Thank You Bogs!!!

[deere_x475guy]

7 years ago I bought a machinist level from WT tool. I used it to level my lathe and put it away. Then about a year later I took it over to a friend’s house to check his lathe. It was then I realized that I never calibrated the darn thing.

Oh well no problem I say...I will just calibrate it first and later I will check my lathe again. We went through the calibration process and noticed it didn't seem as stable as we thought it should be.

Well about 6 months later I got around to trying to adjust my lathe again....it was then I discovered there wasn't any liquid in it and the box had moisture in it. Upon taking it apart I discovered the correct way to adjust it. I had been turning the screw that goes though the body before. In if it had been assembled correctly I would never have been able to turn the screw. A round nut had been floating around inside and when I tuned the screw to adjust it the nut was against the vial and it broke.

Since then I had been trying to locate a new vial for it but was not successful. Then a few weeks ago I notice a thread that John had posted about fixing his level and having to buy several vials to get one. I emailed John and asked if I could by one from him. John told me not to worry about a change and sent one to me several weeks ago. It arrived today and here are some shots of what I did to get it to work.

John had it well package and marked fragile. It was also in another package.

I used hot glue to hold it in place…it just fit.

I now have it properly calibrated…

I checked my lathe....

Here is the tailstock end

Here is the headstock...these points are 40" apart...I think this is good enough...

Thanks again John!!!....

 

[Blogwitch]

You are most welcome Bob, anything to assist a fellow engineer.

I just knew it would only be a matter of time before someone would require that spare vial.


Enjoy your new found precision. woohoo1



John

 

[Sleazey]

Pardon me for horning in on this thread, but....

I have one of those levels, and it needs to be recalibrated. It's about 2 divisions off when flipped end for end.

However, I cannot figure out how to open it up. The Chinglish instructions are unintelligible.

On one side of mine is a round circular plate, seemingly epoxied into the side of the level. There is a brass threaded insert in the center of the round plate. There is also a similar plate on one end of the level.

There isn't any obvious way to open up the level. I assume the round plates are the way in, but I don't see any obvious method to remove them. Can either of you knowledgable gentlemen apply the Royal Cluestick of Knowledge to this humble petitioner?

 

[Blogwitch]

I'm sure Bob will kick in when he wakes up, but don't play around with it until you get the correct info. That is how Bob's got broken in the first place.

I would dearly love to be able to help you, unfortunately, my levels are totally different beasts with regards to adjustment, and we had to sort out if the vial could be made to fit before I sent it.

Good luck


Bogs

 

[deere_x475guy]

Hang on, I will take a few pictures......

Once you get this far you will see the two round nuts. Adjust these nuts up or down to calibrate.

Here is what I did to calibrate:

• Set level on something solid (I set mine on my surface grinder chuck)
  
  
• Note position of bubble
• Turn the level 180 degrees and again note position of bubble
• Loosen one nut and tighten the other to move the bubble
• Once the bubble doesn't move when turning 180 degrees you are done.
  
  

I didn't get any instructions with mine other wise if I had read them.......I would have know right off there was something wrong and would have been able to return it for a new one while it was still within the 30 days........

 

[Sleazey]

Thank you so much. That makes it extremely clear how to do it. I saved this post as part of my softcopy file on this level.

 

[deere_x475guy]

Your very welcome Sleazey, I am glad to be of some help...

 

[GailInNM]

Thanks for the tutorial, Bob.
I have had the same level for a number of years and guess I was lucky as it was spot on when I got it and remains so today. I printed and stored away your tutorial with the level just in case. Nice to know how if it is ever needed.
Gail in NM

 

[deere_x475guy]

Your welcome Gail...I am glad it was helpfull.

 

[Blogwitch]

For those of you who have Moore & Wright levels, this is the post where Bob found out I had a spare vial.

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2197.0

It might be useful to someone, one day.


Bogs