Lodge and Shipley hardened bedway straightening

I have a 20x102 Lodge and Shipley Power Turn that I want to remove the bedways and get ground. Talking with the company that will do the grinding for me there is a concenrn that once I remove the hardened bedways they will twist and should be straightened before I have them ground. The concern I have with any straightning is adding any heat to move them will anneal them. Has anyone ever removed the hardened bedways before and had them grond off from the bedway casting? If so how was it done and did they twist? The overall dimensions of the bedways are 138 3/4" long x 2" x 2" with a double 45 degree V. I know the preferred method would be to leave the bedways fastened to the casting and grind the entire bedway however we quite honestly do not want to have to remove the entire head, feed section and everything below the chip pan. This is our first attempt to do anything like this and any help is greatly appericated!

-Nick

Depends

If the lathe was never worked hard and the way lube was always perfect, the ways MAY BE straight enough to grind when they are no longer restrained

If - instead - it had a hard life with long periods of indifferent way lube, the way surfaces can be expected to have been WORKED enough to have - now - induced stresses - which will mean a can of worms when no longer restrained - contributing in a huge way to never getting them anywhere near right on the grinder

Sounds like a really bad idea to me

Nick,

The grinding company is correct for the most part, I have removed 2 sets of ways over the years and we purchased new ways from Lodge & Shipley and the others we had ground. They cost about the same. We tried to dick around and straighten them and get them straight on the grinder bed. We had to finally give up doing that and made adapter plates to bolt the worn ways to, expensive deal. They have a keyway on the bottom and that's what keeps them from warping on the machine.

You would be time and money ahead and bite the bullet and remove the head and quick change. Then send the whole bed out with rails intact. They can also grind the tails stock ways, underside of rear way where the hold down goes. I have found in my 50 years of rebuilding easy is usually the expensive way and you get a 1/2 assed job.
Rich

PM: We did a thread on large grinding shops in the USA who could grind your bed. Google Practical Machinist large grinding shops...

Thanks Richard,

Monarch (L&S) quoted me $6800 for new bedways and 14+ weeks to deliver. Grinding is about 1/2 that. The grinding shop we use is Advance Grinding in Roseville, MI. they can easily accept the length of the bedway with no issues.

Unfourtionally the lathe has been well used, in fact the bedways have been off already and flipped at some point of its life, so the wear is now at the tail. This lathe may be finding a new home.