[modeleng] Re: A level lathe

  • From: "Jesse Livingston" <fernj1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 19:33:54 -0500

Jeff,

I too would like to see how Starrett and others are able to grind that glass 
tube to the 120 foot radius.  As to cheap levels such as Wallyworld 
carpenter's levels, you can see that the tube has a radius bent into it.  I 
don't know about Machinist's squares, good ones like Starrett, but I suspect 
the tubes are also ground to some radius or the other.  I will have to look 
in my Starrett catalogue and see if it tells the radius of the internal of 
the tubes on the Master Level.  Must be a very slight radius because you can 
put an extremely thin shim under one end of those Master Levels and the 
bubble will definitely move.  Now, it is off to the basement library to 
locate my Starrett catalogue so I can render an expert opinion tomorrow.

Jesse in very slightly cooler  Troy, TN USA



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Dayman" <jeffdayman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 4:59 PM
Subject: [modeleng] Re: A level lathe


> Hi Jesse,
>
> I've often wondered exactly how those high precision glass vials were 
> ground
> with an inside rad. I guess it could be done with a spherical grinding 
> wheel
> mounted on a long spindle (to get the wheel way up into the tube). The
> spindle could then ride on a follower which in turn could ride on a
> precision ground steel guideway. The glass tube would have to be 
> accurately
> held in a collet during grinding and rotated as the grinding wheel makes 
> the
> spherical arc inside.
>
> I also guess less accurate ones could be made by heating and bending the
> glass tube to an arc shaped former.
>
> Is that how it was or is done?
>
> Anyone in industry actually seen it done?
>
> Cheers Jeff Dayman (also HOT also DRY Waterloo Ontario Canada 31 deg C )
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jesse Livingston" <fernj1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 5:17 PM
> Subject: [modeleng] Re: A level lathe
>
>
>> Affect coolant flow??  What is coolant?  I have never seen a coolant pump
>> on
>> my Atlas 10" lathe.  Maybe I need to look it over again and see if
>> something
>> is hiding up under the chip pan.  Ooops, Ain't got no chip pan on the
>> Atlas.
>> I do have a Starrett 8" precision level though.One of them there levels
>> that
>> will vary if the wind blows on the glass tube.  Also, you can't touch the
>> glass or the bubble will run to the end where you touched it.  I used it,
>> as
>> had my father, to set our sawmill machinery as well as checking my lathe
>> for
>> twist etc.  A bloke from sawmill across the street borrowed it to set 
>> some
>> of their machinery.  He set it on the dash of his PU truck and our hot
>> Southern sun caused the glass to shatter when it shrunk the bubble.
>> Anyway,
>> his sawmill bought me a new bubble assembly.  BTW:  Those 8" Starrett
>> levels
>> have the inside of the glass tube ground to a radius of 120 feet. 
>> Starrett
>> makes a 12 inch "Master Level", but I can't afford one of those cuties. I
>> have used one of them to set machinery at the aluminium rolling mill 
>> where
>> I
>> once worked.  If you stare at one end of the tube on those, the bubble
>> will
>> run to the end where you are looking. [:>)  Well it seems that sensitive
>> anyway.
>>
>> Jesse in HOT dry Troy, TN US of A.
>>
>>
>>> It might effect the coolant flow.....
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Terry Lane" <tel.47@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 10:03 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.
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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