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Loose or bad headstock bearings.

For me worn ways were significant when I was cutting a custom ACME 10TPI lead screw for my Gingery lathe. I found I had to 'tweak' the cross slide in and out as the carriage traversed over the worn area.

In the 3D printing world bed leveling probes and software adjusts for a not completely flat print bed. Ideally for a lathe you'd have some sort of adjustable vertical adjustment referenced to the 'home' position. Then as the carriage moved the up/down movement would adjust the tool height. If the wear also caused motion in the X direction you could also adjust the X axis.

Or buy a new lathe...
 
jcdammeyer said:
For me worn ways were significant when I was cutting a custom ACME 10TPI lead screw for my Gingery lathe. I found I had to 'tweak' the cross slide in and out as the carriage traversed over the worn area.

In the 3D printing world bed leveling probes and software adjusts for a not completely flat print bed. Ideally for a lathe you'd have some sort of adjustable vertical adjustment referenced to the 'home' position. Then as the carriage moved the up/down movement would adjust the tool height. If the wear also caused motion in the X direction you could also adjust the X axis.

Or buy a new lathe...
Click to expand...
My usual first step, when someone starts worrying too much about perfection, or the lack thereof, is to send them off in the general direction of the Archived Meridian Machine website, to have a good read of an article the machine tool dealer wrote many years back, called "In (Modest) Praise of Clunkers!", with the suggestion that they also read the page of tips on how to inspect a used Lathe.
Back in what was 'My' early days of being online, the Author was a reasonably frequent participant in the rec.crafts.metalworking Newsgroup.

Honestly, he does pretty well at telling why the search for perfection, is not a great way to learn anything about machine tools, where learning what the strong and weak points of your own gear is, and learning to work with those or through them, or around them, and still making a good part!
 
Susquatch said:
One potential difference prolly inherited from my own mother is my curiosity. To be truthful, I think Dabbler shares that trait. @trevj maybe, maybe not
Click to expand...

I've known Trevor for a few years now...... He too has chased a rabbit or two, once or twice, down two, maybe three holes. :p
........Now my approach to things is more akin to riding the tilt-a-whirl with a stotgun at the firing range.
 
trevj said:
Honestly, he does pretty well at telling why the search for perfection, is not a great way to learn anything about machine tools, where learning what the strong and weak points of your own gear is, and learning to work with those or through them, or around them, and still making a good part!
Click to expand...


My first lathe was made in the mid 1880s. It's an old FE Reed I was gifted by an already old man when I was 30 or so. I still have it. That old girl was like the older woman teaching a young man skills he never knew he had. I was an eager student and did wondrous things with it that most would say were impossible on such an old machine. I had no choice but to learn how to work around its limits and take them into consideration to do more with less.

I've had my gear head lathe for about 10 years now. It's a much younger model with precision Ievels I only dreamed of before. Pursuing its abilities is a joy all of its own.

I think hobby machinists come in many flavours just like our machines. There is lots of room for the professionals, the artists, the modelers, the tinkerers, the precisionists, the researchers, the practical, the experienced, the newbies, and every other sort too. Hobbies are things we do that make us happy. We don't all have to be the same to do that.

I do not agree with the idea that it's wrong to pursue precision or that its a poor way to learn. It is just a different way to enjoy a very wide hobby. I'd like to think we can all appreciate our differences and still enjoy our own interests too.
 
Downwindtracker2 said:
Trevj, I was thinking about just that article. I'm glad you mentioned it.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Was at top of my mind, as there was some discussions on another website forum, about picking a used lathe, and some of the accompanying 'what-if's' at the risks of buying used vs. new in hopes of a warranty....

To my mind, I have a decent enough tolerance for the risks involved, as well as a really solid idea of what a 'worn' lathe that was built to a Standard, is liable to perform like, as compared to a 'new' lathe, that was built down to a price, and may be pretty much already mostly wore out from new.
 
Susquatch said:
My first lathe was made in the mid 1880s. It's an old FE Reed I was gifted by an already old man when I was 30 or so. I still have it. That old girl was like the older woman teaching a young man skills he never knew he had. I was an eager student and did wondrous things with it that most would say were impossible on such an old machine. I had no choice but to learn how to work around its limits and take them into consideration to do more with less.

I've had my gear head lathe for about 10 years now. It's a much younger model with precision Ievels I only dreamed of before. Pursuing its abilities is a joy all of its own.

I think hobby machinists come in many flavours just like our machines. There is lots of room for the professionals, the artists, the modelers, the tinkerers, the precisionists, the researchers, the practical, the experienced, the newbies, and every other sort too. Hobbies are things we do that make us happy. We don't all have to be the same to do that.

I do not agree with the idea that it's wrong to pursue precision or that its a poor way to learn. It is just a different way to enjoy a very wide hobby. I'd like to think we can all appreciate our differences and still enjoy our own interests too.
Click to expand...
You may have misunderstood. There is no problem with pursuing Precision. One needs to understand at least reasonably well, WHAT the level of precision that is required for the purposes intended is! I saw that someone had posted one of Dan Gelbart's videos here on the site. As much as I would LOVE to have his granite bed lathe, and the decimal places that it laughs at, I know I do not NEED that, to do the things I want to do.

If you pee away your whole life, waiting for that one perfect machine to show up, rather than muckling on to a machine and starting to learn how to make the best of it, you likely will never get started, let alone enjoy what you were trying to do in the first place, whatever that may be. There IS the odd guy that decides that he needs and can afford a new Wieler, or a rebuilt Schaublin 150, as his starter machine, and while I can appreciate the lust that one of those might stir, I also have a solid idea of my needs, as well as what capabilities I can get within my budget!

As an interesting side, I had been pretty hard at the whole machine tools thing for maybe 15-20 years as a hobby guy, before I switched trades in the CF and did it for a living. It was really interesting, and sometimes quite frustrating, to deal with 'what is known', which was provably wrong. I also found that it is a lot better to learn on light equipment, and learn to use it, use sharp tools, and so on, then go over to larger gear, than it is to learn on a large and powerful lathe, say, and then hit a brick wall, when you do not have the base skills to allow you to do other than use horsepower to ram the tool through.
 
At one time, Google was good search engine, I find it's almost all ads now. On price point lathes. My son and I went together and bought a KMS Tools clearance lathe, a 250x550 (10x22) . After buying, backwards of course, I researched it. It turned out there were two compainies in China making them, XIMA and SEIG . The SEIG lathes were only assembled where as XIMA lathes were hand fitted as lathes are supposed to be. We had bought a very stripped XIMA. When he moved out he took the lathe . Hey, what are dads for. I ended up with a used BusyBee DF1224g .

Being honest, while I have 1/10 mics and know how to use them, a lot of my work is +/- .010 .
 
Used to annoy the old farts that constantly spouted things like "Good Enough, isn't!" Because good enough, IS!

It's a simple binary choice. Is the part good enough (ie: meets the specified tolerance, if provided, or serves the intended purpose), or is it not...
 
The better quality the lathe and the better the condition its in will make for more enjoyable and efficient shop time is....however I 100% agree that you are far better off with a beater today than letting 10 years slip by before you find or afford the perfect lathe.

Most work is of short length, supporting the notion that bed wear is not the barrier to good work some might assume it is. The other one that receives far to much attention is feedscrew backlash. While it is a very useful indicator of overall wear/age, of itself it makes little difference to doing good work. Its where a screw transitions from worn to unworn that could be a problem, however if we measure then take the last 10 thou off the work, that error over than the fraction of a turn becomes sub tenths for even the most worn of screws.

Factors like these have always lead me to lathes that were extremely well made in first place despite have some wear or issues, vs so-so new stuff. Most wear can be worked around until you work up the courage to recondition it....then you've really got something!

I've been fortunate to acquire, and also build up through sweat equity (reconditioning), a nice stable of excellent machines in various sizes. But when I started, with a horribly worn SM (photo of feedscrew below), it was still good enough to have lots of fun and make model engines and various projects that turned out well enough.

Like the old saying goes, "a good carpenter doesn't blame his tools"

DSCN0053-1500x1125.jpg


For me worn ways were significant when I was cutting a custom ACME 10TPI lead screw for my Gingery lathe. I found I had to 'tweak' the cross slide in and out as the carriage traversed over the worn area.
Click to expand...

No travelling steady? That is usually a necessity for feedscrews and leadscrews and it should take care of keeping long diameters and threads consistent.
 
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Like the old saying goes, "a good carpenter doesn't blame his tools" Ever time I hear that one I'm willing to start an argument . Try working with a cheap dull chisel , then a properly sharpened one.
 
Mcgyver said:
No travelling steady? That is usually a necessity for feedscrews and leadscrews and it should take care of keeping long diameters and threads consistent.
Click to expand...
Actually yes. Travelling steady. Between centers and a drive dog and plate. But the wear is enough that the tool drops below the center line and the thread there isn't as deep. So I compensated. Worked fine. Lead screw is still fine.
 
Downwindtracker2 said:
Like the old saying goes, "a good carpenter doesn't blame his tools" Ever time I hear that one I'm willing to start an argument . Try working with a cheap dull chisel , then a properly sharpened one.
Click to expand...
A Good Carpenter, was a brand new, wet behind the ears kid once, and did not understand the value in a used, quality tool, that still has a lot of use left.

Some listened to the offered advice of others. Lots didn't, and learned hard! It's a long road, to being a Good Carpenter! :)
 
Mcgyver said:
The better quality the lathe and the better the condition its in will make for more enjoyable and efficient shop time is....however I 100% agree that you are far better off with a beater today than letting 10 years slip by before you find or afford the perfect lathe.

Most work is of short length, supporting the notion that bed wear is not the barrier to good work some might assume it is. The other one that receives far to much attention is feedscrew backlash. While it is a very useful indicator of overall wear/age, of itself it makes little difference to doing good work. Its where a screw transitions from worn to unworn that could be a problem, however if we measure then take the last 10 thou off the work, that error over than the fraction of a turn becomes sub tenths for even the most worn of screws.

Factors like these have always lead me to lathes that were extremely well made in first place despite have some wear or issues, vs so-so new stuff. Most wear can be worked around until you work up the courage to recondition it....then you've really got something!

I've been fortunate to acquire, and also build up through sweat equity (reconditioning), a nice stable of excellent machines in various sizes. But when I started, with a horribly worn SM (photo of feedscrew below), it was still good enough to have lots of fun and make model engines and various projects that turned out well enough.

Like the old saying goes, "a good carpenter doesn't blame his tools"

View attachment 30357



No travelling steady? That is usually a necessity for feedscrews and leadscrews and it should take care of keeping long diameters and threads consistent.
Click to expand...
What part of that 10V steam engine uses acme / standard 60 degree threads in 1?
:)
:D
 
So I've decided that my lathe spindle bearings are faulty damaged.

I've yet to get them out as I'm proceeding cautiously but I can now see the make and bearing number on the rear bearing (both front and rear are the same).

I purchased new tapered bearings before beginning the project and inquired about "high precision" bearings through Motion Canada. After they apparently inquired with the manufacturers of #32007 bearings they said that a P4, P5, P6, etc bearing was not avaible but they "could be made". ??? So they just ordered me Timkens 32007x made in France bearings that they felt were of "top quality".

Now that the old lathe bearings on my machine are visible to me I see they are a chinese 32007 with a P6 label.

What are your opinions on using the new Timkens with no P6 rating?
I've read somewhere that the "P" label on Chinese bearings sometimes means nothing.

Any other advice regarding replacement procedures is appreciated.
 
On another forum a fellow who worked at Tinken said the only difference was that the better numbered ones were pulled and tested . A 320xx is a tapered roller bearing, I had to look it up, I'm getting old. You can adjust the clearance pretty easily, just like a wheel bearing, but instead of "feel" use a 1/10th dial indicator.
 
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