[How do I?] "map" The Errors On A Older Lathe?

There are no companies in this area that do that sort of work anymore. There is a company in Pensacola Florida that used to do that kind of work, they are not in the business anymore, they are only doing general machine work. I have given consideration to using the sled approach. I called the man in Pensacola, Bay Tool and Machine, to ask him about regrinding my bed, he said it would be way too expensive for me to have him do it, but he told me to get a vee block, use that with the mic to mic all the ways and see where the wear is.


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I will definitely take you up on the offer of guidance.


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For Commercial Grinding in Dallas to grind a bed of this size, probably looking in the neighborhood of $1500 to 2000 to get it ground. Maybe a little less. But would be a conservative number. Price will vary if the bed has any twist to it, too. If you can determine if there is any unworn surfaces that could be used as reference planes for a sled to ride on, it might be a way to set up and grind the ways yourself. First thing I would do is check out the ways the tailstock ride on. I know on my Rockwell lathe the tailstock ways are in perfect shape. I would not be scared at all to use them for a sled to ride on.
 
I have an 11x36 Rockwell bed that I removed from my lathe, I bought a different bed, if you want me to take it down and get it ground/planed I would do that. There is a guy here locally that does it in Salt Lake. I would also put it on a pallet to get it shipped to you. Let me know. tim
 
hi jt, i have seen the album, i see some scoring, which is unsightly, but not too much wear, will have another look tonight and get back to you.
phil
 
4GSR, Thank you, I think the tailstock ways are in very good condition. Need to quantitatively assess. Good idea ,for sure, to use them if I can.

Hermetic, Thank You,

Looking at the photo of the vee-way at the tailstock end "veeway_tailend", do you guys think those horizontal lines are micro-scoring from the final vee-way
planing process. I cannot imagine how the could be that uniform and come from something else.

As I let this all "soak in", I will start by following:

Based on your treatise, the idea of first trying to come up with a better way to "bed" the lathe seems like the first step. The lathe is sitting on a plywood platform because I
am going to re-locate it in the not too distant future. The platform is not "rock solid". Thinking of making some steel clamps and attaching the platform edges to the concrete
floor. Even though I level the lathe, I am noticing quite a bit of movement from level over time. Likely the wood is shrinking , too dynamic, so forth.
My shop is well insulated and according to the digital hygrometer stays in the 65-70 percent moisture range.
I do have a machinist precision level. After bedding the lathe, re-level the lathe. Assess bedding quality over time.
Next, mic'ing the ways which will give some good idea concerning variances from point to point. Tabulate the information.
I can then report back to this thread and formulate an plan of attack. The plan may be to "do nothing" if improvements are realized.

Thank You both, very good stuff, encouraging for sure. John
 
hermetic said:
This lathe, but mine has a box pillar under the headstock with a door on it which gives access to the belt adjuster .
Click to expand...
Nice looking machine! What is the "bar" running behind and overhead of the bed?
 
John,

I know in my garage, I have to re-level my lathes as the season's change. I've have good reasonable stable ground, but as the axis of the Earth changes so does my lathe. (BS!!)

I've re-leveled my lathe a couple of times over the 11 years it has been setting in it's current position. But as I move in machinery, it changes. What can I say.

I think I would live with it as is until you have run it a while. I would stone the ways with mineral spirits and a good oil stone. And likewise on the saddle vee's too and call it good for now.
Meantime, if you want to pursue rebuilding the lathe, start learning about scraping and fitting of machine tool ways for a start.

Ken
 
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Ken, I agree with what you say here, if you saw the lathe running and the wood platform, you would most likely say that a better arrangement is in order. The platform is like running the machine on a "undulating surface". See above photo. I think that I will buy some structural iron flat bar or channel iron and position it across under the points where the stand "feet" touch the platform. I can then drill some holes in the concrete and anchor the bar to the floor. I will still have to re-level from time to time.

What did you think about the uniform scoring on the ways?

Thank You, John
 
"Meantime, if you want to pursue rebuilding the lathe, start learning about scraping and fitting of machine tool ways for a start."

I just bought a small 8" x 18" surface plate and some other tools to learn this. I just fixed up an old B&S 621 surface gauge(SG) with a "curved bumper" so I can use it to "gauge squareness" on the surface plate. I am now working to scrape the bottom of the SG as a starter project in scraping. I bought all of the Home Shop Machinist articles the Michael Ward wrote , I have read / re-read those and still referring to "Machine Tool Reconditioning" by Connolly . The thing I am running into is these do not "impart" the details of
technique. I am hopefully not learning some bad habits.

Thank you for the great suggestions. I will incorporate them.
 
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