Cx701 lathe report

[Courierdog]

My last tool order, a tailstock die holder set, came from India. Quality was comparable to Chinese tools and delivery was fairly quick. I took out a Prime membership with Amazon so delivery was free. I thought I would test the limits of the free delivery and ordered a small surface plate that was a good price. And yes even that was free delivery. We live in the country so couriers won’t touch us. We have a friend in town receive shipments for us. The courier made a mistake and dropped the box off at their neighbour's house. The lady there was expecting shoes but couldn’t lift the box. She opened it, realized that it must be for our friend next door, and phoned him to ask why he had ordered a tombstone.

I fully understand the country aspect as I have friends who are forced to do the same as you. However just because I live in the Big City, does not mean better service, with all the different couriers and the churn in their contractors just getting it to the right door can be a problem. I had several deliveries to the wrong side of the house, where there is not where to walk. Delivered to my neighbours house with a picture taken of my house address from the far side of my house. It isn not that the 8 inch tall numbers are difficult to read of in a hidden location. There are times when I think some delivery people are just not suited for the task.
And after all there those of us who sit at home with nothing better to do then to complain about the delivery people, everyone says retired people sit around doing nothing and their time is not worth anything.

 

[Richard Hed]

I fully understand the country aspect as I have friends who are forced to do the same as you. However just because I live in the Big City, does not mean better service, with all the different couriers and the churn in their contractors just getting it to the right door can be a problem. I had several deliveries to the wrong side of the house, where there is not where to walk. Delivered to my neighbours house with a picture taken of my house address from the far side of my house. It isn not that the 8 inch tall numbers are difficult to read of in a hidden location. There are times when I think some delivery people are just not suited for the task.
And after all there those of us who sit at home with nothing better to do then to complain about the delivery people, everyone says retired people sit around doing nothing and their time is not worth anything.

Oh, that's a good one. There are indeed a lot of retired people who sit around and couch potato for the rest of their lives. That is the point: the rest of their lives--they generally die within two years of retiring. If we don't have anything to do, we die. So by that token, I should live to 300

 

[ajoeiam]

The two types of QCTP, piston:wedge are supposed to use the same tool holders. I see that when I purchase them from Shars they had an issue with tolerance from their China factory. I have some holders that are darn tight. And I've had them to be sloppy loose.
Also, what I've inserted does not have the "zero" size which has recently shown up for the mini lathes.
Below I inserted info from PhaseII catalog.

Would you be able to attach a copy of your pdf catalog here?
(would love pricing!)

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Guys---Please!! I started this thread to be an aid to people who purchased the CX701 lathe. If you want to continue your dialogue, start a new thread.---Brian

 

[Courierdog]

Guys---Please!! I started this thread to be an aid to people who purchased the CX701 lathe. If you want to continue your dialogue, start a new thread.---Brian

Well my objective was accomplished.
Hello Brian.
When you finished up in Nov of 2020 I felt like you had just got over the hard part with the lathe and now we want to hear about your continued experience. All of us who frequent BBT love to drool all over these lathes.
So stop keeping us all in suspense and tell us more, and in that way the thread can continue as intended about the CX701. and those of us who have the wannabe lathes can virtually drool along with your tales and journey to mastering the BBT CX701. ha ha
Thanks for taking the time to answer the forum

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I am very happy with this lathe. It gets used a lot, and other than minor issues (switch inside rear door and loose connections) it has served me faithfully and well. It has a 1.5" diameter hole thru the spindle, which lets me work on any of the larger things I do. I found that I simply had to add a dro system to it to get any speed out of what I was making, and I added a carriage stop and a quick change toolpost. To me, this is the perfect size of lathe for someone making more advanced modelling and a bit of production work. It has power feed on the carriage and on the cross slide, and it comes with a carriage lock and a cross-slide lock.

 

[Courierdog]

I followed the entire article, which I copied and pasted into a document which I can now read c/w pictures.
Great stuff.
Be very careful the Roberta Long Term Care Facility near you has had the worst out break of COVID-19 in Canada. It is highly suspect that it also one of the Mutant Variants of the Virus.
My Son-In-Law is a contractor Micro-biologist who is working on the Oxford Vaccine. So I am able to get my info from a knowledgable source.
Do not be shy.
An update on how the Lathe is doing. Have you sorted out the unbalance of the Chuck yet. Is your DRO installation worked as well as you had planned, Any recommendations as to thing you would now do differently.
ETC
Thanks for listening

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I am aware of what is going on at the long term care home in Barrie. The lathe chuck still has an out of balance vibration at about 650 rpm, but I seldom run it that fast. I find that 600 rpm works quite well with my brazed carbide tooling. I love the dro and would do nothing to change it. (Well maybe I would have put the cross-feed dro on the side opposite the chuck if there had been an easy way of doing it.) My wife and I are listed as "Essential care givers" for my 100 year old mother in Bancroft, and our names have been entered for Covid vaccine inoculations when the rest of the old folks in the home get their shots. This is kind of a pain in the ass, because Bancroft is 185 km. from here, but as we understand it, they will be inoculated by the middle of February. Meanwhile, other than monthly trips to Bancroft we are staying home and not seeing anyone which makes a very long and boring winter. We visit our grandkids on the "zoom" so that we can see the kids and stay in touch.---Brian

 

[Courierdog]

Brian
At least you are using ZOOM and staying in touch. Many of our friends are afraid of technology, and even more afraid to try. Yet they have a Smartphone, go figure.
I would suggest if the roads are good then take the easiest opportunity to have the vaccine. I am told we will not grow two left feet, like I need another, I trip enough.
Above all else keep your sneak of humour or even culture an greater OGER Avitar, My daughter got me the Sign. Beware, Grumpy Old Man. This is why is use the friendly Rottweiler Picture. She was better looking than I will ever be.
When and if you have time I would like to discuss a project I have in mind.
Back to the CX701. Are the Jaws of the Chuck running true or is that part of the unbalance.
There are many suspects for the unbalance. I do believe you said you did run the lathe without the chuck and there was no unbalance.
It does concern me, only in the fact that it is there at all. It is not something I have read is common with these lathes. There has to be a source for the unbalance.

 

[Richard Hed]

I am aware of what is going on at the long term care home in Barrie. The lathe chuck still has an out of balance vibration at about 650 rpm, but I seldom run it that fast. I find that 600 rpm works quite well with my brazed carbide tooling. I love the dro and would do nothing to change it. (Well maybe I would have put the cross-feed dro on the side opposite the chuck if there had been an easy way of doing it.) My wife and I are listed as "Essential care givers" for my 100 year old mother in Bancroft, and our names have been entered for Covid vaccine inoculations when the rest of the old folks in the home get their shots. This is kind of a pain in the ass, because Bancroft is 185 km. from here, but as we understand it, they will be inoculated by the middle of February. Meanwhile, other than monthly trips to Bancroft we are staying home and not seeing anyone which makes a very long and boring winter. We visit our grandkids on the "zoom" so that we can see the kids and stay in touch.---Brian

Man alive, if I was 185 km from the city, I would NOT go there till the covid thing irons out.

 

[Richard Hed]

Brian
At least you are using ZOOM and staying in touch. Many of our friends are afraid of technology, and even more afraid to try. Yet they have a Smartphone, go figure.
I would suggest if the roads are good then take the easiest opportunity to have the vaccine. I am told we will not grow two left feet, like I need another, I trip enough.
Above all else keep your sneak of humour or even culture an greater OGER Avitar, My daughter got me the Sign. Beware, Grumpy Old Man. This is why is use the friendly Rottweiler Picture. She was better looking than I will ever be.
When and if you have time I would like to discuss a project I have in mind.
Back to the CX701. Are the Jaws of the Chuck running true or is that part of the unbalance.
There are many suspects for the unbalance. I do believe you said you did run the lathe without the chuck and there was no unbalance.
It does concern me, only in the fact that it is there at all. It is not something I have read is common with these lathes. There has to be a source for the unbalance.

There is a possibilty that unbalance only comes with the load of the chuck and has nothing to do with the chuck being unbalanced. If that is the case, it must be the spindle. What are the bearings like? How old are the bearings? Is it difficult to change the bearings? What kind are they?

 

[davidl]

Hi Brian,
I recently added a four jaw 4 inch dia chuck to my little Seig lathe. (It was originally equipped with a 3inch chuck) . I also had imbalance issues over 6oorpm. Problem solved when I noted the various bolt holes for mounting etc were not evenly situated. Easily fixed by carefully mounting an addionaly recessed bolt as a balance weight. Now runs beautifully.

 

[lathe nut]

Courierdog
would you know if really that is shot is worth it not having very little contact with the people and of course wear the mask, is this like a flue shot that is a shot in the dark, 30,000 know virus's and if there is mutations then it might be in vane, if you shed some light on this we have not taken ours yet, thanks, Joe

 

[Courierdog]

Well, I know both my wife will have the vaccination, when it comes our turn.

 

[Courierdog]

While not quite a Tombstone but it could be engraved as an unground marker.
those things are not light by anyones standards.

 

[Linz]

After purchasing a new CX601 mill and CX701 lathe (with stands) on November 5 2020 in Edmonton and being told I would get them at the end of the month, I finally got everything the second week of February 2021. I spent the better part of the afternoon on Friday the 12th setting them up and getting all the rust preventative goop cleaned off. After checking all the knobs and switches were in the correct positions and everything in the proximity of the lathe was picked up and cleared away, I plugged it in for the test run. The start switch was pressed and the variable speed control knob was slowly advanced. The spindle began rotating intermittently eventually reaching around 200 RPM by the midway point. Further advancement of the knob produced no increase in RPM, in fact, by the time it reached it's limit everything stopped completely. Returning the knob to the lowest setting and attempting again produced no result. DOA. Not Happy! I checked both fuses and the safety switch, all good. Line power was coming in but nothing reaching the motor. I didn't want to pull anything apart until talking with BusyBee. Being in the West I called the head branch (Concord) early on Saturday morning. Despite being listed as open on Saturday nobody answered any of the numbers. I called Edmonton later that morning. My first inclination was to just give them back the machine and get another one but, unfortunately, I have learned that BusyBee seems to never have anything in stock! I was further disappointed to learn they stock ZERO parts for their machines in Edmonton. On top of that they don't perform any services or repairs locally. I was told I could bring it to them and they would ship it to Ontario for repairs. OK, now we're bordering on retarded. More to follow....try to keep individual posts to reasonable length.

 

[Richard Hed]

After purchasing a new CX601 mill and CX701 lathe (with stands) on November 5 2020 in Edmonton and being told I would get them at the end of the month, I finally got everything the second week of February 2021. I spent the better part of the afternoon on Friday the 12th setting them up and getting all the rust preventative goop cleaned off. After checking all the knobs and switches were in the correct positions and everything in the proximity of the lathe was picked up and cleared away, I plugged it in for the test run. The start switch was pressed and the variable speed control knob was slowly advanced. The spindle began rotating intermittently eventually reaching around 200 RPM by the midway point. Further advancement of the knob produced no increase in RPM, in fact, by the time it reached it's limit everything stopped completely. Returning the knob to the lowest setting and attempting again produced no result. DOA. Not Happy! I checked both fuses and the safety switch, all good. Line power was coming in but nothing reaching the motor. I didn't want to pull anything apart until talking with BusyBee. Being in the West I called the head branch (Concord) early on Saturday morning. Despite being listed as open on Saturday nobody answered any of the numbers. I called Edmonton later that morning. My first inclination was to just give them back the machine and get another one but, unfortunately, I have learned that BusyBee seems to never have anything in stock! I was further disappointed to learn they stock ZERO parts for their machines in Edmonton. On top of that they don't perform any services or repairs locally. I was told I could bring it to them and they would ship it to Ontario for repairs. OK, now we're bordering on retarded. More to follow....try to keep individual posts to reasonable length.

Bring it to them on YOUR $? How far is it? This is not a nice thing to hear. I thot Busybee was supposed to be more responsible than that. I might understand it being late but not the irresponsibility part. Sounds like what they pull in the Philippines. I was guaranteed a ten year (acutally they said 'lifetime') warantee but when the crappy thing failed to work, it was MY responsibility to pay all technitians, transpo0rt and all the rest.

 

[Linz]

So, On the Saturday I called Edmonton BusyBee in regards to the DOA lathe, after my dismay with the fact they don't carry any parts or do any repairs locally, I was told that quite often if you talk to the technical department at the head office, they can troubleshoot over the phone and just send you parts. So, it was that or take it back to Edmonton and have them ship it to Ontario. In all honesty, I was ready to load up everything and take it all back for a refund. I took a few deep breathes and decided to stay the course on trying to get the machine fixed. Being the Family Day long week-end I would have to wait until Tuesday to talk with anyone in Ontario. Tuesday morning I was eventually able to get through to the Concord office desk. I explained the situation to the woman there who said she would forward the information to the technical department and that someone would phone me back. She asked that in the interim I email the machine particulars to the technical department, which I did. A BusyBee rep phoned me later that afternoon and I explained the situation to him. He said he thought it was the switch and would send me a new one. I had concerns that it may be the control board and asked him if the board could be tested without the switch to confirm it was in fact the switch that was faulty. He said he would talk with a tech and get back to me. Getting back to me he said they couldn't function the board without the switch. I told him how frustrated I was with the whole BusyBee experience to that point, but that I realized things do fail. I said I was willing to work with them to resolve the issue but also that I would be extremely pissed if I waited for a $1 potentiometer to show up and then had to wait again for a control board if the switch (variable speed control knob- potentiometer, take your pick on the nomenclature) wasn't the problem. he agreed to send a potentiometer and control board and asked if I would ship back the faulty or unused replacement parts. I agreed and he said he would get them sent right away.

 

[Linz]

With new parts to come time to disassemble and test. Here is the Potentiometer. It is a 4.7k ohm wire wound linear pot. These particular ones are about as cheap as they come. I tested the resistance with my fluke meter and it was good. Resistance acceptable and varied with knob rotation. No short or open detected. So the pot doesn't appear to be the problem. Incidentally, these sell for 79cents on Aliexpress. It's also used in the 601 mill. I read a post somewhere that these pots are commonly prone to failure (not necessarily a craftex). I ordered 3 on Ali delivered for $8, just to get ahead of any future issue.

 

[Linz]

Here is the filter. All good here on voltage test with meter. Bottom 3 connections; Line in, Ground in, Neutral in. Top connections Line out, Neutral out. For reference, the small white connector provides stepped down voltage to the readout display. The A and B terminals, bottom left, work in conjunction with the potentiometer P1, P2 terminals and terminal 11 and 12 on the f/r switch to provide reduced power when reverse is selected.