Originally Posted by ZipSnipe  Anyone have some pics of how they aligned their lathe headstock? |
I haven't any pictures but here is how I did mine.
Using Rollie's Dad's Method of testing alignment before I started, I found that, 400mm from the HS, the alignment was out by 0.13mm on the vertical and 0.11mm on the horizontal. Way too much for my liking.
Before I began, I checked the preload on the spindle bearings and found that the preload was insufficient and so I adjusted it, following the intructions in the REBUILDING THE ASIAN 9X20 LATHE manual.
As per the instructions in the REBUILDING THE ASIAN 9X20 LATHE manual, I removed the HS from the bed and replaced the HS hold down bolts with high tensile studs that I locktighted into the ways. The HS housing had two small tapped holes at the rear that provided a means the adjust the horizontal alignment of the HS by pushing on studs. However, there were no grub screws in the holes. I had suitable grub screws lying around and installed them.
I lightly bolted down the HS and roughly adjusted the HS horizontal alignment. Then I did the HS nuts up fairly tightly and checked the vertical alignment. As expected, it was still out by around 0.13mm. After much trial and error, I ended up packing up the front of HS with 2 thou inch brass shim to get the vertical alignment sorted out.
Then I loosened off the hold down nuts and snugged them down and used the grub screws to adjust the HS horizontal alignment. Once this was done, I tightened all the hold down nuts applying equal torque to all the nuts. The horizontal alignment went slightly out and so it took several attemps to get it sorted.
Finally, I re-aligned the tailstock using its adjustment screws.
In total, this procedure took the better part of a day and required considerable patience. However, I belive it was worth the effort.
The alignment is now only out by 0.01mm on the horizontal (was 0.11mm) and 0.02mm on the vertical (was 0.13mm)...a vast improvement.