lathe question

[smg913]

I have a delta 12" 1460 wood lathe and I bought it used but in good shape all bearings are good. when I received the lathe I had to re adjust with the two screws at the bottom of the tail stock these two screws adjust left and right play. it is the older style tail stock. today when I went over to make a couple of stems i found it to be out of alignment it wasn't much but it was out. so I tried to adjust again with the two screws. every time I thought I had it I would re chuck my stem and it was still off.

I don't know if it is just the weather or what I know we have had some cold days and today it abruptly hit 60.

I do not know what to do at this point but I do know I need my lathe up and running.

any ideas or tricks would be much appreciated.

[maddis]

How are you verifying that the tailstock is centered before you put your stem (rod?) in the chuck? And have you tried swapping out a piece of rod that you know is true (or a pin gauge if you have one), and chucking that up to see if it's off with the tailpiece. Michael

[smg913]

I have been putting my tapered drill chuck into the head stock with thick center drill countersink then I put my live center into my tailstock and line up the points.

I have tried a couple different pieces of acrylic rod 20mm.

[Red]

Maybe a dumb question...but after "pushing the tailstock over with one screw, did you then tighten the other? In other words, both screws need to be tight when you're done.

[smg913]

yes both screws are tightened.

[maddis]

I have been putting my tapered drill chuck into the head stock with thick center drill countersink then I put my live center into my tailstock and line up the points.

I have tried a couple different pieces of acrylic rod 20mm.

If things are centered this way, then either something is awry when things get moving (could your spindle have bent for some reason), or your chuck jaws may be slightly off?

May be a dumb question, but have you gone ahead and trued the rod stock in your chuck once the tailstock has been adjusted? Or are you putting stock rod in there and are surprised to see it wobbling? Pardon if these questions are obvious - but it seems rare to find a piece of stock that doesn't need to be trued.

[smg913]

yes I have been making sure there is no wobble in the rod stock. I have a taper alignment tool heading my way that I ordered last night and I hope that helps.

[LittleBill]

Most wood lathes are going to have alignment "issues" that one would not have with metal lathes. In addition to horizontal variance, there is also vertical variance. They are not built to the same tolerances metal lathes are because of the nature of the medium.

One of the best ways to see what is going on is to put two pointy centers in the head and tailstock. Bring the tail up to the head until they are just about touching, and rotate the headstock by hand. Then, remove and reinstall the centers, repeating the whole operation several times. This will give you an idea what is happening and how bad it is.

The centers might be damaged either on the point or on the taper.
The alignment of the head and tail might be off.
The tapers in the spindles might have dirt in them or be damaged preventing a good seat.

These are some of the major causes of misalignment. There are ways to work around some of them, but most wood lathes are not going to be nearly as accurate as a metal lathe. In order to get comparable accuracy between the two types of machines, it is often necessary to buy a really cheesy metal lathe. I write that as a wood lathe guy.

[smg913]

Thanks for the info I'm gonna try to fix her up again tonight

[dogcatcher]

Sometimes it is the little thing we overlook, there are things that we can't see, but the next person finds the problem without looking.

A suggestion would be to put your location in your profile, there might be someone close to you on this forum, or know someone that is a woodturner that lives close to your location.

[smg913]

my location is new jersey (the southern part, not north)