Ali Faceplate And Centering On It.

[taycat]

i have a pce of 1" thick 5.25" ish rd ali, i used it to make chuck backing plate for my 4 jaw independant chuck.
did it when first got lathe and a bit to eager.
needless to say its not right .
the holes and register to fit my lathe are right but front is wrong, was wondering if i faced it off could i use it as a sacrificial faceplate?
got some holes to bore out on end of some flat strip.
to center bar on chuck can i use centre in tailstock bring it up to snug fit in hole then clamp strip up tight?

got shown how to mark out holes properly at model eng club other day using rotary table on mill.
then got me to make adaptor for something he is building and i got it right.

sorry for being long winded.

 

[Tony Wells]

Yes, you can do that, provided you can live with the accuracy level. I would trust it to about +/- 0.010, but if you need it closer you will need to rig an indicator also. The accuracy depends on how close your tailstock and center are.

 

[randyc]

Yes, you can do that, provided you can live with the accuracy level. I would trust it to about +/- 0.010, but if you need it closer you will need to rig an indicator also. The accuracy depends on how close your tailstock and center are.

Here's a nice setup for implementing Tony's suggestion, stolen from the internet

 

[Tony Wells]

Thanks Randy. I have a long slender rod about 3/8" diameter. I usually just chuck it in the tailstock, and leave it unlocked. That way as the center punch is dialed in, the rod pushes back the tailstock. It gets "longer" the closer to true it runs.

 

[randyc]

Thanks Randy. I have a long slender rod about 3/8" diameter. I usually just chuck it in the tailstock, and leave it unlocked. That way as the center punch is dialed in, the rod pushes back the tailstock. It gets "longer" the closer to true it runs.

That is a danged clever idea, never heard of it before !