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Recommend shop to grind lathe bed? - New England area

Cosnar16

Cast Iron
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Location
MA
I have a Clausing 5914 that I need to get the bed ground. There is wear near the headstock that is causing me to turn a taper.

I have tightened the spindle bearings and that was not the problem. I turned a long shaft using a live center, and was able to produce a perfectly straight shaft up until the point of wear, at which point it started to taper. So I have confirmed that it is the bed that needs to be ground.

Can anyone recommend a shop to have this done? Preferably in Massachusetts, but I'm willing to travel a few hours in the New England area, even into New York or down to New Jersey. Or is there a member on here in the area who would be able to grind it for me?

I'm assuming I will also have to have the carriage ground to match? Can anyone confirm that this will need to be done?

Thank you ,
Eric

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
I'm assuming I will also have to have the carriage ground to match? Can anyone confirm that this will need to be done?

Grinding the bed will lower the carriage, so it won't line up properly with the lead screw and the power shafts. If the carriage needs to also be ground, then that lowers it even more. So the usual procedure is to glue strips of special low-friction low-wear material (turcite, rulon) to the bottom of the carriage, and then to scrape those strips to fit the bed, and to raise the carriage back to the original position relative to the lead screw and power shafts.

Bottom line: yes, the carriage needs to be ground, but not "to match" but rather to remove enough material to leave a gap for the turcite or rulon. Then, that material needs to be glued in place and then the surface must be scraped to match the contour of the reground bed, while also restoring the correct alignment between carriage and lead screw/power shafts.
 
Agree with most of what Ballen said, but wouldn’t grind carriage- too easy to put heat in and warp it. Would mill (as little as possible) and turcite, scrape for alignment and bearing etc…..

Not to be negative, but is this worth it to the OP, or could he find a better condition lathe to replace it?

L7
 
Agree with most of what Ballen said, but wouldn’t grind carriage- too easy to put heat in and warp it. Would mill (as little as possible) and turcite, scrape for alignment and bearing etc…..

Not to be negative, but is this worth it to the OP, or could he find a better condition lathe to replace it?

L7
I bought this one a few months ago after looking for a long time trying to find this particular model. I put a lot of time and money in setting it up and replacing bearings (not spindle bearings), belts, getting VFD hooked up to run it, etc. And once I got it up and running I find out that it had this problem. So at this point it's just worth it to me to get it fixed instead of trying to get another lathe.

Wouldn't it just be possible to skim off the top of the apron to bring it back up to the correct height, instead of adding material to the bottom of the carriage?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
Ah, understood. Been there. Learned to live with and compensate for a worn lathe I used to have. Suggest just use your lathe and enjoy.

Cheers,
L7
 
My lathe has similar wear by the HS despite hardened ways. I get around 0.002-0.003" in 10" or so, but the wear leaves it big at the HS end, so it'll rarely be an issue that a shear tool/file/emery can't solve. I paid $2500 for a 3500lb lathe so I'm still a very happy camper. The idea of going through the work to get it ground was very short lived.
 
Grinding the bed will lower the carriage, so it won't line up properly with the lead screw and the power shafts. If the carriage needs to also be ground, then that lowers it even more. So the usual procedure is to glue strips of special low-friction low-wear material (turcite, rulon) to the bottom of the carriage, and then to scrape those strips to fit the bed, and to raise the carriage back to the original position relative to the lead screw and power shafts.

Bottom line: yes, the carriage needs to be ground, but not "to match" but rather to remove enough material to leave a gap for the turcite or rulon. Then, that material needs to be glued in place and then the surface must be scraped to match the contour of the reground bed, while also restoring the correct alignment between carriage and lead screw/power shafts.

Ballen You may have meant mill the saddle, It may not translate to well. From German to English. But I agree with Lucky. Don't grind the bottom of the saddle, mill it. I would put .047"or .062" Rulon 142 to turcite B on it. Have to figure .005" for the glue too.

Eric if you grind off the bed I would suggest telling them to grind of the same amount of the saddle bed ways /\ vee to keep the numbers the same. Also take off the flat way more aprox 25% more then the vee's.
 
I used to be a Moglice (Devitt) rep and have used it and Turcite. VetteBob did a great thread on it on his Monarch EE a few years ago. I prefer Turcite or Rulon as it is more forgiving because if you put Moglice on wrong or not aligned, you can't scrape it. It dulls carbide. You can scrape Rulon.
 
I did mine (EE) almost 20 yrs ago, and unfortunately didn't really document the procedure, although there are alot of pics of my restoration. Tim in D, RKepler, and I, all did Moglice at about the same time and all are happy with results as far as I know. No matter what route you take, it is a huge job to get right.
 
Of course Richard and the others are right: you should mill material off of the carriage to make space for the Turcite/Rulon/Moglice. It would take forever to grind off that much, and you are much more likely to warp the casting or do other harm.

I have never done a lathe bed/carriage before, so have zero experience. But what Daryl wrote makes sense to me. You drill and tap the carriage casting for a half-dozen fine-thread small-diameter brass screws that bear on different parts of the bed. You rough up the carriage ways for good adhesion. Then, after grinding the bed, you use those screws to adjust the position of the carriage so that it's properly lined up relative to the feed shafts, lead screw, and freshly ground bed. You spray mold release compound on the bed, then inject Moglice into the space between bed and carriage. (When it hardens up, your carriage is perfectly aligned. Scrape some oil pockets and you are done!)
 
I have a Clausing 5914 that I need to get the bed ground. There is wear near the headstock that is causing me to turn a taper.

I have tightened the spindle bearings and that was not the problem. I turned a long shaft using a live center, and was able to produce a perfectly straight shaft up until the point of wear, at which point it started to taper. So I have confirmed that it is the bed that needs to be ground.

Can anyone recommend a shop to have this done? Preferably in Massachusetts, but I'm willing to travel a few hours in the New England area, even into New York or down to New Jersey. Or is there a member on here in the area who would be able to grind it for me?

I'm assuming I will also have to have the carriage ground to match? Can anyone confirm that this will need to be done?

Thank you ,
Eric

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Did you find someone to grind your bed?
 








 
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