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Lathe Alignment Question

Gordon Seto said:
Frank,

May be I should re-phrase as popular spindle sizes.

For me I won't be interested in any spindle other than 1¼" X 8, 1" X 8, MT#2; ( or M33 X 3.5 Morse Taper #3 for huge lathe). I think if you look up in any US woodturning catalog, a lot of accessories only made in these sizes.
3/4" X 16, MT-1 was popular among mini lathes, but I would prefer the larger spindle size.

If you look at the lathe specification chart below, you will find the majority of lathes are 1" X 8 and 1¼" X 8.
http://www.woodturner.org/resources/LatheSpecs.pdf
This is by no means a complete list. You will also see some lathes allow the buyer to have a choice on spindle size.
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Interesting. The chart is not fully up to date. My current Grizzly G0632 is 1 1/4"X8 tpi. My former Grizzly G1067Z was 1"X12tpi which I considered non-standard but which, I have been told, is popular in Europe and elsewhere.
 
US is the last big country still holds out on the imperial measurement.
Europe has gone to metric at least two decades ago. Even Canada, our Northern neighbor in the same continent has abandoned the imperial system. If it is not for the large economy of US, we would have changed as well. I don't know it is a good or a bad thing. With all the imports, a lot of the internal parts are metric, so we have to have tools of both systems in order to do some repairs.

A good manufacturer should adapt to the local market. Vicmarc, Stubby and Nova have different spindle size for different region. I was in Hong Kong and China several months ago. McDonald there have different menu than over here; hamburgers are just a small portion. I will bet Grizzly has lost some potential sales due to its odd size spindle thread.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses. The problem was the headstock. And I feel really foolish. I didn't even consider the headstock!! :doh: :eek: It still doesn't line up but I guess that being off a couple thousand is okay. I did check level and it is side to side. Front to back it is off but it's off the same the length of the lathe bed. I’ll fix that by putting some adjusters on the legs to make it completely level. After shifting the headstock slightly I brought the points close together and turned on the lathe. The point on the drive spur didn't move off centre that I could see and turning the live centre by hand it looked fine too so they’re okay. The Morse taper alignment tool sounds like a good idea except there is so much slop in the tailstock (I can twist it from 1/4 – 3/8”) that once I got beyond the length of the tool it wouldn’t be of much use. From the sounds of several responses, it doesn’t matter anyway. One of those laser alignment gizmos sounds like it would do the trick but I doubt I could afford it. I’m probably being too much of a perfectionist anyway. (One of my personal curses!) After looking at the work that Chas. turned out on his similar lathe and on his current double tube lathe, I’m not going to worry about this anymore. And like Bill said, I didn’t spend big money on it ($398.00 to be exact) so I can’t expect it to be as perfect as a lathe costing thousands. So once again, I thank you all for your responses. I’ll likely be back with more questions once I start doing bowls and other turnings. For now I have two contracts to turn out some pens (40 for now) that I am going to get started on.

I’ve already looked into the local turning guild and will be taking out a membership
 
Hi Barry

The Morse taper alignment tool is more to line up the head stock than anything, I have a Nova DVR 3000, with a swiveling headstock, and I do the alignment thing with the drive center and the live center as well, but the alignment tool would be nice to have.

The tailstock, when tightened down has no play, right, just when loose and sliding on the ways, right? but it does, hopefully tighten down to the same spot each time?

I do agree, don't worry about it, just get turning! :wave:
 
Barry Temple said:
Thanks everyone for your responses. The problem was the headstock. And I feel really foolish. I didn't even consider the headstock!! :doh: :eek: It still doesn't line up but I guess that being off a couple thousand is okay. I did check level and it is side to side. Front to back it is off but it's off the same the length of the lathe bed. I’ll fix that by putting some adjusters on the legs to make it completely level. After shifting the headstock slightly I brought the points close together and turned on the lathe. The point on the drive spur didn't move off centre that I could see and turning the live centre by hand it looked fine too so they’re okay. The Morse taper alignment tool sounds like a good idea except there is so much slop in the tailstock (I can twist it from 1/4 – 3/8”) that once I got beyond the length of the tool it wouldn’t be of much use. From the sounds of several responses, it doesn’t matter anyway. One of those laser alignment gizmos sounds like it would do the trick but I doubt I could afford it. I’m probably being too much of a perfectionist anyway. (One of my personal curses!) After looking at the work that Chas. turned out on his similar lathe and on his current double tube lathe, I’m not going to worry about this anymore. And like Bill said, I didn’t spend big money on it ($398.00 to be exact) so I can’t expect it to be as perfect as a lathe costing thousands. So once again, I thank you all for your responses. I’ll likely be back with more questions once I start doing bowls and other turnings. For now I have two contracts to turn out some pens (40 for now) that I am going to get started on.

I’ve already looked into the local turning guild and will be taking out a membership
Click to expand...



Don't get discouraged. My first lathe, a $325.00 Grizzly, lined up perfectly out of the box and stayed that way through more than six years of daily use.
 
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