# Great Book on Lathes



## Richard King 2 (Jun 24, 2021)

I was looking for info on a question about  a Clausing Colchester headstock alignment I found this one on the non profit website  Vintagemachiery.com where they copy manuals of all brands of metal and working machinery from the 1900's and 2000's that people donate to them.   I donate money to the website to keep it available for generations.  I plan on donating my collection sooner then later.  Hopefully I'll be kicking for another few years.. lol.  Pages 17 is where it starts getting good about alignment and after that it shows great info on lubrication.  A lathe is a lathe so the brand and design might be a bit different but you can get a good idea about any lathe from following this.  It says to change  the headstock oil once a year.  I wonder who here has changed the oil???  You find the book reprints in the center of the page on the blue bar.  http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/182/6092.pdf


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## vtcnc (Jun 24, 2021)

Good find Richard. Thanks for sharing!


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## Richard King 2 (Jun 24, 2021)

Many Asian lathes also set on flat bed ways.  Most American and European lathes sit on a V and a Flat way and must be scraped to align the head.  I saw a Taiwanese Kingston lathe that didn't have a pin and you pushed /pried the head to move it.  As the manual says the bed must be level first.  I align the bed by sitting a level onto of the cross-slide and crank the carriage down the bed so the level follows the tool path would.


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## Janderso (Jun 24, 2021)

Richard King 2 said:


> I align the bed by sitting a level onto of the cross-slide and crank the carriage down the bed so the level follows the tool path would.


Richard,
You use this method instead of placing the level at the head stock end then comparing with the tail stock end?
Just want to be sure I understand.
Jeff


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## Richard King 2 (Jun 24, 2021)

Here is another manual.  It's big and they set a parallel across the wings of the saddle instead of the top of the cross-slide,  http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2104/3558.pdf  - last 3 pages -Many new lathes cross-slide top is flat, you may have to set it on shims to make it level frt to back and head to tail-stock.  I also do the tail-stock alignment differently and I believe I showed that when you took my scraping class in Vacaville.  I first have the bed aligned as talked about above.   Then I measure the tail-stock (TS) quill diameter go over  to the stock rack and pick a piece of aluminum 1/2 or bigger diameter then the quill diameter.  Make it  6" to 12" long depending on the swing and center to center.   chuck it up and turn the diameter down to the quill size.  Then move the TS up near the head and move  the TS quill out 1/2 the distance it comes out lock quill and TS to the bed.    Then put a mag base on the compound and dial indicator on the aprox center of the turned bar and zero it.  Then move the carriage  down to the extended out locked quill and see the alignment.  If it is out adjust it so both sides are zero.  You can also run the indicator down the side of the quill to see which way it is pointing.  If it is good it points toward the operator .0008" in 12", so if it is sticking out 2" it's .0002" in 3".    Then move the indicator to the top and check top dead center of the bar and move it down bed to measure the height of TS and you can also indicate the top and see how it is pointing.  It should also be pointing up .0008" in 12".


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