Lapping lathe ways?

Thanks to all for the ideas.
I found 2 of the vids that mentioned this, but will def dump the idea in favor of the hydraulic oil.
 
No on the lapping! Does it make sense why?

If something was dropped on the bed and it raised a burr.
You may need hone off the burr. The risk is that you dig a hole. Could end up with a situation wherein things are worse than when you started.
Best plan is to put a board down when mounting a chuck or loading heavy items into a chuck.

Daryl
MN
 
Adding to what Daryl said, gently hone out burrs dings with a soft flat oil stone. Submerge the oilstone in mineral spirits and keep saturated while honing. Removing any more material as into the bed is not recommended. Just want to remove enough material to smooth out the ding or burrs.
 
That's just funny.

When properly grinding and/or scraping a lathe bed, the high points are reduced to, or just below, the lowest point on the surface to achieve a flat plane. This plane is typically referenced against calibrated surface plates and camelbacks and other precision tools intended for this purpose. If you try lapping the ways using the carriage, you will only succeed in lowering the entire plane (factory "flat" or otherwise) more. Depending on the lapping compound used, yes, you could potentially remove enough material to throw things seriously out of whack. I can see how people may convince themselves this is a sound idea, but it most assuredly is not.
 
The best thing you can do to make the ways look good as new is keep them wiped down and apply a good grade of machine oil to the ways. And continuous wiping them down and oiling daily will keep them nice shiney. My preference for oil on small lathes is a ISO 46 hydraulic oil, can be bought at any tractor supply in one gallon containers or many tool distributors offer Mobil brand of oils, too. I do not recommend way oils for small lathes, they can and will cause more wear than if using good old grade of hydraulic oil. This should apply to all lathes with harden beds and non-harden beds. Exception, the way oil. And I leave that for another discussion later. Ken

The first time I ran a lathe was 51 years ago, never in all this time have I heard of anyone suggest that way oil was bad for a machine. I for one would be interested to hear about why WAY oil is bad for a lathe. Everyone from Monarch to Grizzly recommends way oil for use on their lathes, what exactly is it that they do not understand?
 
The first time I ran a lathe was 51 years ago, never in all this time have I heard of anyone suggest that way oil was bad for a machine. I for one would be interested to hear about why WAY oil is bad for a lathe. Everyone from Monarch to Grizzly recommends way oil for use on their lathes, what exactly is it that they do not understand?
I think the light oils, kerosene (paraffin), mineral spirits (paint thinner), or hydraulic fluid would be a first step process in cleaning up the lathe. It's easier to remove after it's suspended as much gunk as possible and most are less expensive than way oil. Otherwise, I'm interested also in the reasoning behind way oils being detrimental to the care for a lathe or any machine tool with ways.
 
Just an academic detail because we would never do it; lapping the ways with the carriage does not lower the ways evenly. Even if you run the carriage to full travel both ways (not being punny) the middle portion gets more lapping than the ends basically making a bad situation worse.

PS apparently Oil of Olay works good to rejuvenate stuff.
 
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The first time I ran a lathe was 51 years ago, never in all this time have I heard of anyone suggest that way oil was bad for a machine. I for one would be interested to hear about why WAY oil is bad for a lathe. Everyone from Monarch to Grizzly recommends way oil for use on their lathes, what exactly is it that they do not understand?
Go back and re-read my post. I did not say way oil is bad to use. I said, I don't like to use it on smaller lathes, like 9-10" and smaller, period. True, they have tackifiers that allow the oil to cling to the surface, but lack some of the additives that help fight corrosion and wear. Yes, wear. Why do they use hydraulic oils in hydraulic systems, they have the additives that help condition seals, reduce wear in cylinder components, valves, etc. Maybe I'm not using the right brand of way oil? But I can notice there is a difference in the use of the two oils in my shop. And I've been doing this for over forty years, too.
 
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I do not recommend way oils for small lathes, they can and will cause more wear than if using good old grade of hydraulic oil.

I did read your comment and I'm guessing if you've been doing this for forty years you are not a hobbyist. Taking anecdotal data and creating emphatic reasoning can be confusing to the beginner. How does a manuafacturer's way oil recommendation wear out the ways? I know this is a long way from oil soaked 500 grit under the saddle which no manufacturer would recommend. What tasks a person may perform on a lathe plays a part in all this. e.g. How often a person uses a file and how they use it, or how often does a person use emery cloth to take off the last .0005'. One important fact is how often you wipe down the ways, and another is how often do you apply the hydraulic fluid.

The apprentice says to me; Hey, cut me some slack, I'm just a beginner. I say; Okay, I can go with that, but tell me why you ignore my specific instructions? So I'm asking the question based on what the beginner needs to know. They already think my way isn't in a textbook and it's just something I've been doing for years, but that's because they never read the book. -Russ
 
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