# New lathe set up



## Iwire (Feb 2, 2014)

I've been searching the forum but haven't found my answer. I have never owned a lathe. I just purchased a South Bend 8K SB1001 and the South Bend bench to put it on. The lathe came with a rubber gasket to put between the lathe and the bench. I would imagine to help keep oil from running into the bench through the mounting holes. So do I level the lathe using the adjustable feet on the bench ? The bench is made with eight leveling feet. It's like two separate cabinets, one on each end with a solid one piece top connecting the two. For some reason it just doesn't seem right to me. I can see leveling the bench using the feet, just seems like the lathe itself should be fine tuned using jack studs on a metal block bolted to the bench. Am I missing something ?
   Ok, this is my first stupid question, many more will follow. The instructions with the lathe say bolt it to the bench. Another manual I have on setting up a lathe say  bolt it to metal blocks with jack studs. Is it just a personal preference thing ? It would look better just bolting it to the bench with the gasket but if plates with jack studs work better, I'd rather do that now than find out later I should have. I hope this makes sense ......


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## Hexhead (Feb 13, 2014)

I really do think it's a preference thing. If you ask 10 people how to level it you will get 10 different options and their reasons why their was is the right way. The most important thing is just get it level. Get it in the ball park in the beginning then run it awhile until it settles in, maybe a week or so then re- level. You just don't want to have the bed twisted that's more important than level from back to front. To check for twist can be done easily with just a pole and a plumb bob.


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## ScrapMetal (Feb 14, 2014)

There's leveling and then there is "leveling". :headscratch:  In this case there will be two different types of leveling to do.  The adjustable feet of the cabinet will allow you to level the surface that the lathe sits on but it won't act to "level" the lathe.  Leveling the lathe consists of making sure that the front and back ways are parallel with each other (no "twist" in the lathe itself).  This kind of leveling needs to be done with a precision level and not just a regular bubble level and done with shims or even something like the jack screws you mentioned.

Here's an old bulletin from SB that will still be relevant for what you want to do - http://www.wswells.com/data/howto/H-3.pdf

Hope that helps,

-Ron


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