tailstock alignment

[Matt Reagan]

How close does the tailstock need to align with the head? Just got a new Jet and it's slightly off, maybe 1/16 or 1/32. Thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[Dale Miner]

Congrats on the new 1642.

On virtually every wood lathe, there is a slight bit of clearance between the alignment tongue on the headstock and tailstock and the ways. The offset you are noticing might be a result of the clearance on the headstock moved in one direction, and the clearance on the tailstock moved the opposite direction. Try loosening both headstock and tailstock and see if it is possible to align the center points while loose. The lathe has to be level and not in a twist of course.

 

[Matthew Clarke]

How close does the tailstock need to align with the head? Just got a new Jet and it's slightly off, maybe 1/16 or 1/32. Thanks in advance.

Matt

Hi Matt, in my experience, the alignment needs to be dead-on. I have a swivel head lathe, so being able to get a perfect alignment of the headstock and tailstock is really important. What I would suggest is the purchase of a double ended morse taper alignment tool. Packard Woodworks offers the one that I use and recommend. You can see it at: http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Mer...Code=packard&Category_Code=lathes-acc-mrstool

Matt

 

[Dave W]

Matt,

My Jet 16 arrived in with the same issue as yours. First thing I need to ask, have you taken a level to it? I have found over the years that Jet's ways can move/twist with somewhat ease, which will throw the alignment out. Being my floor is set up with compound drainage, if I move my lathe more than a couple inches it throws everything out. Take a level lengthwise, front to back, and diagonal on the ways. Check front to back on both ends. Make sure you get it as close to level as possible. Also make sure you have no rocking of the lathe when you push/pull on the head stock at both ends of the lathe(slide it from on end to the other to check). If you see or feel it move at all, one or two of your feet are not truly set all the way down.


After doing all that mine still wouldn't come close enough. My headstock point was to the back side. Being there was no room to shim, I ended up taking a file to the block sides that run between the ways on the headstock. I filed a bit off the back of the hand wheel block and a bit off the front block on the spindle end block. That would be if you are looking at the lcd side of the headstock. Now I just give the motor a light push back (and hold it there) while I line up centers in the head and tail before locking the head stock down. I don't slide the headstock that much, so it works for me for now.

PS: Make sure your centers are snug in the spindle and quill as well.

 

[Ian Thorn]

I fixed my lathe by glueing a thin strip of baked bean can under the tailstock may not be the best way but it works for me

 

[Mark Levitski]

Congrats on the new lathe, Matt.

Don't be too worried about your alignment. Every lathe has enough play between the ways and the clamp blocks of both the tailstock and the headstock to make alignment change a bit when you move either, though most people move the tailstock around a lot more than the headstock.

If you line them up once, when you reposition the headstock, then be done with it and go about your turning. The wood will move as you turn much more than any slight alignment issues. You can just insert a pointed center on each piece and bring those touching tip to tip.

If it's way out, it will show up, especially on very long pieces or when you are trying to drill a small hole that connects from each end such as a lamp base. Dale had a good tip to fix that. And the swivel head adds another way for error to enter. My first lathe, a Grizzly 16 X 42, had a swivel and needed some realignment attention form time to time. I never felt the need for a morse taper alignment tool though.

One learns when the alignment is more critical as experience grows.

 

[hockenbery]

How close does the tailstock need to align with the head? Just got a new Jet and it's slightly off, maybe 1/16 or 1/32. Thanks in advance.

Matt

Matt,
You did not specify the distance. If you are off a 1/32 at 10 inch distance between centers you should be fine.
It think you could turn a thin stem goblet with this small error.

However if you are off a 1/16 with a center kiss then you could be off a 1/4 at 10 inches and nit be able to turn a thin stem goblet.
If the head stock is out of alignment the errors get bigger the further apart the centers are.



Have fun
Al

 

[john lucas]

I agree, I've seldom had a problem with any project using lathe that don't align properly. I demonstrate on a lot of lathes and rarely do they all line up. I've never had a problem.
I don't care if they are dead on when you drill a lamp the bit will wander and they holes won't line up. You need a special bit and even then they can be off a little.
The worst that happens most of the time is a drill might make a slightly larger hole that is listed on the drill due to the tip of the bit being off center.
lathes can also be off at an angle and the points still line up when pushed together. To visualize this lets say you put a 3 foot rod in the headstock. It might miss the tailstock point by an inch because the spindle is missaligned. That's a gross problem for example purposes but they can be off as well as the tailstock being off in one of these planes as well. These aren't metal lathes and even though the manufacturers do a good job the precision just isn't the same.
Level the lathe front to rear and side to side. Then check the alignment. If it's off, clean the morse tapers and try again. Also try different centers. Sometimes it's the center that's off and not the lathe. If things are still off you can file things to fit or add shims. I would do this as a last resort. Metal scraping is a way to really fine tune a lathe bed but it takes special tools and some skill to do this accurately. There has been a 3 or 4 issue article on metal scraping in one of my hobby metal working magazines. It's not for the impatient.

 

[odie]

I fixed my lathe by glueing a thin strip of baked bean can under the tailstock may not be the best way but it works for me

If it works, it works......that's all you need to know!

If you line them up once, when you reposition the headstock, then be done with it and go about your turning. The wood will move as you turn much more than any slight alignment issues. You can just insert a pointed center on each piece and bring those touching tip to tip.

This is the method I used to check the alignment on my Woodfast lathe. From the factory, my lathe was very close......something like 1/64" out. Even though this small amount of misalignment is no problem, I've learned that if I twist my tailstock clockwise against the bedways just prior to locking it in place, the alignment is even better.

ooc

 

[Matt Reagan]

thanks

Thanks everybody. I measured the other night and it's 1/64, and closer if i push the headstock and tailstock together as i lock each down. I think if I level the ways maybe I'll be dead on. Thanks again for the responses.

Now if i could only figure out how to eliminate tearout in the interior of my cherry bowls...

cheers,

matt

 

[MichaelMouse]

Now if i could only figure out how to eliminate tearout in the interior of my cherry bowls...

Don't cut up hill/grain. Gives the wood the least chance to try and lean out of the way, and therefore tear out. Cut across.

 

[Bill Boehme]

How close does the tailstock need to align with the head? Just got a new Jet and it's slightly off, maybe 1/16 or 1/32. Thanks in advance.

Matt

For spindle turning between centers , it is not the least bit important if you are using a drive center that is not rigidly holding the wood, for instance a spur drive, steb center and other such types of drives.

For other things, it depends. The most notable example of needing good alignment would probably be for pen turning.

There are actually two different types of alignment to think about.

• The first is what most woodturners mean when they talk about alignment: the tip of the live center aligns with the center of rotation of whatever it is contacting -- whether wood or mandrel. Generally, there is sufficient play in the tailstock that you can make this happen by wiggling the tailstock position slightly if the misalignment is horizontal. If it is all vertical then you can decide to either live with it or do some shimming on one end or the other.
• The second type of alignment is generally not as important which is a good thing because it is not very likely to exist on any woodturning lathe although some are quite close -- and, that is when the centerline of both the spindle and the tailstock coincide perfectly. In other words, there is neither radial nor angular misalignment. Even if such an idealistic condition existed, it would not be the case under all conditions of tailstock loading since the lathe bed, tailstock, and headstock flex under load -- a lot on some lathes and a tiny amount on others. The clamping mechanisms for the tailstock and headstock are probably the biggest part of this flexing, although the tailstock quill contributes its share to the flex.

The moral of the story is twofold: (1) it will never be perfect and (2) in most situations, there is enough "wiggle room" in the tailstock (or sometimes working on both ends) to make things meet at the point of the tailstock. The most difficult situations are when something long like a peppermill is clamped in a chuck because the length of the peppermill multiplies the misalignment. Another situation where a problem is likely to be encountered is when drilling from the tailstock end because binding is very likely. Drilling from the headstock usually reduces the binding, but the downside is that the hole won't be perfectly centered in the turning (it actually won't be absolutely "perfect" in either case). The project that you are making determines whether the slight misalignment is important.

Just my opinion, but 1/16 is bordering on not being acceptable if it can't be zeroed out by shifting the tailstock. I say this because some things like pen mandrels are more difficult to get into alignment and the end results depend on good alignment. I think that you could work with 1/32" misalignment. I am fortunate that the alignment on my Jet mini is very good and requires very little "twiddling".