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  1. #1
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    Default New Lathe - Feet or not?

    Reading the manual for the lathe I'm planning to get, they recommend fixing to the concrete if possible, otherwise putting on "machine mount" feet and levelling the machine (and again repeatedly as the machine settles in).

    The current spot for the lathe is temporary, so the feet option seems appealing, however the guy at the shop seemed to think levelling wasn't that critical provided the slab was reasonably flat, suggesting that at most you might shim it to stop it wobbling. Alternatively he suggested putting waffle pad under each end.

    I was under the impression levelling was fairly important, particularly in how it related to the bed, but now I'm wondering if I should follow the manual's advice or the salesman's?

  2. #2
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    Default

    What lathe, most will need leveling
    Using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    When you 'level' a lathe, foremost you are trying to prevent the bed twisting. Having the lathe not slope one way or another is not all that critical (unless you have a heavy carriage or tailstock and are trying to move it up hill...)

    Some lathe cabinets/ stands are sheet metal and can be flimsy. If you are not bolting down I would suggest bolting the lathe to a sturdy frame (such that the lathe is not twisted on the frame). Then where the lathe frame sits is of secondary importance.

    Michael

  4. #4
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave J View Post
    What lathe, most will need leveling
    This one here: https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L555D

  5. #5
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    Apr 2013
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    Toowoomba Qld
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    Default

    Leveling is only important if you want it to cut accurately...

    Guessing this is the lathe your talking about from the other forum topic
    https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L555D

    You may be able to get away with just plopping it on the ground, won't know until you try.
    Other thing to consider is how tall are you vs how short is the lathe ? The feet on my current lathe were done to lift it up as it was too short for me and didn't like being hunched over when machining.

  6. #6
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael G View Post
    When you 'level' a lathe, foremost you are trying to prevent the bed twisting. Having the lathe not slope one way or another is not all that critical (unless you have a heavy carriage or tailstock and are trying to move it up hill...)

    Some lathe cabinets/ stands are sheet metal and can be flimsy. If you are not bolting down I would suggest bolting the lathe to a sturdy frame (such that the lathe is not twisted on the frame). Then where the lathe frame sits is of secondary importance.
    OK, that makes sense. Really have no idea how flimsy the base is, although it looks not too bad in the pics.

  7. #7
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    Default

    I have sheet metal bases, I'm pretty sure that lathe is cast bases. I originally bolted it down, but after some years wanted to move it. Leveling feet are great and did everything I wanted to get level and twist out of it. I found the 4 on the headstock and 2 on the tailstock end did everything I needed to and was perfectly stable.

    Everyone says leveling is not important, but to a precision level it is. As the bubble in the vial will just sit at one end and be so hard to read.
    Using Tapatalk

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
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    York, North Yorkshire UK
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    Thumbs up Lathe leveling !

    Hi Guys,

    I think that there is a lot of confusion and interpreting the meaning of "Levelling a Lathe". It matters little whether the lathe cabinet tilts a little backwards, sideways or end to end. As long as the cabinet is stable on the floor and doesn't rock or wobble, that is fine. However if you are going to use coolant, you don't want it pooling in the drip tray at the end away from the drain. So any horizontal tilt should be towards the drain hole.

    Levelling strictly refers to the lathe bed surface where the saddle and tail stock slide ! This is the part of the lathe that determines the parallelism and accuracy of the machine. As long as the bed can be adjusted to remove any twist, making the bed surface flat and square it will be OK.

    Whilst a machinists level is nice, its not always useful ! There are a number of methods of correctly "Levelling" up the lathe.

    JMTPW
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  9. #9
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    Default

    For a lathe I personally don't care about slope along the bed. I don't care about slope across the bed either as long as it's the same both ends.

    The easiest way to do this is with a machinist's level, is all. Adjustable feet are nice.

    None of my machines are bolted to the floor.

    FWIW I *do* level in milling machines and my horizontal boring mills to be dead nuts flat to the limit of the level (and my patience) because I use a quite sensitive WW1 Artillery clinometer to set angles etc on tilting angle plates when necessary. It's nice to know that your reference surface is flat.

    PDW

  10. #10
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    Agree. I try to keep my mill table level just so I can put a level on some odd shape in the vice and establish a surface parallel to the mill bed.

    Michael

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Perth
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    Default

    Chap who sold my lathe said the same, being a newbie I had it sitting on the floor, not bolted down.

    Cranked it up to 2000 rpm and the bleeding thing started to walk across the shed floor, prior to that only ever run it on 865 rpm.

    As I was doing a tafe course in metalwork at the time, I copied their bolt down fixtures, then used Sparey’s method of setting up level and securing it to the concrete slab.

    Every year I recheck and adjust for levelness, has not moved so far, but I am parnoid about keeping it level.

    DD

  12. #12
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    Default

    Thanks for all the comments - I found a short video by This Old Tony on Youtube on lathe levelling, which was a good overview.

    I ordered feet for the machine, as they're only $20 each and will get me going. I can always bolt it down in the future if required.

    It looks like there's heaps of guides on the net - in my case I think I'll start by trying to make sure the bed is as flat as possible using a spirit level at each end (unless I can find a more accurate method) and then maybe use long cuts to check for taper, although given I'm just starting out, I expect unless I'm getting cuts that look like a morse taper, close enough will be good enough

  13. #13
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    Sep 2012
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    Default

    Once you have got the lathe fastened down, use the two collar method to get the bed levelled ! No messing about trying to measure tapers. But first go over all the gibs and make sure that they are adjusted properly.

    I know of a couple of guys that almost gave up learning how to machine/turn metal because they didn't know that any adjustments existed.
    One of them has been making a loco for over five years and only recently finished the boiler.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  14. #14
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Once you have got the lathe fastened down, use the two collar method to get the bed levelled ! No messing about trying to measure tapers. But first go over all the gibs and make sure that they are adjusted properly.
    Hmm. Time to go Google "two collar method".

    What I'm not clear about (well, actually, not clear about many things really) is how to differentiate between the tailstock not being laterally aligned to the spindle, vs a twist in the bed.

  15. #15
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    Default

    Hi RArc,

    The tailstock is easy, do the two collar adjustment first after sorting any gib adjustments. Then put centres in both the tailstock and spindle, bring the tailstock upto the spindle so that the points of the centres meet. If you are not sure then trap a 6 inch scale between the points. It should be vertical and at 90 degrees to the bed if horizontal. Any slope will indicate if one side is higher than the other and if the scale is placed horizontally any side to side displacement easily seen. Normally the tailstock is set a fraction higher.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

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