Lathe Maintenence Day

[rake60]

I've been kind of leaving the machines alone for a while, but decided to
do a major clean up of the shop. While cleaning up the lathe I got to
thinking about how it has been pushing center drills and drilling oversize.
I center drilled a piece of cold roll rod then pulled it out about 10 inches,
put the live center in it and took a cut. It tapered out in less then 3 inches.
After I finally got a full length cut it read a taper of .019" over 10 inches.
That ain't bad huh? :roll: It took three attempts to get it within .001 over
10 inches. Amazing how well it drills with the tail stock centered.
I rarely use a center when turning parts or I would have seen the issue
sooner. I have no idea how I knocked it out that bad.

And the shop still isn't cleaned up...... :?

 

[mklotz]

Now that you've got the TS aligned, it would be a good time to make yourself a set of TS alignment buttons so the job is easier the next time you need to do it.

 

[rake60]

Seriously the TS adjusting screws may have never been tight in the first
place. Nothing else was on the lathe when I received it.
As I've said before, when you buy a China made machine your basically
buying a "kit" of a decent machine. You have to go over it from top to
bottom and make sure everything is assembled correctly.
The tailstock is something I rarely use and I’ll admit I never checked it.
The design and parts are very good on the inexpensive import machines,
but the assembly work is more often than not pretty sloppy.
Than again, new machines that have been purchased by the industrial shops
I have worked for over the years have had the same issues.

Rick

 

[tattoomike68]

I need to make a small wood stove for my shop. That would be sweet. I have 2 chucks of 3 wall 8 inch stove pipe for the roof.

It will be a fun project.