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How to Realing Jet 1440 VS Lathe
The Bowler Hatted Turner:
Just a thought, it may be nothing to do with the swivel head. Are you familiar with "winding sticks"? 2 parallel sticks placed one at each end of the bed and then eyed through to see if the bed is in twist. It only needs one leg to be lower and that could cause your problem.
Paul Hannaby:
I have used one of the double ended morse tapers and fond that method to be less accurate than aligning the headstock by eye. At close quarters you can use the drive and live centres to align the points but what I do is to put a long piece of wood in the chuck attached to the spindle and mark the centre with the tailstock live centre to get the headstock aligned with the centre of the piece of wood. As this method is done over a greater distance, the errors are reduced.
Bill21:
--- Quote from: Paul Hannaby on February 16, 2024, 12:01:06 AM ---I have used one of the double ended morse tapers and fond that method to be less accurate than aligning the headstock by eye.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps you’re doing it wrong. ??? I can’t see how seating the tool in both sockets, locking the tail stock and then locking the head in place can go wrong? Of course, if the tailstock has play in it then all bets are off. My current lathe is very good in this respect. The lathe it replaced was very bad so aligning the head perfectly was pointless anyway ;)
I’m with Stuart Batty on this one, I don’t like the idea of swivelling heads.
Twisted Trees:
--- Quote from: Bill21 on February 16, 2024, 11:53:39 AM ---
Perhaps you’re doing it wrong. ??? I can’t see how seating the tool in both sockets, locking the tail stock and then locking the head in place can go wrong? Of course, if the tailstock has play in it then all bets are off. My current lathe is very good in this respect. The lathe it replaced was very bad so aligning the head perfectly was pointless anyway ;)
I’m with Stuart Batty on this one, I don’t like the idea of swivelling heads.
--- End quote ---
Paul is not wrong, though on an established un moved lathe Bill is not wrong either! I have on more than one occasion had to give assistance on a perfectly working lathe once a bed extension has been fitted and the distance from headstock to tailstock has increased.
The winding sticks suggestion is also good advice a twist in the bed will increase over length.
Swivelling head lathes are perfect for the smaller workshop as it allows one lathe to function as multiple lathes, yes at the cost of needing to check alignment (sometimes even without swivelling the head deliberately)
In most cases I find near enough is good enough, exceptions being thin stemmed items like Tremblers and Goblets or long items. But I do find it good practice to at least drop a spirit level on the bed in 3 or 4 directions, and check alignment. of course making sure there isn't dust or a shaving trapped between the tailstock and the bed which can be really confusing if you are not methodical.
Paul Hannaby:
--- Quote from: Bill21 on February 16, 2024, 11:53:39 AM ---
--- Quote from: Paul Hannaby on February 16, 2024, 12:01:06 AM ---I have used one of the double ended morse tapers and fond that method to be less accurate than aligning the headstock by eye.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps you’re doing it wrong. ??? I can’t see how seating the tool in both sockets, locking the tail stock and then locking the head in place can go wrong?
--- End quote ---
Bill, I've done it both ways and know which gives the most accurate alignment.
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