I would say that the bed should be levelled (ie straightened) first - the
taper could be caused by the headstock being out of true with the bedway.
Before touching that (or doing any trial turnings) I would ensure that the
bed of the machine was level
I installed and set up a lathe in my first job after college - admittedly
it was longer than the average (16 feet between centres) but there was lots
of movement in the bed. The only way to straighten it was to get it level in
both directions (along and across the bed), the adjustment being on the
piers that supported the bed every three or four feet along. I used the
'best' level (we had another 'daily' one for general machine set-ups). I
don't know its accuracy but it was about 18 inches long and only came out
for special occasions!
Neil
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Kantarjiev" <cak@dimebank.com>
To: <Hlsinger@aol.com>; <rex@wmautomotive.com>; <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: Lathe question forwarded
>
> The real goal here is not to make the lathe level, so much as it
> is to remove twist from the bed. (If a lathe had to be level
> to operate accurately, lathes on ships wouldn't work very well.)
>
> Using a precision level is one way to achieve this. Taking test
> cuts and adjusting out the taper is another way.
>
> Check out http://www.metalwebnews.com/ for various
> treatises on this topic with step-by-step instructions...
>
|