Hi All-

We have a Mori-Seiki MS-1050 which is the older brother of the MS-850, 1250 and other-length classic engine lathes. When it first arrived, it had been well used and well forgotten by the maintenance guy. While all the moving parts worked, the thick layer of old grease and dried oil reminded us of tarter building up on choppers by day’s end.

It was time to clean…

This is a quick snapshot of the apron sludge!

This is NOTHING compared to what was inside the cross slide:

We’ll post more specific pictures of the disassembly and re-assembly, but suffice it to say… Once we started putting back the machine, we noticed a through-hole where the carriage lock bolt should have gone! If this was the 7×12, 8×12, 9×20 or heck, even our Grizzly G4003 12×36 lathe, it would be easier to tackle. However, the carriage of the Mori-Seiki MS-1050 is probably around 50 pounds, is awkward to maneuver (if you don’t like pinched finger tips) and has a fairly tight fit onto the ways of the lathe.

So, this post is a friendly reminder to gather all the relevant nuts and bolts BEFORE you reassemble your machine! There’s nothing worse than having extra nuts and bolts laying around when you’ve put your machine back together