[Newbie] Cracked cross slide and micrometer carriage stop

[robsig]

Definitely scribe lines, the angle change at the ends is from the scribe hitting the compound or getting to the where the surface ended.

You do not need a level surface to calibrate a precision level. there are many YouTube vids showing how it is done.

Many thanks, flyinfool! I did watch a (few...) YouTube videos and I got my precision level squared away, so to speak. I'm now working on leveling my lathe. Seems there's quite an art to this. I enjoy challenges!

 

[RandyM]

I started out as an expert, and have been learning that I'm a dunce ever since... ;-)

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

GsT

My signature.

 

[Rex Walters]

It's much harder for me to get a perfectly flat surface than with a hard stop

Even with a hard stop, I have to set the stop (or indicator) slightly to the right of where I want to stop if I want leave a bore with a pristine bottom surface. I then move it to the final depth after all the boring/ID-turning passes are complete and do a final facing pass at the bottom of the bore to clean it up. My tool nose inevitably has at least a slight nose radius and front rake, so I end up with concentric rings at the bottom of the bore from each pass otherwise, necessitating the cleanup pass.

 

[rwdenney]

Even with a hard stop, I have to set the stop (or indicator) slightly to the right of where I want to stop if I want leave a bore with a pristine bottom surface. I then move it to the final depth after all the boring/ID-turning passes are complete and do a final facing pass at the bottom of the bore to clean it up. My tool nose inevitably has at least a slight nose radius and front rake, so I end up with concentric rings at the bottom of the bore from each pass otherwise, necessitating the cleanup pass.

We should emphasize that a hard stop is something you machine up to manually, not using power feed. Power feeding into hard stop is known as a "crash"

When boring, I usually set the DRO or the dial indicator (which I have clamped to the bed) to zero at the bottom of the bore, and then power-bore to within maybe 5-10 thou of that. Sharp eyes and a hand on the power feed clutch is a must. Then, I manually face the bottom like others have described at the zero point, machining from the center to the inside surface of the bore, locking the carriage as necessary. It's the same for me as turning to a flat shoulder on the outside of the part. On my lathe, a micrometer stop gets in the way of a dial indicator clamped to the bed, and I'd rather have that (at least until I installed the DRO; now maybe not so much).

Micrometer stops for South Bend lathes are pretty common on ebay.

Rick "missing the carriage clamp so uses the micrometer stops on the tailstock end of the carriage for facing operations" Denney