Lathe Alignment

[scjohnson243]

Good morning folks - I just got my Lathe in the other day and read somewhere that the tailstock and the headstock when pushed together the bits should meet center. Mine are not quite center, but I think it could be fixed if I shimmy a small piece of metal down on the tailstock base before I clamp it down... It looks like a very small misalignment, but not really knowing what I am doing I figured I would ask the experts! Will this be okay once the small adjustment is made?

Thanks!

 

[lorbay]

Can you just not twist the tail stock to the left before tightening. If that does it it will just become a habit as you tighten the tail stock.

Lin.

 

[William Menard]

just remember the farther you get from point to point, the more off your gonna be. 1/64 touching could easily be 1/4 when you add your pen mandrel. That would make for a nice off center turned pen.

 

[scjohnson243]

Thanks,

Lorbay: I will try that, I did it a little bit yesterday but really did not spend enough time with it - I will give it another going over after work today and see if I can get it to tighten down better in a better position.

William: Thanks, Thats a scary way to think about it, but you are correct!!!

(I just moved to Arkansas from Baton Rouge, so nice to see another Louisiana guy on the boards!)

 

[mredburn]

You may have a rough casting that is holding it off center, check for that. I would try as Lin said physically tightening it down with pressure towards you and then see if tightening that spindle lock pushes it over any as well. Between the two of them it may be all you need to do. Fixes past that could be attaching a shim to move it over, it there is room and/or filing one side off underneath to let it move towards you. You might see it they will exchange it for a better one. For best accuracy you may need to move the whole unit over not just the tip.

 

[gimpy]

Every manufacture have there own methods.......
READ the manual, it will be very helpful....:wink:

 

[monophoto]

Remember that the tailstock moves.

I think that in general, the best approach is to allow the tail stock to find its own position WHEN IT IS LOCKED DOWN, and then adjust the headstock to align it to the tailstock. In my case, there are four bolts that attach the headstock to the ways, and if I loosen those bolts, I can twist the headstock a few degrees to align it with the tailstock on the horizontal plane. If it were misaligned vertically, I could add shims as required to address that problem.

 

[DSurette]

I don't think that a slight offset would result in an off centered pen. If there was wobble in the tailstock then it would be off centered. When actually turning a blank you would probably compensate for the offset without even noticing it.

 

[sbell111]

just remember the farther you get from point to point, the more off your gonna be. 1/64 touching could easily be 1/4 when you add your pen mandrel. That would make for a nice off center turned pen.

I'm not sure that this is correct. If the ways are parallel to the headstock, then the offset would stay the same no matter where the tailstock was positioned. The effect of the offset would actually decrease the farther the tailstock moved from the headstock.

 

[BSea]

just remember the farther you get from point to point, the more off your gonna be. 1/64 touching could easily be 1/4 when you add your pen mandrel. That would make for a nice off center turned pen.

I'm not sure that this is correct. If the ways are parallel to the headstock, then the offset would stay the same no matter where the tailstock was positioned. The effect of the offset would actually decrease the farther the tailstock moved from the headstock.

I tend to agree. It seems to me that the 1/64" error would be spread out over the length of the blank. I guess the easiest way would be to turn a scrap blank to see. Frankly, I'd like to know for sure.

 

[kingkeyman]

Every manufacture have there own methods.......
READ the manual, it will be very helpful....:wink:

That looks like a Harbor Freight lathe, Their manual usually consists of wear safety glasses and a parts diagram.

 

[ironman123]

Yea, that looks like the 2 I have. I was lucky, mine lined up. You can take it to a HF store and replace it if you have had it less than 90 days.

I took 3 pressure pots back in 2 days because the lids were warped and wouldn't seal.

Ray

 

[WriteON]

Every manufacture have there own methods.......
READ the manual, it will be very helpful....:wink:

And or...call the manufacturer. Speak to technical.

 

[Sawdust1825]

The mismatch between the headstock and tailstock while might be a nuisance will have no effect on concentricity. If it were an engine lathe it would cut a taper but that's all. Because the tool rest is adjustable you can easily compensate for this. As was stated previously by Bsea and SBell things will still turn true. I am sure it can be adjusted out but it isn't going to keep you from getting good results.

 

[sbell111]

Is suspect that the only result of this small misalignment is that the live center is going to get eaten up a little by the mandrel.

 

[Paul in OKC]

just remember the farther you get from point to point, the more off your gonna be. 1/64 touching could easily be 1/4 when you add your pen mandrel. That would make for a nice off center turned pen.

Actually it is the opposite. The farther away you are the less effect it will have on what you are turning. And being hand held tools, virtually none. As said above, if in a metal lathe it would cause a taper.

 

[Rich L]

If I ever got a machine with a mis-alignment like that I would first try to see what's causing it and make an easy fix if possible, or return it. A mis-alignment like that is totally unacceptable. One can say it doesn't matter much but I'd almost guarantee that down the road you will say it does matter. Canting the tailstock is not a good fix. One thing I'd do to really see what's going on is extend the tail stock quill and indicate it to see if the quill extends parallel to a gauge rod sticking out of the headstock. At least you'd know what's off center. How is it vertically? I don't know about that particular lathe but some tailstocks have a horizontal adjustment but you still need the quill to be parallel to the headstock axis.

I may be more picky than most and I seldom get up on a soapbox but that's just bad assembly and quality even for an inexpensive machine.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[Sawdust1825]

I agree that it needs to be corrected if you want to do any blank drilling or any other drilling on it. As I said it won't cause a concentricity issue but it will cause issues or can cause issues when drilling. I am not familiar with this lathe so I don't know what you can do to correct it.

 

[BSea]

I agree that it needs to be corrected if you want to do any blank drilling or any other drilling on it. As I said it won't cause a concentricity issue but it will cause issues or can cause issues when drilling. I am not familiar with this lathe so I don't know what you can do to correct it.

I agree with the drilling issue. To me that's the biggest issue. And just because it may not affect turning a pen doesn't mean that it shouldn't be adjusted.

 

[sbell111]

I agree that it needs to be corrected if you want to do any blank drilling or any other drilling on it. As I said it won't cause a concentricity issue but it will cause issues or can cause issues when drilling. I am not familiar with this lathe so I don't know what you can do to correct it.

It's the same as most small lathes. You just loosen the four bolts holding down the headstock, nudge the headstock into alignment, and then retighten the bolts.

 

[sbell111]

Just thought that I would add one way to make sure that the headstock is aligned with the tailstock. The 'center to center' method isn't awesome because the tips could touch without their turning in the same 'line' as the tips could still touch even if the headstock was slightly canted.

They make double tapers to check this alignment, but they aren't necessary. With the headstock loosened, you can just mount a punch into a collet chuck in the headstock and then lock it into a drill chuck in the tailstock. Tighten down the headstock and voila, your lathe is aligned.