World War 2 Sheldon lathe

BHQ

BHQ

we'll miss you
Silver Member
backstory
lathe is US Army WW2
tailstock is not the original, scavenged from another Sheldon lathe.
various shims are under it, it's a mess.
want to get a riser plate made.

to determine how low it is , without all that crap in there, i can indicate on top of an alignment bar i had made.

i got that part of the problem figured out, but, i also have to indicate from the side to make sure i'm centered, so that both indicators are top dead center of the alignment bar. Right?

if it's low which it is, now my indicator from the side isn't center of the bar.
that reading would not be correct.



what am i missing here?



 
If you can turn a piece of metal the exact diameter of the spindle in the tailstock and use two dial indications on the cross-slide and place them on that piece one from the top and the other from the side and get both set to zero. Then move your tailstock up to the end of it and glide back and forth across the turned piece and your tailstock spindle and wedge and slide it over until both read zero on both indicators.
 
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it just hit me i can get where i need to be by bringing tailstock up to my dead center instead of 30" away .

if i can get close, i'll make a temporary shim out of sheet phenolic, then adjust to get a final thickness i need for the plate.
 
:idea2:come to think of it, i could just make a riser out of sheet phenolic.

run it thru my drum sander to get my desired thickness
 
Hard to explain, and maybe even harder to see the indicator when facing away or down, but could you put an indicator in the lathe chuck and indicate the circumference of the tailstock barrel ? If the tailstock barrel is exactly centered (same height, centered, etc) the indicator shouldn't move. Just an idea, I've never done it.

Searched a bit and found this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utZVv7QvRt8

Dave

PS The purple heart BHQ remains in a place of honour in my cue rack :thumbup:
 
BHQ said:
backstory
lathe is US Army WW2
tailstock is not the original, scavenged from another Sheldon lathe.
various shims are under it, it's a mess.
want to get a riser plate made.

to determine how low it is , without all that crap in there, i can indicate on top of an alignment bar i had made.

i got that part of the problem figured out, but, i also have to indicate from the side to make sure i'm centered, so that both indicators are top dead center of the alignment bar. Right?

if it's low which it is, now my indicator from the side isn't center of the bar.
that reading would not be correct.



what am i missing here?



Click to expand...

A coaxial indicator is will tell the whole story,,,,,,,,, and I happen to have one.
 
Brent...what are going to use this lathe for? Are you going to be moving the tail stock up and down the length of the bed for different operations? If so, before you do anything with anything else you'll be best served to level the bed in both directions with a machine level. Otherwise your center to center line up by the head stock will possibly be different out at the other end of the bed.
Yes, even tho it is cast iron, it can flex.
Depending how old and used the lathe is can make a difference where the tail stock slides at also.
 
The simple dial indicator in the chuck of the headstock only tells you if the very front of your tailstock spindle is true. That is why I mount two indicators to the cross-slide instead so I can run it up and down the extended tailstock spindle to make sure there is no tilt in either direction.
 
cueman said:
The simple dial indicator in the chuck of the headstock only tells you if the very front of your tailstock spindle is true. That is why I mount two indicators to the cross-slide instead so I can run it up and down the extended tailstock spindle to make sure there is no tilt in either direction.
Click to expand...

Indicating the tail stock quill off of the carriage is only accurate if the carriage ways and the tail stock ways are still parallel. The carriage ways wear and you end up with a slope from tailstock end down to headstock. Trying to get perfect tailstock height on a old lathe is a losing battle. The TS wears more from the front of the casting making the tailstock tilt down over time. The TS ways wear more at the back end of the bed then the front creating an opposite angle, and to compound problems the carriage ways wear opposite that of the TS. I would first try and figure out if the TS is parallel to the ways and correct that first then indicate the quill in a few different places on the bed and find a happy middle ground. Forget perfection.
 
cueman said:
The simple dial indicator in the chuck of the headstock only tells you if the very front of your tailstock spindle is true. That is why I mount two indicators to the cross-slide instead so I can run it up and down the extended tailstock spindle to make sure there is no tilt in either direction.
Click to expand...

I suggested the method as a way to measure height discrepancies, not tilt. Of course repeating the measurement on the end of the quill with the quill withdrawn and again fully extended would give some measurement of tilt (and ways error, in your method as well). Likely good to know in case the tilt is significant.

As Canadian cue says, the height will also vary depending on the ways wear and location of the tailstock.

The bible on such things :

https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Tool-Reconditioning-Applications-Scraping/dp/9996967085

Dave
 
Canadian cue said:
Indicating the tail stock quill off of the carriage is only accurate if the carriage ways and the tail stock ways are still parallel. The carriage ways wear and you end up with a slope from tailstock end down to headstock. Trying to get perfect tailstock height on a old lathe is a losing battle. The TS wears more from the front of the casting making the tailstock tilt down over time. The TS ways wear more at the back end of the bed then the front creating an opposite angle, and to compound problems the carriage ways wear opposite that of the TS. I would first try and figure out if the TS is parallel to the ways and correct that first then indicate the quill in a few different places on the bed and find a happy middle ground. Forget perfection.
Click to expand...

Turning the piece sticking out of the headstock and the dial indicator running zero on the top side will pretty much tell you if the ways are worn. It would run zero on the side as it was cut with the tool on the side, but if the top also reads zero then the ways are fine and the method is sound.
 
cueman said:
Turning the piece sticking out of the headstock and the dial indicator running zero on the top side will pretty much tell you if the ways are worn. It would run zero on the side as it was cut with the tool on the side, but if the top also reads zero then the ways are fine and the method is sound.
Click to expand...

This lathe is 70+ years old, what do you think the probability of the bed not being worn? My point was that if you are using the bed of your lathe as reference to check the tailstock your bed ways all have to be straight and parallel. A simple test that will give an idea how worn the ways are is to mount a dial on your carriage and indicate the TS ways most of the time the carriage drops steadily as you get close to the chuck.
 
Canadian cue said:
This lathe is 70+ years old, what do you think the probability of the bed not being worn? My point was that if you are using the bed of your lathe as reference to check the tailstock your bed ways all have to be straight and parallel. A simple test that will give an idea how worn the ways are is to mount a dial on your carriage and indicate the TS ways most of the time the carriage drops steadily as you get close to the chuck.
Click to expand...

with a 1" round stainless bar between centers,
using an indicator from the side and on top,
the only variance i'm getting is about .002" approx. 12" from headstock, from the side. top indicator stays true .
i'm assuming most of the work was done at that spot on lathe.

at one time they probably had the tailstock nuts on.
however, i offset my tailstock back and forth so much, i either wore the shims down or they shifted.
i used some sheet phenolic , sanded on my drum sander to .026" .
it's back to being right on now.
the phenolic may wear over time,
so i'll either get something made .026" or find something that wont wear.
anyways, i'm all good for now.
thanks fellas
 
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Thats great that you have it all figured out. You must jave found a real jem for it to have such little wear after all these years. I have the same lathe but a little newer, its from the 50's. It is a great lathe for cue work. If you ever need a replacement phenolic gear for your feeds let me know, I built a few when I replaced mine.
Cheers
 
Canadian cue said:
Thats great that you have it all figured out. You must jave found a real jem for it to have such little wear after all these years. I have the same lathe but a little newer, its from the 50's. It is a great lathe for cue work. If you ever need a replacement phenolic gear for your feeds let me know, I built a few when I replaced mine.
Cheers
Click to expand...

mine has the metal gear
i think they started using the phenolic gear in the 50's .

my other sheldon, 1950's, had one, teeth tore out.

bought one from a man named John Knox that worked for Sheldon.

sold that lathe , before i ever got it up and running
 
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