Just rebuilt my little Sherlline, with a raised headstock and ER32 collet. I raised the headstock so I could run non-Sherline 3 & 4 jaw chucks, (Sherline chucks are shite, AND expensive). I also came up with a way to have my tailstock move the way yours does, so I can cut tapers without doing it the stupid Sherline way, which is to rotate the headstock. I discovered your channel because of your vid on how to use an indicator with a height gauge, and found this vid, which will help me immensely with aligning and finishing the tailstock project. (I fab'd a small dovetailed to T-slot adapter which made up the distance to the new headstock height, and allowed me to bolt the tailstock down to the carriage and cross slide I just replaced with new. One good thing about Sherline, is parts are much cheaper than a full size lathe. A great first lathe. Thanks... Looks like you have a finger a lot like my L pinkie, with the 'functional bend'! LOL I got mine from playing with a Golden Retriever, and smacking a table. Regards, GeoD
Hello, I know it’s been a few years but I am having a problem with the geometry . When you made your tool and drilled a hole to mount the indicator, does the hole need to be perfectly centered on the bar? What about the hole itself, does that need to be reamed. Sorry, I just can’t see the geometry this.
There is a problem in this method. It assumes chuck jaws are parallel with direction of rotation, which they most likely are not. This can be checked by mounting indicator on tailstock and measuring runout from the axel mounted on the chuck. If there is runout, this method is not accurate. One might try to use a tapping hammerto fix it, but it won't be easy.
That is not a problem, the indicator rotates about the spindle rotation axis regardless of the jaw alignment. It could be bolted to a bracket on a face plate for example, then there are no jaws involved.
I don't see how this tool can achieve perfect alignment? Alignment requires 4 points on the center axis, a front and rear point on both the headstock & tailstock. This tool is only measuring 2 points assuming it is centered. So once the tailstock is moved it may not be aligned.
Very true,but such errors are a fault of how well the lathe was made and there is little anyone can do about that. However, the same applies to the traditional method of machining a bar to check parallelism or using a standard checking bar. As my initial comment said "This video shows MY method for aligning a lathe tailstock. " If it is not yours then do not use it.
I left Britain 30 years ago and nobody then used to say "looks to be". What is wrong with saying seems to be or appears to be? I enjoyed the video though. It will take some time to 'digest'.
