jroberts1968
Plastic
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2010
- Location
- DFW, TX
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Is that possible? Just sayin', er askin'The only man that I ever met that was grumpier than myself.
I was always taught that using an indicator on the apron and a pre-turned bar would not give an accurate reading in some cases. On most lathes the tailstock and the apron run on separate ways. As a rule the ways of the apron wear more than the ways of the tailstock. The ways on the tailstock actually wear very little as its seldom moved back and forth. The only truly accurate way to align the headstock and tailstock is to run a CoAxial indicator in the chuck with the indicator needle on the inside of the tailstock quill or to run 2 precision ground pieces of stock together, one in the headstock and one in the tail stock and measure across the split of the two parts. This eliminates any drift of the apron as you move it up and down the bed. Theoretically, the CoAxial indicator is the most accurate as the quill and the chuck used to hold the precision ground stock invariably add error to the system. However, its been my experience that worrying about such trivialities gives people ulcers and makes them goofy so I try not to give it much thought. But I do have a CoAxial indicator. Somewhere. LOL
I was lucky. The first time I needed to re-center a tailstock, the guy I was working for told me that the book way to do it was to clamp a CoAxial indicator in the chuck and run it on the inside of the tailstock spindle. Then he told me to get an edge finder out of the tool crib and clamp one end in the chuck and the other end into the Jacobs chuck in the tailstock and measure the split, center it up, and stop costing him money by wasting time. The only man that I ever met that was grumpier than myself.
The only problem with using an edge finder in that manner is that it assumes the chucks are zero-zero. They will not be, particularly the lathe chuck if it is a three jaw.
I do agree with not overthinking the alignment, you will endup chasing your tail. If it is critical, I take a light cut, check for taper and adjust the tailstock as needed.
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