the newbie says Hi and a question.

All discussion about lathes including but not limited to: South Bend, Hardinge, Logan, Monarch, Clausing and other HSM lathes, including imports

Moderators: GlennW, Harold_V

pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: the newbie says Hi and a question.

Post by pete »

My little non adjustable tailstock Emco compact 5 has what Emco calls leveling plates, basicaly the lathe head and tail stock ends get bolted to a plate at each end. On the outsides of those plates hollow bolts get screwed into the plates. Those make the adjustments for level and can twist the bed into being correct as long as they bear against a solid suface. Allen bolts are used through those hollow bolts and get screwed into the 1" thick steel plate I decided to mount the lathe to. Those allen bolts lock the adjustments after there done. A very simple system for what it can do for adjusting the lathe to cut truely parallel. Bolted down in the beginning to a very flat bench surface I was seeing up to .003" taper in just about 12". Once I added that main steel plate and the extra cost Emco plates I could get it under a couple of 10ths. There was and is a whole lot of very high precision industrial sized equipment that uses much the same idea to make final adjustments to the machine during instalation and if anything changes over time.
Diogenes on the hill
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:45 pm

Re: the newbie says Hi and a question.

Post by Diogenes on the hill »

Update: was working at the old shop this week and really went over the 3-1. Yes, it was not leveled, though the reason was not so obvious. I have it mounted on a heavy welded stand for moving it about while in its current location. Well, the bearings in one of the casters had gone kaput at some point and that corner was sagging. Right front, causing the tail stock to 'lean forward ' . Least to say, I am writing this with a bit of a blush from embarrassment.
Stupid questions remain silent. So speak up.
Glenn Brooks
Posts: 2930
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: the newbie says Hi and a question.

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Well, if the tailstock is out of level by .010”, why not make that your taper for your mandrills? You don’t want a taper that requires you to press the work on and off anyway, I wouldn’t think.

Cheers,
Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
Post Reply