Monday, May 30, 2011

Product Review: Grizzly 4003G metal gunsmith lathe

I recently bought a Grizzly 4003G lathe, which has proven to be a very useful tool in my shop and a major upgrade from my previous lathe. The 4003G is a great value, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a 12x36 lathe for hobby or semi-pro work.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Ben. nice lathe!
    i hope you don't take this the wrong way but u shouldn't have so many loose items on top of the chuck. vibration might drop one down.
    i like your blog an am amazed by ur work!
    cheers!

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  2. Nice review, I would love to make the same transition myself!

    Just a tip, you should run the spindle without the jaws tightened down on the chuck. There have been a few horror stories about the jaws coming off.

    Keep up the great work!

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  3. Hi Ben,

    You mention in the video that you changed the light to LED.
    All the lathes and any rotary machinery comes with an incandescent lighting. It's a safety feature. It's even not allowed (at least in my country) to have fluorescent lighting in machine shops because of the flicker (except when they use 3 phase connection and one light for each phase hence at least one CFL is on at any moment = no flicker)
    Flicker cause the illusion of no movement when the rotation of the chuck synchronizes to the flicker of light. So it's hard to do precise work and also very dangerous. And also the color rendering index of halogen lights and incandescent lights are far superior to any LED or CFL.

    just a thought. be safe :)

    smiki

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  4. I don't think that flicker would be a problem with an LED. Fluorescent lighting is another story altogether.
    Doug

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