Headstock alignment

[Olaf Vogel]

I'm moving on to doing larger pieces and its obvious that the head stock is slightly out of line, and hence causing issues.
What's the best way to light up the head stock before bolting it down.

This is an older unit, so nothing fancy on this puppy.

thanks for the help

226957

[Sid Matheny]

This is what I use.

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=packard&Product_Code=113121&Category_Code=

Sid

[J.D.Redwine]

I use the #2MT Alignment Tool also. Highly recommended.

[Peter Fabricius]

The alignmetn tool is great but, I do not have one... Also my .003 thousands is not in the front to back alignment but it is in the up and down axis. The tailstock point is .003 below the headstock dead centre.
I am contemplating an adjustment to my lathe bed without any great fuss. I am going to mount a bolt under the centre of the Lathe ways and apply a little pressure up under the Ways.
If the Head and tail end of the Lathe are bolted down and there is no twist in the mountings then the solution must lie under the middle of the Ways. ???
My bolt and block (not yet made) will allow me to unscrew a bolt set in a block and thereby put pressure up under the ways and that should flex the Ways just enough to take out the .003 offset between the head and tail centre points.
Comments are welcome, since I do not yet know if this will work.... I have a NOVA DVR XP, same as Sid and lots of other SMC members.
Peter F.

[Steve Vaughan]

How about some thin brass shims that you could place under the tailstock, might that work? Wouldn't be exactly a permanent cure, but it would sure get you further along.

[Olaf Vogel]

This would be a good option, but unfortunately I don't Morris Taper in the headstock. Its from about 1900.
I had the tailstock machined to so I could use a live centre, but I've never missed it on the headstock, so didn't bother. Besides, taking the thing apart is a PITA.


On my previous lathe, I mounted the longest piece of wood I could fit on a face plate. Shaved it to a point. Then lined it up with the tail-stock.
It worked, but was tedious. And of course the wood warped by the time I wanted to use it again. :(

[Peter Fabricius]

Olaf;
Turning even a small piece of wood to a point on the headstock would work. Even better is if you could find a piece of Aluminium and turn that to a point then you would have a more permanent test piece.
On the suggestion made by Steve... I have been using a .003 brass shim under the front of the tailstock since getting the Nova DVR XP Jan 2010 and that is how I know exactly how much my offset is. I will know soon if my small jackpost will work because it is easy to set up and then I can visually see if it is working or not.
thanks again.
Peter F.

[Doug W Swanson]

When I need to align my Jet 1236, I just put the live center in the tail stock, slide it near the head stock and then extend the live center into the head stock hole. Crank down the head stock and I'm done.....

[Jamie Donaldson]

That's a most interesting looking lathe Olaf, and I'd like to see a photo of the entire thing. Your best bet for alignment adjustment would be shims, as needed to align points between headstock and tailstock.

[Dennis Ford]

Getting a lathe aligned is a tedious job, most of the newer machines are aligned at the factory and only a few adjustments are possible. Since there are fewer ways they can get out of alignment, they are much easier to align.
The headstock needs to be aligned with the bed horizontally and vertically so that it is aligned with the tail-stock regardless of tail-stock position. The tail-stock also has to be aligned so that it stays in alignment from extended to retracted. There are many ways to do this but it is not easy or quick.
This is one way.
If you have a laser pointer; turn a block on a face-plate to mount it in.
Do the vertical alignment first, measure up from the bed to the laser dot near the head-stock and at the far end. Since the laser dot is probably not mounted perfectly, do the measurements while rotating the headstock and average the highest and lowest reading at each location. Next add shims until the average reading near the head-stock matches the average reading at the far end.
Next do the horizontal alignment, you can use the tail-stock for a reference on horizontal position.
Lastly, do the tail-stock. Turn a short piece to a point and make the tail-stock line up to that, both when extended and retracted. If you get to this point; lock everything down tight and consider drilling holes and driving in some pins so the head-stock can be returned to this position if it has to be removed for some reason.

[Olaf Vogel]

Here's a couple of pics for you. sorry, the shop was a mess when I took these.

The problem with the talk short headstock is that it takes a ton of torque on the main bolt to hold it straight.
My thought was to get some angle iron, 3 x3" and the length of the riser. Bolt them to the riser, align the headstock, then bolt it to the bed. (The bed is 10" steel I-beam).
That will hopefully keep it in place and add some lateral stiffness.

I try turning another long point off my largest faceplace. As a few people have mentioned.
I'd like to make it as long as possible. If there's a misalignment of a 0.5m at 5 in, that could be huge at 48"

Olaf

[Jamie Donaldson]

I especially like the stick shift transmission Olaf, but you really should turn a better looking shift knob , just like an up-scale sports car!! Thanks for the pics.

[Olaf Vogel]

Definitely unique. I'd love it if someone could identify the transmission. There's a bearing inside, that's very noisy (but likely has been for years).
And its tough to get in there to take it out and tear it apart. I also have no faith I can put it back together again - then I'd be left with a major job.
Right now I want to focus on rough cutting the large pile of logs that have accumulated under my porch and in the back yard.