Tips on leveling a lathe.

Also I ordered a precision level and will do it all properly. I’ll level the bed and then see. I think it could be possible the headstock is out of alignment.
 
Two collar test. Thats what you need to be doing. Tale test cut and see what the taper is. Sharp has tool, large diameter 6061 preferable.
 
I’ve got a hydraulic rod in there that’s constant in size doing the RDM method. I believe I stated somewhere that in a 2” test cut I had about 4 thou of taper. This was with a 2thou cut at the slowest feed and it tapered smaller at the tailstock so it wasn’t caused by deflection.
 
.002 at slowest feed. No spring pass marks when cranking handle back.
 
D.sebens said:
Also how do you align a headstock? It seems like that could be the problem but it sits on a vway? Seems like it would lock it in?
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It depends upon the lathe. My Atlas/Craftsman is fit tight and can't be adjusted. The Grizzly G0602 sits loosely on the vee and can be tweeked slightly. It has four mounting bolts , two in front and two in back, There are two adjustment set screws that work against the two rear mounting screws to afford some control when making adjustments. You have to loosen the mounting bolts, tweek the djustment set screws and retighten the mounting bolts. It helps to have a bar mounted in the lathe and a dial indicator near the tailstock to track your adjustment.
 
D.sebens said:
Hey all I am trying to level out my sheldon lathe. I dont have a precision level, I figured I would use my construction level to get things close after placing the lathe. I am "close now" but I have ran into a problem, I cant seem to get the twist out. I mounted a level on two flat surfaces of the carriage and moved it from end to end. I am using the adjusting nuts on the cabinet(steel desk construction not cast) and have gotten to the point that I need to raise the rear leg at the tailstock but the front leg at the tailstock is currently floating. I dont have a test bar or even a long piece of metal to play with to see but I did turn a patch on a bar about 1.5 inches long and got 4 thou of taper. It tapers smaller towards the tailstock end. This was done unsupported with a 1-2 thou cut at the slowest feed. This is repeatable on cuts.

This leads me to believe either the front tailstock adjuster needs to lower or the rear needs to raise but it is currently floating on the front. I suppose I could bolt down the front leg to the floor? Right now I left it floating so maybe it wants to relax itself down while resting.

Most of what I do isnt "high precision" its always as precise as it needs to be. But 4 thou seems like a lot. I have a ram from a hydraulic cylinder that is in good shape but scrap. I am thinking of measuring it to see how consistant the size is and if reliable chucking it up as a test bar equalize runout along the bar and use a indicator on the carriage to sweep it and see if the issue is just bed wear near the front or real twist. I have basically confirmed it is bed twist as I cant get it level but figure I would get more info.

So after all that mess of words I am hoping for some advice on how to level it more and if my thought on the test cut matches my thoughts on which leg needs to move which way.
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I had to use 150 pounds of lead to get the twist out of mine. My came with a stand and the lathe bed was twisted at the tail stock end forward. I put the lead blocks in the cabinet on that end to the back and once a week for about 6 weeks I would adjust the feet till it settled down and leveled out.
 
verbotenwhisky said:
I had to use 150 pounds of lead to get the twist out of mine. My came with a stand and the lathe bed was twisted at the tail stock end forward. I put the lead blocks in the cabinet on that end to the back and once a week for about 6 weeks I would adjust the feet till it settled down and leveled out.
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Were you able to remove the weight eventually?
 
D.sebens said:
Were you able to remove the weight eventually?
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I probably can now but its as good a place to store that stuff as any. I am certain I could actually because I had to finally apply down force on that corner and bring it up to get it leveled.
 
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