Would you complain about this shipping damage for this Nova lathe?

[ear3]

I took advantage of a recent sale to pick up the Nova Galaxi lathe.  Arrived today, and delivery guy forklifted palette up to the door of my shop without issue.

Opened it all up after he left and discovered a bunch of nasty gouges in the lathe bed.  Not so much that it will affect performance, but enough that the motor does catch on it when I slide it over the damaged spot -- though that seems easy enough to fix by filing down the high spots around the gouges.  Haven't set the machine up yet to test it out fully -- I'm assuming whatever jostling/impact that caused the gouging will not have affected internals of motor, but I guess we'll see.

If you were me, how big of an issue would you make of this to Nova/Teknatool, from whom I bought the tool directly?

 

[ChuckM]

Without setting up everything (just in case you need to disassemble it), I'd first test the machine with regard to its running, motor, speed and functions. If satisfied, I'd contact the vendor about the gouges you shared here. If there're other more serious issues, then the gouges may not even matter.

I'd not consider that machine in new, top condition, and naturally expect some form of compensation from the vendor. The vendor may refuse to offer any compensation, and choose to replace it, of course.

 

[jeh]

Festool or not, if there is visible damage I would complain and get it rectified. You have the upper hand if you paid by CC and they know it.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I turn but far from an expert. I had a class with Stuart Batty and he remarked how even some wood dust or sliver of a chip could throw the centers of the lathe off. You need a replacement.

 

[Bob D.]

MY NOVA DVR-XP Lathe ways looked way better than that. It was apparently a completely different design but this machine is the equivalent of the DVR-XP. I bought mine over 10 years ago and it was shipped to my door. The ways were perfect and it was packed apparently much better than yours was. Knowing what this machine costs (because I looked it up when I was selling mine) and based on the photos I would not be happy with this. I believe your bed is one piece. That's a big hunk of CI to ship back. They should cover shipping both ways or let you scrap it.

This looks to be in a place where it could not have been damaged by shipper mishandling but possibly due to poor protection during packing the pieces for shipping or prior to shipping.

Or are they flaws in the casting that because of their severity were not removed when the ways were machined.

I am already sorry I sold the lathe. It wasn't getting a lot of use but I think I will be sorry I did sell it. I have a NOVA Comet II midi lathe but its not a DVR-XP.

I noticed that the packaging was not as good as it could be when I received the NOVA Voyager Drill Press last year. The box was crushed in multiple places and the display on the face of the DP was exposed and from the looks of it just missed getting crushed by about a 1/2". So I would say the quality of the packaging is not what it used to be.

 

[Cheese]

Edward, I'd definitely contact Teknatool and offer them up the photos for their review. It'd also be nice if you could determine how proud those marks are from the way surface. That'd be good info for Teknatool to evaluate the amount of actual damage. The ways of a lathe is one of the reasons for their precision. Those ways might also be hardened so a file may not help you much and I'd certainly not try to use one.

For any massaging of the ways I'd use this set of stones but they're about $200 and will take 4 weeks to produce. They're especially made to remove nicks in hardened 1-2-3 blocks and beds for grinders & mills. Unlike traditional stones, they only remove the high spots and will not remove the base material, that's by design. [smile]
https://www.kineticprecision.com/all-about-pfg-stones1

 

[waho6o9]

Interesting link:https://www.kineticprecision.com/all-about-pfg-stones1

Thanks for posting.

 

[ear3]

Thanks for the replies.  I've now lodged an official complaint!

 

[ear3]

Oh geez [member=44099]Cheese[/member] you're sending me down another precision bored rabbit hole

Edward, I'd definitely contact Teknatool and offer them up the photos for their review. It'd also be nice if you could determine how proud those marks are from the way surface. That'd be good info for Teknatool to evaluate the amount of actual damage. The ways of a lathe is one of the reasons for their precision. Those ways might also be hardened so a file may not help you much and I'd certainly not try to use one.

For any massaging of the ways I'd use this set of stones but they're about $200 and will take 4 weeks to produce. They're especially made to remove nicks in hardened 1-2-3 blocks and beds for grinders & mills. Unlike traditional stones, they only remove the high spots and will not remove the base material, that's by design. [smile]
https://www.kineticprecision.com/all-about-pfg-stones1

 

[Cheese]

Oh geez [member=44099]Cheese[/member] you're sending me down another precision bored rabbit hole

Hey Edward [member=37411]ear3[/member] misery loves company.  [big grin] [big grin]

 

[Cheese]

Interesting link:https://www.kineticprecision.com/all-about-pfg-stones1

Thanks for posting.

Hey [member=7659]waho6o9[/member] if you enjoyed that, here's an interesting video from Robin Renzetti. He gets very detailed as to how the Precision Ground Stones work and how to use them, he then shows a brief segment of diamond grinding his own pair. That's less interesting I think than the other stuff.

FWIW...this guy really does a lot of interesting things, in one video he measured how the heat from your hand changed the readings on a micrometer...pretty heady stuff.  [smile]
=5

 

[waho6o9]

Fascinating links, the more you know the more you need to learn.  Amazing.

I think the stones will flatten the lathe ways for  ear3 and the motor will glide without hesitation.  I would stone the bottom of the motor ways as well. 

 

[Michael Kellough]

You’ve already filed a complaint (that’s what I’d do) so hopefully you’ll get some kind of compensation.

Highly unlikely the ways are hardened or plain old cast iron legs couldn’t make those divots.

The location diminishes the significance of the damage. The only thing that can be positioned there is the banjo and it does not require any kind of precision. The tail stock can’t get there unless you remove the head first and even if it was placed there (assuming you first knocked down the high spots) it’s footprint is so large it would span the damaged area with no consequence.

You could move the head to that spot but again, the footprint is so large there will be no problem.

I’d use a half round file to target just the raised spots. Maybe a Dremel. I’d use a precision rule or straight edged card scraper to find the remaining subtle high spots.

 

[grbmds]

If it bothers you complain. That’s my criteria. Nothing worse than having it bother you every time you use and see the damage.

 

[peter halle]

I'd ask for a replacement.  Whether or not it affects accuracy of anything, it will be a constant irritant when even a glance goes that way.  Also, I hate to say this, but sometime down the road that tool will change hands and the price then will be reduced due to the observed damage.

Just a thought / opinion.

Peter

 

[ear3]

Oof -- I'm pretty annoyed now.  Finally got the lathe set up over the weekend after moving out my previous one.  Turned it on and discovered a significant amount of runout on the headstock spindle.  By significant, I mean that if it were a box store drill with this amount, I might consider bringing it back for a refund/exchange -- so for a lathe, totally unacceptable.  I'm still waiting for a full response to the damage report I submitted a couple of days ago through their online service portal, so I updated the ticket with this new info along with video demonstrations.  I assume they will do the right thing.

I guess something must indeed have happened during the shipping process. 

 

[ear3]

Overall good news.  I sent videos of the headstock runout to Nova, and they promptly sent out a brand new headstock assembly/motor.  The new one is now installed and performs as expected.

The bed, however, is an other issue.  They acknowledged that the level of damage was clearly not ok, but according to them they will not have replacement ones available until later in the summer due to supply chain stuff.  So I'm just going to go ahead and put it to use and maybe later this year deal with the swap.  In truth it's not that big a deal to me at this point after going through so much hassle with the headstock -- the current bed will work fine now that I've smoothed out some of the rough spots.

Question on chucks:

I used a Oneway Talon chuck for years with my mini lathe, and was very happy with it, though never had to work with anything other than the #2 jaws or place any kind of stress on it due to the small size of my machine.

Decided to get a Nova Supernova2 chuck, and will probably be adding additional jaws to do some larger bowl work, which is the main reason why I decided to get a larger machine with outboard turning capability.

The Superbnnova2 says it's rated for up to a 16" swing, which is what the Galaxi is over the bed.  But what about when I do outboard turning of larger diameter bowls (up to 29" if I want!)?  Is it worth it instead to get something like the larger Titan III chuck, rated for 24" swing lathes (which threads directly on the 1 1/4 x 8 spindle, instead of requiring an adapter/insert)?  Is there a disadvantage to using this kind of larger chuck for smaller work, if I were only to work with a single chuck?

 

[grbmds]

After upgrading my lathe from a Nova midi to Powermatic 3520, I went through the same decisions. I ended up buying a SuperNova II and have since bought 100mm and 130mm jaws. However, my first set of 100mm jaws didn't meet perfectly when closed completely. After several emails, Nova did replace the jaws with a set that is better but they still don't meet perfectly like my smaller 50mm jaws do. The 130mm jaws I recently bought also don't meet perfectly when closed completely but they appear to be good enough not to go through the same process with Nova. I realize  that, to get the best grip, jaws should be open about 1/4" so it's possible the extremely small gaps don't matter. However, I have used VicMarc chucks at a class last year and I believe them to be superior. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably buy a VicMarc chuck for my larger turnings with whatever jaw sets I felt I needed. I went with the Nova chuck because I have other Nova jaw sets and all Nova jaw sets are compatible with all their chucks. It was a money thing given I had just spent about $4,000 on a lathe. I  think there should be a perfect union of jaws when they are completely closed. After all they are cut from a single circle.

 

[Michael Kellough]

It's obviously better to have a chuck that threads directly onto the spindle rather than via an adapter. I use the largest Axminster chuck on a mini-lathe. This one, but a different thread. I'm not aware of a workpiece size rating for this chuck. A good feature is that it can accept all the jaws Axminster makes.

A large diameter chuck can be a problem when working small diameter stock close the chuck face but there are various spigot jaws that can be used to give you clearance.

 

[grbmds]

[member=37411]ear3[/member] I have both direct thread and adapter threaded Nova chucks which I use on my full-size lathe. I have noticed no difference between  them in performance or holding power. Possible it's a little more convenient to use a direct thread chuck. If you truly have a need right now for a chuck with the capacity of the Titan, can afford it, and already have other Nova jaws you want to use. then the Titan is a reasonable choice. Otherwise, I'd wait till you get to the point where you want to turn something larger than the SuperNova is designed to handle, and purchase something different, like a VicMarc chuck of the appropriate size with the required jaws.

I don't own a VicMarc chuck but wish that, when I bought SuperNova I would have spent the extra money to buy a Vicmarc with the jaws I needed. I have purchased 2 Nova jaw sets, both of which do not meet perfectly when closed tight. The 100mm and 130mm jaws meet almost perfectly (unlike the 50 mm and 70mm jaws I have which do meet perfectly). Admittedly the openings are extremely tiny and most likely don't make any difference since they are used open about a 1/4" anyway but there is only one jaw on each set which has this tiny opening which means to me that it is not exactly a perfect circle. Given that jaw sets are cut from a single circular piece of metal, there doesn't seem to be any reasonable justification for this. So, I would recommend waiting until you really need the jaws and assess what the better course of action is at that point. I think the Vicmarc (or maybe OneWay, or even Easy Wood) jaws are superior to Nova's at this point in time.