Hello Bruce,
Thanks VERY much for you comments here, after a night to think on the
problem and your comments as well as some from other folks here, I have
a much better head space :-) on the problem!
--- In 7x12minilathe@..., "Bruce Leo Hartmann"
<goodsnout@...> wrote:
Vickie,
Not being very bright ot talented, I (correctly) figured I could
never get my headstock and tailstock in perfect allignment But I
figured that even though not understanding all (or any) of the various
published methods of achieving perfection in this area, I could get
close enough (via perseverance and dumb luck) to do acceptable work.
That seems to be where I am at :-).
I lucked out in the first instance by getting a really well made
old style Homier. The old style Homiers and Cummins lathes use two
rear set screws instead of the one central set screw used on the Seig
machines. This difference alone makes the allignment MUCH easier
provided that these set screws are immediately replaced with 6mm
SHCS's. On a seig machine, holes would need to be drilled and taped
for these invaluable "adjustment" screws.
Just went in there and looked at the back of the tailstock and that idea
makes so much sense as to be staggering. I have some 6-32 stainless
screws that I think will work for this and may put this idea into
practice today! Smacking the tailstock back and forth with the jewelers
hammer is an exercise in frustration and does nothing for the paint :-).
Out of PURE frustration (and sore wrists :-), I ordered the cam lock kit
last night from LMS. Cranking that bolt tight and loose is far more of
a job than I want to do constantly in this process (now or in the
future). I'd read in a great number of places that the cam lock is one
of the best mods one can make and I now understand *exactly* why that is
:-).
This mod also looks like a really wise idea for a number of reasons:
With the addition of two screws spaced out on the back and the tailstock
adjuster life should be a LOT easier.
The first step is to get the
allignment "close."
[ ... ]
Rather than commenting (cluelessly :) on the rest of this, I copied it
out and printed it for inclusion into my Shop Notebook to study while I
go through this and future reference. Utterly excellent!
I'm sure this is NOT the professional or approved method of
alligning the head and tailstocks but it has worked very well for me.
As I have heard somewhere, if it is stupid and it works, it is not
stupid :-).
The good news here, I think, is that I am getting over the aversion to
doing anything to the lathe, sorta like the new car syndrome :-).
Thanks VERY much and take care, Vikki.
