Oh boy, you guys are gonna hate me.

I would say go ahead and experiment- 5mm is nearly a quarter inch so any port in a storm as they say
Now you know what a worn machine looks like you should have better luck on your next one
-Mark
 
markba633csi said:
I would say go ahead and experiment- 5mm is nearly a quarter inch so any port in a storm as they say
Now you know what a worn machine looks like you should have better luck on your next one
-Mark
Click to expand...
Thanks Mark that's the kind encouragement I need :D for what the machine cost, I'm not really worried about ruining it, it's worth it's weight in scrap...
 
If I understand you correctly, the ways of the cross slide are not parallel with the bed ways, as determined by theflat portion of the bed ways. It isn't necessary that they be parallel for good lathe operation. In use, you advance the cross slide toward the centerline of the spindle. You could be advancing along vertical path with the same results. It is possible that the lathe never was parallel to start.

The amount of material removal to make it parallel is excessive and could create more problems than it cures. To start, I would blue the way prism to se where the contact points are. If you are achieving contact over the entire prism, chances are good that you don't have the wear that you believe you have.
 
RJSakowski said:
If I understand you correctly, the ways of the cross slide are not parallel with the bed ways, as determined by theflat portion of the bed ways. It isn't necessary that they be parallel for good lathe operation. In use, you advance the cross slide toward the centerline of the spindle. You could be advancing along vertical path with the same results. It is possible that the lathe never was parallel to start.

The amount of material removal to make it parallel is excessive and could create more problems than it cures. To start, I would blue the way prism to se where the contact points are. If you are achieving contact over the entire prism, chances are good that you don't have the wear that you believe you have.
Click to expand...
I think thats impossible because if the crosslide is advancing towards the centerline at an angle, it means that, the bigger the diameter of the workpiece the lower the tool will be from the centerline, and it won't cut correctly, also the chatter I get is most likely from the carriage gear not meshing correctly with the rack because of its lower position, due to the worn out saddle ways... Also you can see In the pictures that the inside of the prism barely has any oil paths left, as they eroded away, and In fact in the center the worn out prism has actually broken through to the other side... But I agree with you that I should blue everything and see the contact points, and go from there
 
If there is really that much wear on the saddle, then there must also be a lot of wear on the bed. Even if you get the saddle all square and straight, the bed might still be like a roller coaster ride. Use a precision straight edge to check to see if the bed also has comparable wear.
 
Flyinfool said:
If there is really that much wear on the saddle, then there must also be a lot of wear on the bed. Even if you get the saddle all square and straight, the bed might still be like a roller coaster ride. Use a precision straight edge to check to see if the bed also has comparable wear.
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I checked it and it's not nearly as much as the saddle, not by a Longshot, I can live with it, but I can't live with the saddle wear :(
 
As long as you advance toward the spindle centerline along a straight path, it doesn't matter. The tool path is determined by the cross slide ways path not the bed nor whether or not the lathe is level.

However, I see the wear on the prism surface. It looks like the cross slide would be tilted toward the headstock as well. If I was going to rework the cross slide saddle, I would do a total resurfacing of the prism as well. But as flyinfool suggested, you need to check the bed prism for wear as well. More than likely, you will find excessive wear there which is of more concern,
 
5mm. Maybe something else going on. Are you 100% sure of your observation and conclusion? Sometime, given an observation, different conclusions can be made
 
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