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Aligning and Leveling a Lathe

Richard King

Diamond
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Location
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
I think this Lodge & Shiply Lathe manual show how to properly align a lathe bed with Levels. As I have said for years now, If your not going to use coolant then leveling is not to important. You do need to keep it somewhat level so the lubrication runs correctly on the ways and inside the oil reservoirs. I especially like the last few pages where they set a parallel on the wings of the saddle to check the tool path as the saddle travels down the bed.

In my classes I bring up the old saying "how do you level a lathe on a ship"? Or how do you level a slant bed lathe? Alignment is important to eliminate any twist in the bed. We use a precision level to compare the alignment along the bed-ways. http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2104/3558.pdf

Below I use the section in this manual to explain thee 2 collar test. Page 10 - 13 .

I know it's a Turret Lathe but they go into leveling vs. Alignment. I have been using this method to check all types and brand lathes.
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2261/22885.pdf

I use Vintage Machinery a lot when teaching. If you have not used it, you will find it invaluable when looking for manuals. I would also ask if you use it, to donate a few dollars to keep this site going.

On many Asian and I've seen it on Colchester lathes the head stock can be turned as they sit on flat ways and there is a dowel pin that allows it to spin to adjust out misalignment. I'll look for a manual that shows that too.
 
good one, thanks RK.

holy crap, that tailstock ALONE weighs more than a lot of small lathes I'll bet! that's a monster.(in fig. 4 and 9 of the first link)
 
Thanks for posting these. The L&S manual also answers some questions I had about leveling a long three legged lathe (very old Whitcomb Blaisdell at home).
 
Depends on what you are doing when it comes to how, or if the lathe is leveled length wise.
If you are always making parts out of new material, perhaps it does not matter.
If you are struggling to mount castings on face plates, or in large four jaw chucks, its nice to have the lathe leveled length wise, to help get the part started true, using a level to help true the work, in a fully leveled machine in those cases.
 








 
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