Is It Possible To Accurately Grind Lathe Ways At Home?

Thanks everyone for your posts. I decided against trying to fix the bed. Life is too short to be wasting hours not knowing what I'm doing, lol.
 
There is one statement that I don't quite understand. You can make an entertaining Youtube video by using one of these ill-advised grinder setups on a machine way that has 1/4" of wear in it? What actually happens? Does one create divots that cause the carriage to stick? As a blacksmith, it is hard for me to do much damage to something that is already 1/4" out, unless I have my team of strikers, and they are well-fed. For example, I was just forging some 1-1/4" round for some hardy tools. My shank was about 1/16" off, which means a terrible fit in the hardy hole, wiggly and sloppy. Actually, 1/16" can mean the difference between fitting and not fitting. I called in one striker, and we went a little undersized, but it took some work. At least the tool fit. Taking it down 1/4" of an inch is serious work, and you don't even need to test the fit, you see it right away, even if the metal is dazzling.
 
Superburban said:
I think we all got your opinion the first time, but since no one responded, you had to hit harder. Its great that you are in such a position in life. Do you have anything positive to say? Anything even relevant to the topic? Or you just like poking jabs at others that are not up to your standards?
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Life is good! I do not want to go though it alone. I thought I would share the good things in life with you folks. You can run any lathe you want to. I’m not going to stop you. Please enjoy the toys in your shop and I will mine.
 
Susan_in_SF said:
Sorry, but Bob already talked me into just selling the bed off, lol.
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If you come up with another worn lathe, note that some CNC software will let you program corrections in to compensate for wear. If you get the yen to do a DIY conversion, you can make use of a lathe that might not be satisfactory otherwise.
 
You could have the bed ground by a machine rebuilder.
I had the bed, saddle, and cross slide on my SB13 done by Schmeide in TN about 4 or 5 years ago.
It wasn't cheap, about $2500 iirc. But it was worth it for me.
The bed had over 0.150" of wear hear the head stock.
 
Interesting, MikeH. That's a lot of money for an SB 13. But a nice tight SB 13 is worth more than $2500. I just can't see paying that much on a lathe that probably had an initial purchase price of much less (even possibly free). I knew a guy who was offered 4 nice South Bend's for the price of rigging. Thing is, his dad was a rigger, so he got them essentially for free. He had no place to put them, so he donated them to the university, installation included. Turns out they were all fine. From my experience with Chinese import 14x40's at TechShop, the clapped out South Bend's were less expensive and had less breakdown problems. I'm glad it was worth it.
 
I'll never understand the 'hate' 'dislike' for leather belts.
Seems to me leather belts powered equipment for wee bit of time and continues to do so to this day. Perhaps not always safely, but still...
I've ran my Logan for over twenty years with the one that was on it when I got it, so who knows how old it is.
I bought a replacement for it and have never gotten around to putting it on.
Now granted I'm not ever going to get a .020" DOC in Cro-Moly, however it has never failed to deliver for me.
 
chips&more said:
I’m sorry to say, but if you offered the 9A and or 9C to me for free, I would not take them. I have been around the block. Been there and done that kinda thing. I no longer want any frustrations that go along with lathes that have idiosyncrasies. If I had limited space and short on time. I would get the best newer working lathe with bells and whistles and be done with it. Use it and enjoy it. And not play around with repairing anything about it to maybe make it work. I have 10 generations of hobby shop projects and only one lifetime to do it in. Maybe some folks have it in their cards to do this sort of lathe entertainment, I do not. Sorry, my three cents…Dave.
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So Dave, without trying to steal this thread, what would be your choice(s) of lathes to buy. Say up to 17-18”? Power, space and moving not an issue. Only issue is money, or more correctly lack thereof.
Thanks
Tim
 
ericc said:
Interesting, MikeH. That's a lot of money for an SB 13. But a nice tight SB 13 is worth more than $2500. I just can't see paying that much on a lathe that probably had an initial purchase price of much less (even possibly free). I knew a guy who was offered 4 nice South Bend's for the price of rigging. Thing is, his dad was a rigger, so he got them essentially for free. He had no place to put them, so he donated them to the university, installation included. Turns out they were all fine. From my experience with Chinese import 14x40's at TechShop, the clapped out South Bend's were less expensive and had less breakdown problems. I'm glad it was worth it.
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Man, I would love to have my Weiler reground. There are a few options in the bay area.... but for that price, I would hold out for the next Richard King class.
 
yarrrrr said:
Man, I would love to have my Weiler reground. There are a few options in the bay area.... but for that price, I would hold out for the next Richard King class.
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Richard has a class or classes coming to the bay area in the next few months. Contact Richard for details. The classes can fill up very quickly once they are announced. Get on the list.
 
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