Oh boy, you guys are gonna hate me.

[RafaelMarujo]

Oh boy did I screw myself this time...
First of all, thank you guys for reading and please excuse my writing because English is my second language.
So a while ago I bought this old used Spanish lathe for 500€, and I've been restoring it. It was in poor condition (and still is), but it's usable. I always noticed the poor surface finish at low cutting depths, and frankly horrible error on the dials.. What I mean is, if I dialed 1mm DOC, it would cut 0.70, or sometimes 0.75, or sometimes more or less, I can still make precision parts but honestly it takes I've times the effort, and makes the lathe a pain to use and I sigh every time I have to use it.
So I started to disassemble the crosslide and everything was pretty good a bit banged up but not too wore out, until I got to the lathe saddle... It's just terrible, and I mean TERRIBLE...
I've leveled the lathe more or less (bc it's not in its final resting position) and put the level on the crosslide rails and it's not even remotely level (check image).
I've added shims to bring it to a near parallel state and it's almost 5mm of wear, it's like the previous owners used sand for oil... The biggest problem is that it much more more worn out on the prismatic (V) side...
OK, sorry for the long post, but now I have two options, knowing that I won't touch the lathe bed itself (of course it's gonna be worn but it's a 500€ lathe and it would just be too expensive to reground it)
1 option - put the carriage on my big shaper and shape away the flat (higher) side, until it's more leveled and try to compensate for the twist that that operation is gonna produce on the carriage prism(V)
2- bolt two flat shims on the V side of the saddle and then put on the shaper, and shape away to try to level it out, then do the same on the other side and try to take it to factory specs, knowing perfectly well that it's never gonna be 100% bc the bed is also a bit worn out...
I'm perfectly open to opinions and suggestions, just please Don't tell me to leave it alone because I've come to far to do that, and I just need the lathe to be a little better than it is right now... I also don't like to back away from a challenge :]
Sorry again for the long post, and Thank you guys again, I'm 24yo machining is my passion, but rn I feel like a turd polisher...

 

[MyLilMule]

Ouch.

I am no expert in any of this, but you might consider using Turcite on the saddle ways. Never done it myself, but am considering it for my lathe some day if I decide to have the bed ground.

 

[Janderso]

You are a young man with a passion. Follow it, that way you never work a day in your life.
I think many of us went to work so we could provide for our families. Following a dream is not always easy.
Better machines will come along, this one is at the end of it's useable life.

 

[RafaelMarujo]

Ouch.

I am no expert in any of this, but you might consider using Turcite on the saddle ways. Never done it myself, but am considering it for my lathe some day if I decide to have the bed ground.

Yeah I've tought about that but I'm not sure I can find it easily here, and it's such a thick piece missing that I thought it would be easier to just get two steel or cast iron plates and bolt them on the saddle ways, then machine them.

 

[RafaelMarujo]

You are a young man with a passion. Follow it, that way you never work a day in your life.
I think many of us went to work so we could provide for our families. Following a dream is not always easy.
Better machines will come along, this one is at the end of it's useable life.

I find that very true.
It's not like I absolutely 100% need the lathe because I have a teacher that let's me use his, which is almost brand new, but still I'd like to challenge myself to make this old lathe workable again..

 

[T Bredehoft]

You might consider, if you don't need the length, slide the head to the right until its passed the worst of the wear and pretend its a shorter lathe.

Your English is certainly adequate. (good enough)

Edit: correct typo

 

[Bob Korves]

Rafael, your written English is better than many or most people who were born and raised in the USA. No excuses needed...

 

[Nogoingback]

We have a member (Richard King 2) who teaches scraping and machine rebuilding. You could PM him,
or post a question on this sub forum:

ALL ABOUT MACHINE RESTORATION & WAY SCRAPING​

and I bet you could get some help from him.

By the way, your English is just fine.

 

[RafaelMarujo]

Rafael, your written English is better than many or most people who were born and raised in the USA. No excuses needed...

Thank you

 

[RafaelMarujo]

We have a member (Richard King 2) who teaches scraping and machine rebuilding. You could PM him,
or post a question on this sub forum:

ALL ABOUT MACHINE RESTORATION & WAY SCRAPING​

and I bet you could get some help from him.

By the way, your English is just fine.

Thank you, I'm a relatively new member here, and I didn't know about Richard King. I don't like to bother people but I might send him a pm thanks for letting me know.