Lathe cross slide

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jeddah02

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Hi,
being a newbie to the lathe, I have been trying various basic procedures to get to know how things work. I moved the top slide from the position it was in when I first got the lathe but now I need to reset it to make parallel cuts. As there are no angle marking on the top slide, setting it to cut exactly parallel seems to be a real pain. If i am only out by a very small amount the cut is either wide or narrow at the chuck end over a 4 inch test piece. Can anyone explain a quick and simple way to set the top slide to cut parallel without resorting to making a test cut every time the top slide is moved. The lathe has no manufacturers name on it but it looks like a 4.1/2" Warwick made around 1950.

Any help would be appreciated.:anyone:

Warren
 
What kind of top slide is it, i.e. does it have a squared off side to it?

I often use the chuck face as a square refference for things.

picture of topslide and tool holder may help to give ideas.

Stuart
 
I just checked the frount of my older top slide, it is't very square, if i align it via that i'm about 1 degree off , so i slid it off and squared from the dovetail on the top slide base. (Dont drop your gib strip if you do that, doh)

image.jpg

Stuart

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Hi Stuart,
I attached a photo of the complete lathe, the top slide is fairly clear. i don't know what kind it is but looks pretty basic. I tried squaring off to the chick face but it seeming like a hit and miss method.

WarrenView attachment 50879
 
Being your saying top slide, its hard to say what one your talking about. Usually referred to as cross slide , and compound. If it is the compound your speaking of, just get your indicator out and run the compound back and forth with the indicator reading the edge of the side. Some lathes this does not work . In that case, indicate off the side of the tool cutter body.. You should get the compound aligned from using the indicator off the side though. You can get it roughly square buy running the carriage up to the face of the chuck, and using a 123 block between the two. Just leave the compound slightly loose ,so you can bump it into position. That should get you real close, but the indicator would fine tune it if need be. If buy chance your talking about the crosslide, then your best to make certain the gib adjustment isn't too loose. I think you must be talking about the compound though.
 
Hello ,

i think in the uk it gets calls a top slide a lot, it's on top of the cross slide.

sorry i cant se the picture you posted,

i'm posting a pic of mine with the top slide back on as you may be able to see none of the sides are parallel

ow ok well handily i've found that one side is(fairly) square.

the 123 block is on the side that seems to be square and bumped up to the chuck, their was a touch of inperfection.

the other shows a square squaring off the square side and front of the slide, as you can see it's far from square.

The dial indicator method is good and very accurate so long as you have a long flat side so try that too.

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Stuart

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Hope im not double posting i think i clicked cancel, opps

http://www.lathes.co.uk/warwick/

the top(compound) slide shown is nice and square looking.

although theirs a picture of my grayson lathe with the same type of slide and as you can see mine isn't like that.

Stuart
 
Well, I'm obviously missing something here. Why are you wanting the top slide / compound parallel with the ways? Whatever angle it is set to, it will MOVE parallel to the ways when you move the carriage.

Steve
 
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for the info, looks like that will work fine, I shall set it up tomorrow. I was trying to do it directly from the front face of the chuck using the straight edges of a steel ruler. My lathe is very similar to the Greyson but the motor and countershaft is mounted on a bracket arrangemet on the back of the lathe, not bench mounted. Reading stevecmo I thought also that no matter what angle it was set to it should cut parallel. but this is not the case. I have not worked out why yet, but without it a tapered cut would not be possible. I need to do a bit more research on this. My learning curve is getting steeper...


Warren
 
In reply to steve,

Thats true, i just re read it and saw op said over 4 inch cut, i had presumed the compound was being used to feed for some reason.

as op said his compound (top slide) dosn't have an angle scale marked.

stuart

- - - Updated - - -

With regard to being parallel, whats the diameter of the work piece? I find on small parts the work piece can bend quite easily under cutter presure.

If you have a known straight rod you could chuck/collet that up and mount a dial indicator on the cross slide(magnetic base) and see if the sadle is moveing relative to the center line.

Do you have any chips/burrs on the bed of the lathe? (Only ask as its an older lathe).

Also as another thought you may be able to distort the lathe bed when tightening it to the work bench, might be worth checking.

hope some of this is helpfull :-)

Stuart
 
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