]

Jim,
Are you measuring axial runout or radial runout? Did you measure axial runout of the spindle shoulder? As Thomas Canfield said (I think), anything screwed onto the spindle should bottom out against the shoulder of the spindle. This would include the faceplate supplied with the lathe. Just trying to understand the problem.

Both actually, and then some. We took measurements with the point of the caliper going straight at the end of the shoulder of the spindle, like a turning between centers, that way. Then with the tip of the caliper pointing straight down on the shoulder in two places, right next to the headstock and again as close to the threads as possible. Then we took a rod with a morse taper on it, inserted that into the spindle and checked that for run out just for kicks and giggles. All the above checked out perfect. The needle on the dial barely even so much as flickered when we rotated the spindle.
My chuck and faceplate both bottom out against the shoulder as they should. Ive included a picture to show where the readings were taken.