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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    sunshine coast
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    Default Lathe bed grinding?

    People, just a question regarding bed grinding of a lathe. If you have your bed ground does that affect the height of the tail stock ? That would intern affect the accuracy of the lathe, correct?

    Looking forward to some knowledgable responses.

    Damien.
    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    sydney ( st marys )
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    Default

    If the headstock sits on the bed and the area it sits on gets ground the same as the rest,there will not be any effect to accuracy.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    near Rockhampton
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    Default

    The lathe bed is the datum to which everything else is then made to fit.

    Yes the tailstock will be lower, but tailstock height does not affect accuracy when turning between centres very much. In fact when new ideally it should be slightly high and slightly pointing at the moon.

    If your bed is worn enough to warrant grinding, then your tailstock will be well worn as well, unless it was never used very much.
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    sunshine coast
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    Default

    Thanks RC, I have an old Harrison l5a long bed lathe, approx 4 ft. I will have a look tomorrow about the head stock and see whether I would consider removing it from the bed. Thanks again.

    Damien
    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    near Warragul, Victoria
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    Default

    The Harrison L5A has a hardened bed .

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    sunshine coast
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    Default

    They are worn, Morrisman. I can feel ridges in the ways. Thanks.
    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    sunshine coast
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    Default

    People, I started to investigate the L5 a little bit closer and remove/paint parts to have a better look at the ways. As was stated earlier they are worn as ridges are present and the replacement gap piece is about half a millimetre higher. Have a squid at the pictures and any comments will be greatly appreciated.

    Damien.
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    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    sunshine coast
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    Default

    One more picture.
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    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Western NSW
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    543

    Default

    Before you get too carried away you need to have a serious think about what you want to achieve here. Properly reconditioning a worn lathe is not an insignificant undertaking. It takes significant knowledge,time and equipment to do it yourself or a lot of money to get someone else to do it for you. Unless the lathe has serious sentimental value or its inherent rarity or value make it worthwhile (or you are mad enough to want to do it for the fun) it is rarely worthwhile. Usually it is cheaper and easier to buy a better lathe.
    So some questions to consider
    1. what are you going to use the lathe for?
    2. Do you need high end precision? Even a worn lathe can turn out good accurate work if you know how to compensate for the wear.
    3. What level of knowledge and equipment do you have access to? Attacking the lathe without adequate assessment and planning will only result in scrap. There is a minimum amount of tooling to do even a basic job.
    4. How much time do you have? If this is a retirement project to which you can devote a lot of time and you are in no hurry then you might have a chance of finishing it.
    5. How much money do you want to spend? If you want to return it to 'as new' you need deep pockets.

    My thought would be to clean it up, even paint it if you want then put it back together. You can replacement worn half nuts or cross slide nuts if needed but otherwise learn to use it with its current wear and tear. Then if you decide you need something better go looking for another lathe. It will be cheaper and quicker in the long run.

    If you decide you still want to to restore it as a major project then start a thread in the projects section, ask lots of questions before you do anything, read all the various lathe restoration threads on MWF and PM forums and then strap yourself in for a long ride. There are a number of members of this forum who will give you good advice and we all wish you the best but have a good think about it before you get too deep into it.

    Really if you want the FUN of a full lathe restoration buy a high end lathe that is broken or worn and restore that. Look out for a Schaublin, Weiler, Hembrug, CVA (or its lesser cousin the Monarch 10EE ) or DSG lathe so that in the end you have a really top notch lathe.

    Regards

    Mark

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    Australia east coast
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by markgray View Post
    Really if you want the FUN of a full lathe restoration buy a high end lathe that is broken or worn and restore that. Look out for a Schaublin, Weiler, Hembrug, CVA (or its lesser cousin the Monarch 10EE ) or DSG lathe so that in the end you have a really top notch lathe.
    Yeah - what he said.

    You can buy a *brand new* lathe - not top quality at the AL900 level, but still not too bad - for about the same money you're going to be sinking into metrology gear if you get serious about doing a proper job of restoring the mechanical function/accuracy of a lathe.

    Not to mention the learning curve involved.

    So - make sure it's the *right* lathe to invest the time/money..... I'm tossing up whether it's worth the effort to overhaul my Monarch CY, and that was a pretty high class machine in its day.

    PDW

  11. #11
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    Jul 2003
    Location
    sunshine coast
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    Default

    Mark, the main reason for doing this is, when the lathe was bought the gap piece was missing. I have sinned sourced another but it sits proud of the bed an does not allow the saddle to travel onto the gap piece. The saddle comes to a sudden stop when it come to the gap piece. I don't know what else to do but grind it.
    To answer a few of you other questions I am not in any hurry and it will be a learning experience for me, so all is groovy.

    Damien.
    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Western NSW
    Posts
    543

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by goodwoody View Post
    Mark, the main reason for doing this is, when the lathe was bought the gap piece was missing. I have sinned sourced another but it sits proud of the bed an does not allow the saddle to travel onto the gap piece. The saddle comes to a sudden stop when it come to the gap piece. I don't know what else to do but grind it.
    To answer a few of you other questions I am not in any hurry and it will be a learning experience for me, so all is groovy.

    Damien.
    You could just scrape or grind the gap piece to fit. Even this would require planning and careful treatment to get an acceptable end result. A full bed grind is going to set you back thousands and that's if you can find a slideway grinder in Queensland (no commercial grinder that I know of).

  13. #13
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    Jul 2003
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    sunshine coast
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    Default

    Looking into it Mark. Thanks for the advice.

    Damien.
    I'm a dancing fool! The beat goes on and I'm so wrong!!!!

  14. #14
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    near Warragul, Victoria
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    Harrisons of that vintage are not that common here in Aust. . In the UK they are a dime a dozen because just about every training school used them .

    If you can learn the art of bed hand scraping, you will be in demand !

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by morrisman View Post
    If you can learn the art of bed hand scraping, you will be in demand !
    I predict that, if he manages to do one, his rate for doing another for someone else would be truly eye-watering.

    Try something simple - scrape in a straight edge and see how long it takes you. Then extrapolate to a prismatic lathe bed.

    First, get a granite surface plate.....

    PDW

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