jcm71
Member
I turn between centers on my Shopsmith with good results, until last week or so. I started noticing that my pens were out of round. Realigned as per the manual- same results- out of round pens.
Then I realized that the Shopsmith alignment procedure for the head stock and tail stock only checks two axises. It does not check whether the longitudinal axis of the live center and the dead center are superimposed on each other. I tapped out my live center from the tailstock, and advanced my dead center through the hole on the eccentric. Sure enough, my Z axis was noticeably out of alignment. The dead center was heading down and to the left as it passed through the #2 MT hole in the eccentric.
My solution was to rotate the eccentric 180 degrees (hole on the bottom instead of top) and realign. I did place a thin shim at the back side of the eccentric at the 12 o'clock position. Now the dead center appears to be very close to concentric with the #2MT hole, front side and back. I'll turn a pen tomorrow to let you know how it worked out.
Then I realized that the Shopsmith alignment procedure for the head stock and tail stock only checks two axises. It does not check whether the longitudinal axis of the live center and the dead center are superimposed on each other. I tapped out my live center from the tailstock, and advanced my dead center through the hole on the eccentric. Sure enough, my Z axis was noticeably out of alignment. The dead center was heading down and to the left as it passed through the #2 MT hole in the eccentric.
My solution was to rotate the eccentric 180 degrees (hole on the bottom instead of top) and realign. I did place a thin shim at the back side of the eccentric at the 12 o'clock position. Now the dead center appears to be very close to concentric with the #2MT hole, front side and back. I'll turn a pen tomorrow to let you know how it worked out.