Repairing wear on lathe guides

I have an old Atlas 12" x 36" lathe.The crossfeeed and compound rest both have normal wear patterns. If I adjust the guides such that the crossfeed and/or compound rest are "tight" at one end of their travel, by the time I crank them to the other end, they won't budge. And if I adjust them correctly at the other end of travel, the slop at the original extreme of travel is unacceptable.

Is there a way to fix the lathe - given that I have a nicely outfitted shop with old tools that probably won't hold to the tolerances I suspect I will need to true up the lathe?

Gary

Reply to
grice
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There's two ways. One is scraping everything back in. Slow and tedious work. if you're interested the bible on the subject is "Machine tool Reconditioning" by Connelly.

Other route for a smaller machine like yours is to take it clear apart and send it out to a shop to have it reground.

Your choice, have you got more time or money? (I don't have either- my machines just get used as is)

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

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