- Joined
- Dec 7, 2015
- Messages
- 519
I can't possibly be more excited to be picking up my South Bend 9A tomorrow! Do you guys remember your first major machine tool? Man... so unbelievably excited!!
So I've been doing a ton of research on leveling the bed. I picked up an 8" Starrett machinist level and think I have all my bases covered on setting up the machine. One thing I've been considering is how difficult it is to deal with a wood base moving throughout the changes of season. Since I don't yet have the experience of dialing out the bed twist, I can't really know how picky it is and/or time consuming.
To get to the point- I've considered purchasing some adjustable leveling feet for the lathe. My question is- are these worth it? Certainly it would be much easier to adjust a cap screw than to have to unbolt the lathe and and/remove shims. But... maybe this is a trivial matter? My lathe will be indoors in a reasonably climate controlled environment. (Probably low 60's in the winter and mid/upper 70's in the summer.) The bench is 2" steel square stock and the bench top is 1.75" thick butcher block maple.
So would you suggest the leveling feet, or would you stick with simple shims?
So I've been doing a ton of research on leveling the bed. I picked up an 8" Starrett machinist level and think I have all my bases covered on setting up the machine. One thing I've been considering is how difficult it is to deal with a wood base moving throughout the changes of season. Since I don't yet have the experience of dialing out the bed twist, I can't really know how picky it is and/or time consuming.
To get to the point- I've considered purchasing some adjustable leveling feet for the lathe. My question is- are these worth it? Certainly it would be much easier to adjust a cap screw than to have to unbolt the lathe and and/remove shims. But... maybe this is a trivial matter? My lathe will be indoors in a reasonably climate controlled environment. (Probably low 60's in the winter and mid/upper 70's in the summer.) The bench is 2" steel square stock and the bench top is 1.75" thick butcher block maple.
So would you suggest the leveling feet, or would you stick with simple shims?