Leveling of lathe - has any one used these ?

[Newton]

I finally made my decision and have just bought this level:
http://www.kapro.com/Product.asp?cat_id=13&parent=2&id=54

It would have to do for now, I have a feeling I'm splitting hairs here now
but at least I have something to get started with.

The nice thing is that it would make a beep when it's perfectly flat so hopefully
the work would go faster than eyeballing the level.

Kelly; You're legs looks cool, but I guess if I manage to get the same size
threads -beefy bolts I would turn me some nice brass or steel legs to go with
the bolts. Hopefully that would be a stable setup.

Machine arrives tomorrow @ 17:00 - now confirmed :happydance:

Kent

 

[conetip]

Hi Newton,
The level just gets the machine in the ball park.
I place a piece of easy machining 2011 aluminum bar 1-1/4 dia in the lathe about 150 mm longer than the chuck jaws.
Then with a very sharp HSS tool, at about 300 or so rpm, turn until the bar cleans up .You can only take light cuts or else the bar pushes off.
Then measure for parallel along the length of the bar. This will show twist in the lathe bed. Then you make an adjustment and cut again.
If you have a precision made test bar, you can set that up in the chuck and use a DTI to see where the carriage runs and again, make the appropriate adjustment.
Having the lathe bed twist free is far more important than level, that being said , it is nice when the machine is level.
The rubber based feet help when you have the lathe in an upstairs location.Otherwise it does not make much difference.
I hope this helps you.
Neil Lickfold

 

[Newton]

The machine arrived today

Have been buzzing in the garage now all evening dismounting the machine
from it's wooden "box". I would update with pics - they're imported to my
machine as I'm typing.

Legs; The machine has a pre-installed big fat threaded screws which I think I
would use

Leveling; Thanks for the tips - good to know that the bed is the important
thing, not the stand. Just browsed through the manual and it describes how
to use precision levels on the bed, nothing mentioned on leveling the stand
so I guess you're spot on.

Moving the late; Manual describes a method where you should use a hugh
eyebolt mounted on the bed..... Not included so I have to make something
tomorrow since slings around the bed would bend the lead screws & the
feedshaft. I'm actually considering to use the center rest since this would
never be used by me but I'm not sure if it would hold the weight....

Kent

 

[MVPCues]

Have been buzzing in the garage now all evening dismounting the machine
from it's wooden "box". I would update with pics - they're imported to my
machine as I'm typing.

Legs; The machine has a pre-installed big fat threaded screws which I think I
would use

Leveling; Thanks for the tips - good to know that the bed is the important
thing, not the stand. Just browsed through the manual and it describes how
to use precision levels on the bed, nothing mentioned on leveling the stand
so I guess you're spot on.

Moving the late; Manual describes a method where you should use a hugh
eyebolt mounted on the bed..... Not included so I have to make something
tomorrow since slings around the bed would bend the lead screws & the
feedshaft. I'm actually considering to use the center rest since this would
never be used by me but I'm not sure if it would hold the weight....

Kent

I would have though you should have gotten the big eye bolt mechanism with iron plate for lifting. It really makes it easy. Too bad you aren't local, you could swing by and borrow mine if it were to work.

Kelly

 

[Newton]

I would have though you should have gotten the big eye bolt mechanism with iron plate for lifting. It really makes it easy. Too bad you aren't local, you could swing by and borrow mine if it were to work.

Kelly

Thanks a bunch for the offer Kelly. I guess I have to make me something
tomorrow to get this done...
Here is a pic of the leg leveling included in the machine. Note I have adjusted
the pic - a lot - to be able to show the black crews.

More pics of the machine is in the "Small addition to my shop" thread I brought
to life again.

EDIT: That white thing is one of two chips in the paint.

Kent

 

[Newton]

Finally got the machine in place - had to make my own lifting system with a
O ring at the end. A pain in a certain place and I did not feel very comfortable
using this device but it got it in place.
Leveling did go very smooth with the digital level, I did keep on turning until
the level made a beep and then did the small adjustments afterwards.

It should be mentioned that I did get a panic moment when I came back
to the machine this morning. I left the machine on the concrete last night
when it was at the right spot - without any leveling..

Using the level this morning gave me a little panic where I believed that the
bed was twisted due to unleveled floor.. The level showed a very big difference
between the tailstock and the headstock.

Sweating like nothing I jumped on the back of the machine and pretty
much in panic winding up the back of the headstock legs.
Then my brother in law says that I had not put the level correctly on the
bed close to the headstock..
So then I in panic wined the front of the headstock base up...to get back again..
The whole lathe was leaning forward so I guess the tailstock part
of the lathe was under a large force /twist..

In other words - the lathe was most likely OK before I started winding
the back of the headstock "to compensate" for my already wrong reading.
Hopefully the bed did not take any damage.

The lathe would now be left with the gaga intact and leveled now for some
weeks since I'm not able to get my hands on it for some weeks...

K