I do agree AJ. My old South Bend lathe has a neat feature which helps eliminate twist - the tailstock end rests on a pivot foot, which allows the bed to settle without twisting. This allows the lathe to be bolted to wood or metal benches that may be a long way off level and or twisted but the lathe bed remains rigid and true. Lathe leveling is a similar religion among some ME's along the lines of worshipping the god Myford and making extremely complicated tool and cutter grinders to sharpen $5.00 throwaway millling cutters and 50 cent drills. >ahem< to each his own, however. Cheers Jeff Dayman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry Lane" <tel.47@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 5:03 PM Subject: [modeleng] Re: A level lathe > Dead right you are AJ - a level machine means absolutely nothing, the > lathe can be tilted fore and aft, or side to side to almost any angle > and it won't make a scrap of difference, as long, as you say, there is > no twist in the bed. > On 8/07/2011 5:43 AM, Alan Stepney wrote: >> I am sure we have all seen lengthy discussions on the best way to ensure >> that a lathe is level. >> Why? >> >> I dont believe that they need to be level at all. >> I have a lathe that came off a Royal Navy Cruiser, and the one thing I >> can >> guarantee is that, at times, the sea isnt level! >> >> The main thing is to ensure that the bed is not twisted in any way, and >> the >> headstock and tailstock in line, whether or not that line is level with >> the >> surface of the earth or not, makes no difference. >> >> If it did, vertical borers etc wouldnt work. Or rather, wouldnt give >> accurate results, which they do. >> The same would apply to face milling or fly cutting with a vetical mill. >> >> >> Does anyone agree or disagree with me? >> >> Alan >> >> >> >> MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. >> >> To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, >> modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject >> line. >> >> > > > MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. > > To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, > modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject > line. > MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.