[julian wilson]

Good work uber.

I too felt I needed to improve my machine.

But even after I had the sad feeling... I still felt that the machine was right for me.. because it is small for its functionality (I don't have much space), it is very flexible and its price is very good. Even if I doubled the price I could not get close to a more "proper" machine.

I've made loads of things on my Patriot, and continue to make more- it is a good work horse for me. Took some sorting- and that's not finished.

I work in engineering design, I know that things can always be improved.
There as some things that I do feel were genuine faults with the machine- that I have put right- but in the end you have to chose how you "feel" about all this- you can be pissed and have it constantly gnaw at you OR you can get thru that and overcome the shortcomings.

I got much more positive about the machine when I stopped feeling that it should have been something it wasn't.

Like I say, after all that- there is no alternative out there in the market that is better, smaller and cheaper.

I should post more about all the things I am making.
I'm making a band saw mill for cutting logs into planks at the moment.
All the hardware is made on the Patriot.

[sneakrz]

All,
We had a pretty nasty wobble in our mill as well. We bought a 2014 Patriot (used) and we had a lot of set up issues.
We thought it might be the bearings and or top pulley because we could measure a wobble of .030 to .045 depending on the day. We ordered new ones and only then found out the pulley (as someone else mentioned) is just pressed onto the shaft.
I put a dial indicator on the pulley (measure the z axis) and let the machine run at 50 RMP. I would note the high side in relation to the speed magnet and then gently tap it with a mallet as it came around. It is possible to overdo it and get the two pulleys too far out of alignment. If that happens, just stop the machine and gently pry on both sides of the small pulley and it will slide up so you can start over. Anyway, I got it to about .007 with some trial and error.
We will used an oversize pulley (10.4 inch) and are going to be cutting at 2500 to 3000 RPM, so we felt we should have the spindle pulley as far down as we could get it (max engagement with bearing) without getting out of alignment with the motor pulley. When I changed the pulley on the motor, I got that pulley down as far as possible which helped solve the engagement issue.
Next, we installed brass screws (Frankenbolts) with a brass locknut at 120 degree increments. I like our positioning (pic) and I left them long as I want to see what kind of wear we get over time before I shorten them.
It was easy to do and between getting the top pulley aligned and balanced and working with the brass screws, I got our wobble down to .0003 to .0009 depending on the direction (Y axis is worse than X).
We are going to start cutting on Friday and I will report back after we get a few pieces under our belt..
Thanks again for everything
Jeff