and in the link above, this lathe has no "feet" or "legs".
I would like to bolt the lathe on my (steel) stand with leveling mounts/jackscrew/jackmount or something similar, but I have no idea about to do that without lathe feet.
I did think to put two aluminum/steel plates, one under the headstock and and the other under the tailstock,each supported with four leveling bolts.
But leveling a lathe supported by eight bolts is not a simple thing. What if I use just two bolts for every plate? (lathe weighs 85 kg).
Or what if I drill a couple of hole in the bed and then I put four L-shaped plated just to create a sort of feet? (But drilling the bed doesn't make me happy...). Lets' say, something like in the pic visible on
It MUST have bolt pads on the base of the headstock and tailstock castings that just happen to be the same height as castings' skirts. They don't WELD it to their own stand, they either bolt it, or there's a web member across each casting that allows a hook clamp for a hold-down.
Turn it upside down. Make a paper pattern just like you'd hammer-cut a gasket.
You don't level a lathe with screw jacks. You pre-level the base as well as you can get it, then finish leveling the lathe by shimming around the mounting bolts with "U" shims or shimming under the bearing pads with rectangular shims.
Lathes work completely OK when on ships or submarines, so clearly an absolute level is not needed. The only requirement is that the saddle doesn't alter its orientation wrt the lathe feet when moved the length of its travel. The only need for levelling a lathe is if it turns taper instead of parallel because the ways are twisted. A sensitive level is merely a convenient way of checking that the ways are not twisted. In your photos the lathe is mounted on its stand, so I'd check that it actually needs levelling before starting what could be a completely unnecessary task. If it turns parallel now, then you need do nothing.
Sorry, but I want to be sure to understand the right way.
Are you saying that bolting a lathe to its stand is not necessary? (if the lathe sits on a flat/levelled surface)?
I ask that because levelling is my second problem. The first one is bolting a lathe without feet to its stand. If you say that this is not necessary, then my first problem disappears. (Every book I read until now, reccommends to use bolt for bench lathes installation .)
As stated the lathe doesn't need to be "Level", it needs to be "straight" which for your unit basicly boils down to no twist in the ways.
My Lathe is fairly similar to yours-
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Bolts to the table through two holes along the centerline.
I mounted it to a home made bench. I did put adjustible feet on the legs but that was more to take the wobble out than anything else. Using "Rollie's Dad's Levelling Method", the only link for which I have doesn't seem to be working at the moment :(, I got the twist out of the bed using a couple of shims cut out of coke cans. It may not be "level" but its straight to within .002" from one end to the other. :)
85 kg isn't much to support. I would suggest a 3-point mount, which eliminates the leveling. Note that the lathe does have to be level per se, just not twisted and level is the common way to ensure that. But 3 points define a plane which by definition is flat, i.e., not twisted.
I would put a single point at the tailstock and 2 under the headstock. They could be big ball bearing balls. If the tailstock itself needs more support than a single point, put a plate under it and support the plate on the ball. Drill dimples in both the tailstock (or plate) and the stand to retain the balls.
If you don't think that ball bearing balls would be enough restraint, the same 3 point approach could be used with bolts sticking up through the stand into blind holes in the lathe base.
I'm confused. Your photo shows the lathe mounted on the manufacturer's stand, but your post says "I would like to bolt the lathe on my (steel) stand ...". Are you saying that you don't have the maker's stand and/or the lathe is free to move on the maker's stand; that the maker hasn't fixed it so it doesn't move? Sometimes there are hidden bolts that enter from inside the cabinet: my milling machine is bolted to its stand in this way - the bolts are not visible unless you look inside the cabinet.
I've seen lathes being used while just "sitting" on a bench, but this is only when a proper stand is not available. Under those circumstances, and assuming that its turning parallel, the only need to bolt it down is to stop it moving. Under normal circumstances a lathe won't move when turning a balanced work-piece, but if its not balanced it can shake sufficiently to move alarmingly. Heavy lathes are not affected as much as light ones, and 85Kg is not heavy for a lathe. If it doesn't move, and its turning parallel, then there's no real need to bolt it down.
As I see it, you are asking two questions:
1) Should the lathe be bolted down? Only if it moves under use. It _is_ desirable, but not essential _if_ there is no tendency to move when in use.
2) Does it have to be level? No, it has to be straight, ie. not twisted. When the lathe is made, the bottom of the bed supports are machined flat and co-planar. The ways are then machined with the bed standing on a plane surface. When you commission it in your workshop you have to ensure that the bed is again placed on a plane surface. Usually the maker's stand is sufficiently sturdy to provide such a surface, and that's all that is needed. But, if the stand is placed on a floor sufficiently uneven to distort the stand then the stand's feet need to be adjusted to remove the distortion, which raises the question as to how to do it. This is where the sensitive level comes in. You place the level on the saddle, across the ways, and adjust it to centre the bubble. Carefully move the saddle from end to end of the bed and observe the bubble. If it moves, adjust the feet accordingly. The bubble will move _only_ if the bed is twisted. It is not really necessary for the lathe to be level itself; as long as the bed is not twisted the lathe will work perfectly well when leaning at an obvious angle. As mentioned in an earlier post, lathes on ships cannot be level, but they work fine because they are not twisted.
Sorry, you're absolutely right, but as you can imagine english is not my mothertongue :-) So,
1) the pics on the CERIANI site, are just sample pics of the lathe on the maker's stand.
2) i don't own maker's stand.
3) i posted pics of my lathe here:
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?.dir=f9bdre2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//it.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos As you can see there are no holes for bolts at all. I cannot imagine how this lathe can be bolted....and cast under headstock and tailstock is empty (I cannot drill it...)
This is very important. (I did never read something like this). I take it as good news :-)
Ok the level has no tendency to move, so I guess it cannot needs to be bolted.
And this is another problem, different from the "bolting" problem. (in my - wrong - opinion, "bolting" was necessary for "levelling"/"flatting".
(I would be so happy to get a co-planar steel square tubeor something similar, where putting on the lathe!. Let's say something like Cast Iron Surface Plates. At least I could be almost sure that it is _flat_ )
Well, true enough, it doesn't have any bolt holes in the casting. But it does have mounting holes in the change gear box (and the box is heavy enough to serve as the mounting support), it has a web across the headstock suitable for a "hook" bolt, and there appear to be a couple of places - reverse drafts - inside the tailstock against which you could grab with a mounting plate or hook.
It most certainly does have "feet". They happen to be the full periphery of the headstock and tailstock, but they are present.
It looks as though the first photo (labeled "arrangementandstand1") shows quite a few bolts threaded into the underside of the lathe. And there appears to be a metal plate to go under the bench at the tailstock end to spread the load from the screw heads.
I must admit that I don't see the holes for those bolts in the other photos -- unless they go up inside the headstock and tailstock casting to threaded holes much deeper in -- and the machined flats of the headstock and tailstock serve to reference it to the flat surface of the original stand.
I would have liked closer photos of the headstock and the tailstock with the bolts before shifting to the other photos without them.
How are the bolts shown under the lathe in the first photo secured to the lathe? That seems to be the solution here.
Then -- *only* if needed -- you can add shim stock to remove bed twist if it is present.
The answer is simple. The bolts are not secured at all :-)
In that pic, I was just checking the levelling of the lathe using the two plates (under headstock and tailstock)) and raising and lowering them by screwing and screwing bolts. You can see the precision level on the bed. It was just an attempt. But:
1) trying to level the lathe by screwing and unscrewing 8 bolts (four bolts under each plates) is a nightmare .
2) the lathe is NOT secured to the plates. So, it could loose its levelling (maybe).
As I said, the bolts are not secured to the lathe. Because there is no way to secure them.
But a guy here remarks that it is unnecessary to bolt the lathe to something until the lathe doesn't move when working under load.
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