I thought of using that lever handle on the carriage lock but found that it fit well on the motor belt tension bracket. I’m going to be making something for the carriage lock as well. Since I had to remove the head to get the machine into my basement I ordered a headstock alignment tool and got it re-aligned to the carriage but I haven’t levelled my machine yet. I put it up on some bricks to get it to a little better working height for me but my first project will be to turn some steel risers to replace the bricks, then I’ll properly level it and check the tailstock alignment. A .001” difference over that length isn’t too bad for most projects but it’s nice to see that you got it so nearly perfect. The tailstock alignment is also encouraging, I hope my machine is of equal quality.
Checking the headstock on a lathe for cylindricity is better done with a hard ground pin which you clamp in the chuck, align it and then run it with the dial gauge. If you do this as shown, there will be an unnecessary deviation due to the cutting pressure of the lathe blade. The problem is when the headstock is not parallel to the machine bed, what do you do then? With very few lathes you can adjust this. When adjusting the tailstock, the quill should also protrude as little as possible, or you should check beforehand whether it is really parallel to the machine bed, both in height and laterally. I am also surprised why you so often see the cross slide slanted on lathes in the hobby sector. You only really do that when you want to make a cone. If it is at an angle, you only get errors in the dimensions in the Z axis.
I wish there was a good solution for access to the cross slide locking screw. It is unfortunately covered by the x axis DRO scale. I've noticed that when taking interrupted cuts the unbalanced cross slide wheel will rotate by itself and the ability to snug the cross slide would be a nice feature.
www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/erl-1340-cross-slide-lock-for-dro-equipped-lathes.78854/ Going to make one and do a video for my channel. Thanks for bringing that up. I have the same issue.
Brilliant! That looks pretty easy and I think I've only ever used my follow rest one time. Two screws and it could be back in action if I need it. Thanks for the link!
It came standard with a cheap 6" 3 jaw chuck. It has a label (AllMT). Never heard of it and it has a .005 runout. I add an 8" 4 jaw independent Chuck from Precision Mathews when I placed the order, thankfully. They have a 6" (adjustable) 3 jaw chuck that I may order in the future.
