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identify how worn is your lathe

pikolo

Plastic
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Hi there. So i bought a lathe from the scrapyard for scrap iron price. I know it is worn cause i can see the tailstock groove on the tailstock ways...So i would like to know how bad the worn is on the lathe in general and if it can be useable? Is there any cheap way to check this? i only have a dial indicator and a micrometer....no surface plate or straight edge....i also own a chineese mini lathe..:(
 
Lots of threads and information online for evaluating and adjusting lathe beds.

Most worn lathes can be adjusted to compensate for bed wear, but it really depends how long of a precision cut you plan on making. Most lathes tend to wear out close to the chuck, so you can adjust your bed level and still get it to cut straight, but that accuracy might go away as your carriage travels away from the wear.

Most 2 Collar Tests (good to google that if you are not familiar with it), will use a bar that's 8-12" long to level the bed to the head stock. For me, that translates into being able to take a continuous 12" cut that will come out on size.
 
When looking at a lathe I can't run I look at the width of the flat on the top of the inverted vee that the carriage uses. Some lathes have 2 vees while most have one. Look at the width of the flat on the end past the tail stock (unused area and as it was when new) and compare it with the width toward the head stock, if there is a visible difference the lathe was heavily used in that spot which is usually near the head stock. If I see a difference I pass!
 
If its just for home/hobby use, clean it up, level as best you can, and make some chips! Worn out lathes can still make good parts, just need to creep up on the size you are shooting for.

did u guys seen those youtube where they took old knives and polish till its sharp and shiny
maybe we ought to do it for our lathes lol
 
thank you all for your replies! I will come back with the results!Awake I live in A town called ioannina. I know have another problem.. the lathe is too big an i cant get it to my workshop..thought all possible ways..but just cant be done....i am thinking nof having it outside...is there a way so as not to get rust?
 
Admittedly I've never been to Greece, but what exactly is the problem? No tow truck drivers, cranes, roll back trucks, rental trucks, rental trailers, forklifts, pinch bars and pipe, WHAT? As far as leaving it outside, good god just take a cutting torch to it and take it out of its misery now........
 
well the problem is i cant find a forklift large enouph to take it to my shop...it has to pass from a narrow corridor 80 cm wide and 10 meters long...the corridor is also made with a very thin layer of concrete...so it may not withstnd the weight? i today measured the lathe bed accuracy...it is 0.08 mm i dont know if this is too much or ok for a hobby lathe...uma 17 before real resolution.jpg
IMG_20190526_182330.jpg
IMG_20190526_182338.jpg

ofcource i have dissasembled everthing and a video with the lathe bed wear

VID_20190526_175501 - Streamable
 

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Vimeo link does not work, at least for me.

As for the corridor, what is underneath the thin concrete? To move a lathe down a corridor like that you would need skates or some round stock to roll it on, use pry bars to lift machine high enough to get rollers/skates under it, but of course the floor must be sufficient to support it. To protect the thin concrete you might be able to lay some plywood over it, but if wood is underneath that thin concrete flexing from weight might still crack the concrete.

Only way I can see leaving it outside as acceptable would be in a super dry climate and always covered, but if too much temp differential you will still have sweating issues that will cause it to rust up again.

Looks like a stout chunk of iron, and that you are well on the way to resurrecting it, hope you can figure out a way to get it out of the weather.
 
i put anew video link VID_20190526_175501 - Streamable

hope it works?under the concrete i guess there is soil, earth.. i will try to move it in really...i am trying already the last two months...i made some wheels but cant attach them to the main frame cause of many issues with the base...i will come back with the results...if it is to leave it outsid i would cover it for sure...do you believe the 0.08 mm of wear is anacceptable?
 
.08 mm is more than adequate for hobby work. Don't just leave it outside covered, coat all the critical surfaces with a sticky rust preventive. Cosmoline is one, LPS #3 worked for me. Farmers use a heavy cup grease on plow shares. That's what grandpa used to do.

As far as the ground is concerned, do like the railroads, use cross ties to distribute the load and rails (heavy 2x6 or better) to roll the lathe on. Perhaps the junk yard has some scrap steel sheet or structural shapes.

Tom
 
.08mm is just a smidge over .003", I don't think you will even notice it. I hope you are not thinking caster wheels, if so they better be hell stout. I made some skates like this last year, they work great on concrete, probably would suck on plywood. Helped a friend move a lathe into his plywood floor shop a few years ago, we just used some 1" (25mm) round stock to roll it on, that worked fine.YouTube

How thin do you think this concrete floor is? I would expect minimum of 3-4" (75 to 100mm or so), which should hold up to a quick move just fine. What does that beast weigh? Stripped down as in pics.
 
The video showing the dial indicator mounted on the carriage and running on the ways does not really show the whole story. It really only shows if a lot of wear is confined to near the headstock , and the remainder of the ways are close to new( this is true many times, but not always)
You may try mount the indicator to the tailstock ways on a shop build sled or the tailstock itself if the tailstock ways are good.( I assume the wear you mentioned is near the end of the bed?)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
i wll try to answere to all questions cause i see you are really helpful!!i apreciate this and thanks! So tha lathe is 1400 kg when all the parts are on it ...i guess that now it is around 800kg...i guess...i bought two whells for the front from cast iron and they are rated to 200 kg each...fot he back i made some beefy wheels myself that they are trated around 2500 kg each...i finnd this out from the bearing loading rate..so story of my workshop...i made this workshop on old houses that my grandfather had built himshelf and the corridor may have cement of only 10 mm or i dont know...i will give some pics of the wheels i made...this is a lathe that doesnt cut threads its a machine for production but i may convert it to a cnc some day. some pics

arxi.jpg
arxi 2.jpg
disassemble.jpg
IMG_20190424_193707.jpg
IMG_20190425_151618.jpg
 
Ah! I've been to Greece twice, but not to that area. Someday I'd love to go and spend several months in Greece to learn modern Greek and to travel around. (I am reasonably fluent in koine / Biblical Greek, but have to pick my way very slowly through modern Greek!)

I'm with the others - if at all possible, find a way to get that inside. I wouldn't be overly worried about the wear on the ways; a bigger concern would be wear that causes the carriage to rock ... but even that is something that can be lived with, as my own well-worn lathe testifies.
 
so this is the corridor i have to pass....see for yourself...it is 75 to 80 mm wide...and the lathe is 73 mm wide...IMG_20190527_100130.jpg
 








 
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