Measuring Lathe Misalignment

I noticed while turning this holiday that my tail and headstock were out of alignment. I noticed it while drilling a piece with a Jacobs Chuck in the tail stock. The bit seemed to struggle finding the center and that caused me to investigate.

I don’t know what the formal technique for measuring this misalignment is but here is what I came up with. It uses standard shop tools and materials. Nothing fancy!

Donnie


The Inglorious Bastards movies

This is a picture of the misalignment.The vertical is out of alignment and the horizontal is nearly perfect. Allignment #1Allignment #2
Cut a 2×3 inch piece of Plexiglas with square sides (the slide) and hold it between the tail and headstock centers . We will mark each side of the glass and use its transparency to measure the error. I hold the slide by hand lock the tail stock down and then using the quill drive the centers into the plastic making a mark on both sides. Allignment slide
Mark the holes made by the centers with a Sharpie by scribbling over it and then wiping it off, leaving the indent highlighted. Hold the slide up to the light and with a knife and small square scribe a line (on one side) through the center of each mark. Mark slide #1Mark slide #2
Now using a caliper measure the distance between the two lines. Allignment measure

The Faculty movie download

1 thought on “Measuring Lathe Misalignment”

  1. At this point if you rotate the spindle does the point bob up and done a little bit? (checked with dial indicator0

    The one in the tail stock looks like it is a live center. These have some play in the bearings with out load on them.

    I will take and send a pick of my set up.

    Walter.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.