Thermite - If I understand you correctly - as long as the bed -re-scrape provides a consistent alignment even if it differs from that which was originally machined/ ground it will prove serviceable. So trying to reproduce a surface to exactly the same specification / profile as original is not the only option.
Makes sense. As long as I adjust the associated geometry of mating parts accordingly.
I am trying to get as many ideas / options as I can; to then assess which will be most appropriate for my lathe and future refurbishment projects.
Thanks for taking the time to comment - very much appreciated.
Mat
or Lurch on occasions it now seams ?
The GOAL remains to conserve the OEM alignment, regardless. Among other reasons it is simply less WORK to preserve than to deviate. It need not be "perfect". Only "better than it was".
The point, really, is like the prolific "80/20 rule".
IF/AS/WHEN.. one can gain 80% of a useful improvement at 20% of the cost and effort? Or even 50/50?
A great many "tired" lathes might be made far more useful, even if not all that close to "as new". The "full monte" is tough for a(ny) commercial shop to justify. Quite often, a new(er) machine-tool is sounder economics. Or even an OLDER one as simply has less wear and/or damage.
"We chick'ns" are they as snatch-up the cast-offs as they are shoved off the lot - seldom giving a thought to the REASON it was sold-off quite often being that it was beyond economical repair!
Now the "fun" begins?
Sometimes a reasonably effective "monkey patch" or two will see even a hobbyist's machine making stuff, rather than spending a year or so all apart as he "learns to scrape".
And eventually sees it sold-off as a literal basket case - "good in parts"- but never actually finished, re-assembled, and put back to WORK!
Whom is paying whom, here? For WHAT?
And just WHEN LAST did a customer add an extra hundred bucks onto an invoice because they liked us having lovingly restored Old Iron vs anything from who-cares-comma-"Inc." that simply delivered product - or project - to the needed specs?
Being ABLE to do the finest of work is commendable. Knowing when to NOT BOTHER and do something a better way is how you live long enough to actually HEAR a commendation!
The proverbial "command decision" or "judgement call" is one of the first areas one deals with after assessing a machine.
The review: "I now know what it
needs, how much of that is WORTH even
starting?." A Management exercise, "decisions" are. Not a labour one.
"Wise asses" tend to simply run what they got, all the while searching for a better machine.
OCD asses would hand-scrape the entire crack of doom for a gas-tight fit, or scrape and flake a LEVEL for "oil retention pockets" just because they CAN.
But who has the time? Who has the coin? And was there REALLY no OTHER priority in life?
2CW