Help.. needs advice on lathe alignment

[saba123]

OK so i bought a older Beth lathe and i cant get the tail stock(sp?) chuck to line up with the other one. It had some shims in it which helped but upon trying to align they were taken out. i have guy helping me out with experience with these guys, and after a while of fooling with the adjustment screws we determined it couldn't get any better and we would have to grind the chuck with a piece of tool steel and silicon carbide. so i guess my question is has anyone heard of this??? sounds legit but i don't have much experience with this or really know any one that does, so any input would be great. its been a little frustrating :bangHead: with this but i knew i would be getting into a challenge when i wanted to purchase a lathe. i just really want to get her running so i can start learning. thanks a lot guys in advance and if this is in the wrong category let me know.
saba

[Greymatter Glass]

You don't want to grind anything.

You'll need to fabricate shims.

Beth lab lathes are tough to work on.

... I've tried to true one up before, it's a bitch. Make sure you have a good dial indicator and a magnetic mount, 2 decently straight metal rods ground to points on one end, and just go from there....

good luck.

-Doug

[saba123]

thanks the dial indicator really seems like it would do the trick. ill give it a try and let you know how it goes. thanks a lot
saba

[poncho]

hey which model lathe do you have? i have an old beth, and the tailstock is not completely lined up but i can still work it just fine. Where are these adjustment screws you talk about? can you take a photo?

[mindblowingglass]

Not to critisize either of you, but for anyone thinking of getting a lathe dont buy a beth lathe, yeah there cheap, but there cheap for a reason. If your going to buy a lathe save up and buy a good machine. And if your hell bent on buying a beth, make sure its in good working order before buying it. Dont ever buy one thinking your going to "fix it up" unless you have years of experiance and full access to a machine shop. I personaly wont buy, sell or even broker a beth lathe (no matter how cheap or how much I could make. Maybe thats not great business but its good karma)
And like doug said dont grind, make shims or try lathe tape. Its far easier to add things than it is to replace something thats been removed

You might even want to start a post asking for anyone who has (and uses) a functioning beth lathe and see if you can find someone with the exact machine and see if he (they) can send you pics and maybe help walk you through it.

[saba123]

Ok I can get some pics up in a few, I just got home. Im starting to see what you mean about these Beth lathes. All I can afford. And I really don't want to grind at all. I guess since I'm off tomar I'm off to go get a dial indicator and make some shims. I think I'm just going to ball on a budget and go to harbor frieght and see if I can get the dial idicator on there web site. Now for the shims does anyone have .02¢ on were to get the materials to make them. I was going to start by walking around Lowes. Thanks again everyone.

[Swampy]

If you look for the thread on the lathe I'm building, you'll see some info about how I plan to do it, when I get to that stage.

[smutboy420]

You can actully get a pretty decent dial at china frieght for cheap.Esp For what you need. But try to get a better holder then some of the cheapest ones they have. Get one thats going to hold the dial still and not bounching around all over the place.

[Greymatter Glass]

I got my 1/1000 indicator at HFT, it does a decent job. my 1/10k's are starret from Enco. Spendy but quality.

You can use a cut up tin can as make shift shim material if you have a good micrometer to figure out how thick the cans are... or if it doesn't matter much.

Auto parts shops often sell shim material. Also, a set of feeler gauges helps a lot in determining what thickness you'll need, and will double as shims in a pinch.

Graingers has shims.

Mcmaster-carr too.

hell, I've seen shim sets at HFT.



As for beth lathes.... a good one will work fine, but I have yet to see one in truly great shape. the one I messed with years back had a broken raceway on the tail stock and needed some foundry work done, I don't think it ever got fixed. I tried to do it with ductile iron sticks and a welder but couldn't get it to stick on.... they're a bitch to work on. Once working tho, they're a decent lathe....

I found a guy online willing to make replacement sacrificial gears for like $135, when you strip it out. Buy two at a time. Or modify to run with a belt drive maybe....

[poncho]

"as for beth lathes.... a good one will work fine, but I have yet to see one in truly great shape" -- im going to make a video soon of mine in action, it works great for its age! its the only lathe i've ever used and can make all sorts of things on it

[Greymatter Glass]

I don't doubt they're out there. The ones I have seen are from the 50's and beat to hell. I've only seen 3, maybe 4...

[CripSkillz]

yup just make some shims,, you can get a collar with set screw,, and make it an eccentric think that how ya say it, grind a side so its flat then you can adjust that to get the chuck arms in line.. , or you can use round shim stock to put over the 3 nubs that stick out of chuck to actually close the chuck arms,, thats where i had to do my fine adjustments,, dont try to bend a chuck arm ,, they dont bend heheeh,,