New Lathe Twisted bed

V

Versacon7

Registered
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2017
Messages
9
Hi Guys-
I'm a newbie to this forum and have been hobby machining for 50 years (since junior high). I just bought a new 14x40 gunsmith lathe and am setting it up. I leveled (10" Mitutoyo) the bed as follows: I first leveled the closest way from side to side. I then leveled the tail stock end from front to back. Lastly I tried leveling the spindle end front to back. It is down on the far way by .007. I think the bed is twisted. I have yet to cut a blank to see what happens but I don't think I want to go that far until I get the bed straight. I went ahead and bolted the base to the concrete slab in my shop as I leveled the machine. When I found the outside spindle end down, I tried shimming up the cast bed frame up .007 to see if I could get it to move. Nothing moved. I actually didn't think I could get it to move but I thought I would give it a try. By the way, When I measure the ways at the mid point, it is also down .003. So It seems to be twisted progressively. I'm thinking I could probably correct for this by adjusting the headstock case by re-aiming it. I prefer to have everything level instead.
Any ideas how to remedy this?
 
Call the manufacturer or people you bought it from. This should not happen with a new lathe.

"Billy G"
 
I agree and did. They told me to unbolt the bed from the stand and see if it relaxes over a month or so...
I'll give it a month and probably send it back. I cringe at re-crating it and sending it 1,000 miles.
If I could fix the twist, it might be easier than sending it back.
Versacon
 
You paid for a good lathe bed.
You shouldn't have to wait a month to identify if there is a problem.
If you need to send it back will they pay for your re-crating/palatalizing?
How does the warranty read?

Daryl
MN
 
When you said you shimmed the bed up 0.007, did you try any more than that?

I just setup my lathe recently and I didn't bother that much with leveling. I used a carpenters
level to get it as close as I could, made a 1" test bar with two 2" aluminum collars about 10"
apart and took a test cut. If the tailstock collar was bigger than the headstock collar I raised
the front foot of my lathe bench (on the tailstock end) and took another cut. If the headstock collar
was bigger I lowered the front tailstock foot.

I don't have my bench anchored to the floor, so at a certain point raising the front corner caused the
back corner to raise up a bit. I then had to shim the foot of the lathe on the tailstock end, over correcting
this time and then at that point I could just mess with the bench foot levelers until I got the 2 collars
within 0.001" of each other.

I don't want my lathe so far out of level that things roll around in the chip pan, but I don't think
it is that important. I think getting the twist out is more important and (for me at least) the
simplest way was with the test bar.

I'm really not that experienced, so please take my comments with a grain of salt. My lathe is a small
12" lathe, but when I started, I had over 0.020" difference between the 2 collars with the lathe sort-of
leveled with a carpenters level. But with the test bar I was able to get that down to 0.001". I haven't
re-checked to see how level the lathe is since then.
 
Last edited:
Uglydog said:
You paid for a good lathe bed.
You shouldn't have to wait a month to identify if there is a problem.
If you need to send it back will they pay for your re-crating/palatalizing?
How does the warranty read?

Daryl
MN
Click to expand...

I’m sure they will take it back. I was assuming they won’t send someone here to crate it…

I was trying my best to work with them…

Grizzly is the seller. My past experience with them on other machinery has been outstanding…
Versacon
 
To me, it does not surprise me that the lathe won't level on the first shot ... new or not. You have to figure it has been in a crate, bolted to a wooden base for who knows how long. I suspect the twist will work itself out given a little time to relax and attention in the right place.

Case in point, when I moved in my "new" (54 year old) 12" Logan and then went to level it 2 weeks later ... I had a heck of a time and thought after session #1 ... WTH did I just buy. I had 10-15 thou/ft difference between ends. Trying to adjust more, left an opposite leveler hanging in the air. A day or two later the lathe had relaxed and that hanging leveler was sitting on the floor. Went back at it and was able to level it in to 2 thou per foot (or less). In a week or two I will go back at it again.
 
fradish said:
When you said you shimmed the bed up 0.007, did you try any more than that?

I just setup my lathe recently and I didn't bother that much with leveling. I used a carpenters
level to get it as close as I could, made a 1" test bar with two 2" aluminum collars about 10"
apart and took a test cut. If the tailstock collar was bigger than the headstock collar I raised
the front foot of my lathe bench (on the tailstock end) and took another cut. If the headstock collar
was bigger I lowered the front tailstock foot.

I don't have my bench anchored to the floor, so at a certain point raising the front corner caused the
back corner to raise up a bit. I then had to shim the foot of the lathe on the tailstock end, over correcting
this time and then at that point I could just mess with the foot levelers until I got the 2 collars
within 0.001" of each other.

I don't want my lathe so far out of level that things roll around in the chip pan, but I don't think
it is that important. I think getting the twist out is more important and (for me at least) the
simplest way was with the test bar.

I'm really not that experienced, so please take my comments with a grain of salt. My lathe is a small
12" lathe, but when I started, I had over 0.020" difference between the 2 collars with the lathe sort-of
leveled with a carpenters level. But with the test bar I was able to get that down to 0.001". I haven't
re-checked to see how level the lathe is since then.
Click to expand...

It didn't budge after .007 shim. I really don't think it will and I don't want to break the cast iron anywhere.
I think I'm going to be patient. Ultimately, I think it will be going back to the manufacturer...
Versacon
 
Mister Ed said:
To me, it does not surprise me that the lathe won't level on the first shot ... new or not. You have to figure it has been in a crate, bolted to a wooden base for who knows how long. I suspect the twist will work itself out given a little time to relax and attention in the right place.

Case in point, when I moved in my "new" (54 year old) Logan and then went to level it 2 weeks later ... I had a heck of a time and thought after session #1 ... WTH did I just buy. I had 10-15 thou/ft difference between ends. Trying to adjust more, left an opposite leveler hanging in the air. A day or two later the lathe had relaxed and that hanging leveler was sitting on the floor. Went back at it and was able to level it in to 2 thou per foot (or less). In a week or two I will go back at it again.
Click to expand...


This is why I'm willing to wait and see. :)
Versacon
 
Some lathes are so rigid, you can set them on a river bed of rocks and you cannot twist the bed. Other lathes will follow the floor irregularities and telegraph that problem into the lathe bed. So…are you twisting the bed? Or did you get the bed already twisted?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top