I never leveled my Craftsman. I build a new workbench, used 3/4" MDF and then covered that with laminate flooring. I set the lathe where I wanted it and went around and checked every pad with a .001 feeler gage. It sat flat all the way around it, so I drilled the holes and bolted it on point at a time. When I got one pad bolted down I checked the remaining three to see if they changed. They didn't so I bolted the pad directly behind the first one then checked the two on the opposite end. I then bolted the one pad on the opposite end, check the remaining pad, then bolted it. I didn't have any problem with a taper in a piece. I knew how much I had in the lathe tooling and table, I sure wasn't going to shell out a few hundred for a precision level for a lathe like that. Where I work, they don't level anything anymore. They used to years ago when they bolted things down, now they just set the mill or lathe on isolation pads to prevent vibration. If the machine had noticeable rock in it, then they might shim one corner. Other than that, set it and go.
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Heres my new lathe
- Thread starter Vince_O
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 10,552
Well, you were lucky. I'm afraid that I would have to classify your company's attitude as one of the many reasons so much work has gone offshore. Makers who don't care what quality work they do don't tend to stay in business. Or, like Sears, get sued for injuring or killing someone when something they built poorly failed.
Robert D.
Robert D.