bushing alignment when retrofitting factory large dials to compound and cross-slide

I ask patience from those of you who have been deeper into your SB lathes than I have, yet, and for whom the answer to my question may be obvious based on your experience.

My late 1950s 10K came to me with small dials. The lathe shows very little wear but is grimy and has been stored poorly and gotten bumped around some during prior owners' moves (only the gear cover and the tailstock handwheel sustained moderate damage).

I plan to do a complete dis-assembly, cleaning, new felts and wicks, etc.

I also have scoured around for and found used very clean, pretty un-worn, factory large-dial screw assemblies for both the compound and the cross-slide (and at prices not entirely as insane as such parts seem to often be for these machines).

What I'm wondering is: were the threads in the carriage, and the top of the compound, that hold the 'main fixed bushing body' for each leadscrew assembly tapped in a way that the assemblies will always line up (re: oil hole, indicator mark, and pin wrench hole), or were they just done one at a time, with holes drilled and mark made after assembly.

If the latter - i.e. one at a time- such that I can't expect that things will line up, am I best off using thin washer shims, or turning a slight bit off of the bushing to let it thread in a bit further until things line up, or other method(s) that I'm not thinking of yet???

It'll be a while until I dive into the work (unheated shop in VT heading into full winter) but want to prepare in my mind for what to anticipate on this part of the effort.

Thanks in advance

They were marked at assembly as you suspect. If you ordered an oem replacement they came unmarked.
Turn the back side of the bushing to align the "0" mark with the oil hole center in the saddle.

Steve

Yes, remember that a thread is its own micrometer.
16tpi= .0625" travel per turn, so .0052" will make a one "hour" difference.

ie- "clocking a screw"

I did this awhile ago. The cross-slide was way off and the mark was mashed anyway, so I just scribed a new line where I wanted it to be.
Oil seems to get to where it needs to be with the oil hole 120° off.
The compound was not quite on center, just used it the way it was.

Bill

The oil hole itself doesn't matter much, the hole in the bushing does not have to line up with the hole in the saddle.

As Mr. Wells has stated assemblies for retrofit from SB were complete , the only thing lacking was the witness mark( and on the 9" also the spanner hole)

If you are uncomfortable cutting on the bushing a "doughnut" shim may be used, figure the thickness with the same clocking method.

Many thanks for the insights and guidance!