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Worth1 · October 2, 2016

I have been racking my brain off and on trying to figure out a way to check my tail stock alignment without going the expensive test bar route.
There are several ways to do it but I don't have the stuff to even make it accurate enough of the right size.

I was just standing there thinking and it dawned on me just how much trouble these folks were going through that is something really simple.
You dont have to have one long bar or two of anything.
Here is what I did.
I took off the chuck and put in my MT 5 to MT 3 taper adapter and put in the live center that goes in the tail stock.
This thing has a nice clean machined surface on it.
Then I took the dial indicator set it up and zeroed it on the surface of the center and locked the cross slide so it wouldn't move.
I then put a mark on the top of the center.
The center was taken out and flipped over so the mark would be on the bottom.
This way I am referencing off the same side of the center.
I moved the carriage to the other end of the lathe and checked it.
There is less than 0.0005 misalignment of the tail stock you could call it dead on.
I repeated this process four times and got the same reading every time.
There is no way that I know of that this could be done anymore accurately than this.
I did check the run out of the center on the head stock and it is around 0.0005.
Which isn't bad at all considering I have seen what is supposed to be highly accurate collets that are far worse than this.

Sort of thinking outside the box but I am referencing from exactly the same point and not depending on some expensive ground rod and the accuracy of another lathe.
Here are true readings that I got several times it isn't a fake.

People dream of alignment this good.
And yes the tail stock is locked down the way I always do as if it matters.
I tested it too and no matter how tight I get it, it wont move the dial indicator.
Worth
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October 2, 2016	#137
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I have been racking my brain off and on trying to figure out a way to check my tail stock alignment without going the expensive test bar route. There are several ways to do it but I don't have the stuff to even make it accurate enough of the right size. I was just standing there thinking and it dawned on me just how much trouble these folks were going through that is something really simple. You dont have to have one long bar or two of anything. Here is what I did. I took off the chuck and put in my MT 5 to MT 3 taper adapter and put in the live center that goes in the tail stock. This thing has a nice clean machined surface on it. Then I took the dial indicator set it up and zeroed it on the surface of the center and locked the cross slide so it wouldn't move. I then put a mark on the top of the center. The center was taken out and flipped over so the mark would be on the bottom. This way I am referencing off the same side of the center. I moved the carriage to the other end of the lathe and checked it. There is less than 0.0005 misalignment of the tail stock you could call it dead on. I repeated this process four times and got the same reading every time. There is no way that I know of that this could be done anymore accurately than this. I did check the run out of the center on the head stock and it is around 0.0005. Which isn't bad at all considering I have seen what is supposed to be highly accurate collets that are far worse than this. Sort of thinking outside the box but I am referencing from exactly the same point and not depending on some expensive ground rod and the accuracy of another lathe. Here are true readings that I got several times it isn't a fake. People dream of alignment this good. And yes the tail stock is locked down the way I always do as if it matters. I tested it too and no matter how tight I get it, it wont move the dial indicator. Worth 20161002_121115.jpg 20161002_121320.jpg Last edited by Worth1; October 2, 2016 at 01:45 PM.