Steel Plate For Sherline Lathe Base?

tomw

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Dear All,

I have an alignment problem (not an issue; magazines have issues) with my lathe, a Sherline 4400, between my tailstock and headstock. It was suggested in a different thread this problem is due to the bed being twisted. This may well be the problem, since Sherline can find no problem with my machine.

Currently, the machine is mounted on a piece of oak shelving from Lowes, as suggested by Sherline. Would it be beneficial to use a piece of plate steel, say 1/4" thick, for the mounting plate? Would thin rubber washers between the steel plate and the lathe bed mounting points be an even better set up? Should the steel plate be a fancy ground steel plate?

Your thoughts are most welcome. Or needed. Or, oh, just tell me what to do, for chrissakes....

Yours sometimes,

Tom
 
Dear All,

I have an alignment problem (not an issue; magazines have issues) with my lathe, a Sherline 4400, between my tailstock and headstock. It was suggested in a different thread this problem is due to the bed being twisted. This may well be the problem, since Sherline can find no problem with my machine.

Currently, the machine is mounted on a piece of oak shelving from Lowes, as suggested by Sherline. Would it be beneficial to use a piece of plate steel, say 1/4" thick, for the mounting plate? Would thin rubber washers between the steel plate and the lathe bed mounting points be an even better set up? Should the steel plate be a fancy ground steel plate?

Your thoughts are most welcome. Or needed. Or, oh, just tell me what to do, for chrissakes....

Yours sometimes,

Tom
While a steel plate might be somewhat better, the oak should be ok if it is thick enough and seasoned so it does not change shape with the weather. I would suggest setting the headstock and tailstock on thin shim stock, lightly tighten the hold down bolts and observe what happens. Repeat with adding or removing shims and observe. If there is some small twist, the combination of shims and bolts will correct the alignment. Are you using a good machinist level for levelling both ways? Jack
 
Hi Tom,

You can check the oak board you're using as a base for twist or "wind"......
Here's an example of "winding sticks":
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=53276&cat=1,230,41182

I am not suggesting you buy those, it just shows a good picture of how they are used.
You could use a couple of straight edges, a couple levels, a couple pieces of angle iron, etc.

-brino
 
My 4400 lathe has been mounted on a piece of 3/4" Melamine ply for over 20 years and has remained stable. While it is still a wood product it is less likely to move with changes in humidity and remains quite flat. It has 6 rubber feet to spread the load and prevent sagging in the middle.

The base simply needs to be fairly flat. A ground metal base is not needed in my opinion. Rubber washers between the base and lathe is probably not a good idea; the lathe is already light and rubber will only reduce the already limited rigidity. Some guys use extruded aluminum box section for a base. It seems like a more stable arrangement to me and would possibly be lighter than plate steel. If I was to do this all over again I would go with the extruded aluminum. I would put a steel plate on each end to which the lathe would be attached. I would attach the plates to the base with a screw on each side and shim under those plates to level the lathe.

Currently, my lathe is shimmed only at the tailstock end under the bed, not the base. There is a single screw holding the bed to the base here and shimming it there is simple. Mine required a single piece of aluminum foil on the backside to bring the lathe into level and it has remained stable all this time.

Good luck with getting this sorted. The little Sherline is a fine lathe. I had a guy who owned a Smithy Granite 3 in 1 laugh at it when he saw mine, that is until he saw it take a cut that his machine couldn't do! I didn't tell him I was cheating with a custom ground bit but then again, he was so arrogant that it made me feel mean.
 
Dear All,

Thank you for the advice. I like the idea of the aluminum (aka aluminium) box section.

I do not own a precision level yet. It seems like this might be a good idea. Any suggestions on a reasonably good level? I know, Starrett is the best, but what is the best in the next tier down? Is their a next tier down?

Mikey, that a good story. I have had folks be quite surprised by what the little Sherline can do.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Any suggestions on a reasonably good level?

Excellent question, so far I have not been able to bring myself to lay out the massive funds for some thing I'll use so seldom.
I know, a tool is an investment, but wow the prices.....

-brino
 
Keep in mind you will be building a drum head. Any vibration made by the lathe will be transferred to the material it's bolted to. If it's thin sheet metal, expect a lot of rattle. If it's cork, nothing. Somewhere in between, (my lathe is mounted on rubber pads on wood) is where you will be comfortable.
 
Suggestion, Take the 4400 and loosen all the bolts then check to see it the tail and the headstock are in line. If they are lined up better then take a look at where it is touching. Yes the oak can twist I have mine on a piece or 3/4 particle board with a sheet of Formica on top. Then that is also mounted to some good wood and a steal frame But even then I think mine may have a bit of a twist.
and like one of the others said I can do more than most think.
 
The good thing about mounting the lathe to an extruded box section is that it will likely stay level, even when you move the lathe around or do curls with it or whatever. If the lathe is going to be stationary and you want to isolate it from vibration you can mount the box section to a bench with a 1//8" thick layer of polyurethane in between.

I think a 6" Starrett 98 level is perfect for the Sherline lathe. A used one on ebay shouldn't be too bad (under $50.00). Use it on the compound, not the bed. It is more than adequate to get you close enough and you will finalize with a test bar anyway. I use mine for many things and I really like the 6" size.

I own one of those 12" European master precision levels, the 0.02mm/M kind. Mine is a Kinex but there are cheap versions on ebay. This is overkill on a Sherline but for larger lathes it is great. Side by side with the Starrett 98, the bubble on my Kinex will move a full unit without any apparent movement of the the Starrett's bubble. You still have to do test bar work to finalize but this level will get you damned close. Most of the competition on ebay will be for a Starrett brand and their master levels go for stupid money. My Kinex is twice as sensitive and cost under $100.00 - I got lucky this time. You will have many opinions on this topic. Mine is that a master level is worth it (for larger lathes, not the Sherline).
 
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I looked up Sherline's instructions on mounting the lathe. Yes, it does say that you can use a piece of shelving, but it does not say much more. Which means that one could use 3/4"thick particle board shelf(I don't think so). Sherline also does not say how thick the board should be. I personally would use 1.5" thick maple, but oak will work. After you bring the wood home, let it sit in the shop for two weeks to acclimate. After that check for flatness, Plane, sand, and/or scape till flat on both sides. Let sit another week and do it again if need be. I don't recommend this but if you don"t want to flatten it, at least let it sit for two weeks, then shim. I've had a few years working with wood and I also tune pianos. Sometimes I get a customer whom just moved into town, I always ask them to let the instrument sit in their new home a couple of weeks, then I tune it. Other wise I'm just wasting my time and theirs, it will go out of tune very quickly. Both my mini mill and lathe are mounted this way and I've not had any problems. Mark
 
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