Is It Possible To Accurately Grind Lathe Ways At Home?

Any simple engineering problem may be overcome with the simple application of economic lubricant.
Sufficient lubricant will create a new and better performing machine every time.

If one has the income for such a project there is no reason that way grinding CAN NOT BE DONE in a home shop.
You merely need a large home shop and a good deal of money. I suspect that the original SB way grinders for small lathes would fit in the average five car garages supplied with modern upscale homes if the Mercedes, BMW's and Porsche's were removed (-:
 
Depending on how good, good enough is, I'm sure many here could do it. The key, I think is identifying where to key off of? The saddle vees will be more worn at the head end, and the tail stock ways will be more worn at the other end.

If the tail stock ways are not worn much, that could be a good contender for using to guide off of. But you will need to know the working ways will be off towards the tail end.

I'm thinking that a little self powered laser with flat sides, could be used to measure how off things are. With the laser in the chuck, and spinning, one could slide the tail stock, and watch where the laser dot (hopefully not a circle), hits on the tailstock. Then you could mount something to the cross slide, then move the saddle from one end to the other.

Now, could one design a sled that uses the base of the tail stock, but has everything adjustable, so the operator could adjust it as you slide it from one end to the other, to keep the laser dot on a target. I think so.

I think if one designed such sled, and a similar sled that guides off the saddle ways to grind the tail stock ways. Theoretically, if one used the two sleds, and alternated after each is ground close, the accuracy should get better each time.

Then you need to look at the saddle. How do you fix the vees? and make sure they are perpendicular to the cross slide ways? And the proper distance apart?

Could one use brass stripes to build up the saddle ways/Vees? I know there is a fed different plastic based methods that will work, but the ones I looked up, are expensive for a guy on a fixed income, and will not likely use the lathe more then once a month or so.
 
You guys don't have much imagination.......
Keep it, and make it into a wood lathe, with a copy feature.
Keep it, and make a polishing lathe by adding a belt sander.
Keep it, and make it a rotary welding rig with a mig welder.
Keep it, and make a large drum sander/disc sander.
Lots more possibilities...it's NOT worthless.
 
If you have a lot of time and money to play with it, give it a try and flip the bed, would be a great learning curve and a laughable thread to watch and read. get it back together, What about the feed rack, is the tail stock ways flipable? Will TS set on the V and flat or will you have to make a new tails stock base? will the centerline of the feed shaft line up? Have you measured the worn area? Most people just see a small error and file the shaft if its a bit bigger. There is a You Tube show of some dude using the tail stock ways and TS base with a grinder attached and he grinds the bed.

I wonder how many times he tried to do it? You Tube can be faked. How do you plan on using the lathe? Chucking the part and not using the TS? Or Center to center? So many questions need answering. Then call around to some CA grinding shops and get a quote to have the bed ground. https://www.thomasnet.com/profile/0...ng=36191807&searchpos=1&what=Surface+Grinding

There is one of these companies who I can't recall at the moment as I am in MN. They ground a friend of mines bed for $250.00 just a couple of years ago, It was a SAG lathe and it was approx. 60" long. BenChee you probably know who it is>? So you can screw around and F ed up a perfectly good lathe bed going 1/2 cocked or just grind or plane the bed
 
I just went through this exact sequence. My SB 9 had a bed that had been 'scraped' by the previous owner...badly. I am not seeing that as a viable method of repair in the home shop unless you do it as a labour of love.

Just replaced the bed and it transformed the machine. Bed I used came from a commercial shop where all the tooling had been designed to lock down to the bed and it moved - so the ways were pristine. Best hundred bucks I ever spent...

Sell off the worn-out A model and learn to love changewheels - I've owned both an A and a C and had no problem cutting threads with either.

If you do want to move over the gearbox from one to the other and part out the old one, do take the time to examine the condition of the gearing, leadscrew and the apron (which will need to all go along). If they're worn it's likely more trouble than it's worth to make the changes once you add in refurbishing the power train.

I've done these things and ended up with a great lathe - but it's a lot of work and condition of the parts is a major factor.

Alan
 
If the bed is overly long you might be able to cut off a chunk at the headstock end, which is where most of the wear will be.
 
Great timing here. Check this out.
That could perhaps do to rough it in, still not close enough, and way too dangerous for words. Sad way to treat a surface plate, too. It would still need to be scraped in to be within factory tolerances. Clever idea, though...
 
That could perhaps do to rough it in,

Plus they had flat ways. V-ways would add plenty of complication.
And then most don't have a scrap 4 or 5 foot surface plate laying around either.
 
Been thinking about this and I think a person could make a slide way using Thompson linear ball bearings and hard chromed rod. You would have to make it sturdy either bolting it down to some thing substantial or to the bed itself. Build a carriage assembly using 4 of the linear bearings. Plus you would need to have someway of dialing it in parallel to the ways. Also you would need to mount the grinder at angles for the v ways. It may not be fantastical but you could probably improve the accuracy.
 
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