I just moved my Colchester Clausing from one side of the shop to
another. Originally I had it leveled so that coolant on the ways, when
working near the headstock, would slowly flow down the ways to the
tailstock and past and then drip into the pan. My thinking was: thats a
good way to keep the ways lubed, and when using the tailstock, it slides
easily. Now I'm thinking I level it the other way so coolant never much
flows past the work and keep the rest lubricated with way oil.

What do you guys think is best?

cheers
T.Alan

On Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:53:24 -0700, "T.Alan Kraus"
wrote:

I just moved my Colchester Clausing from one side of the shop to
another. Originally I had it leveled so that coolant on the ways, when
working near the headstock, would slowly flow down the ways to the
tailstock and past and then drip into the pan. My thinking was: thats a
good way to keep the ways lubed, and when using the tailstock, it slides
easily. Now I'm thinking I level it the other way so coolant never much
flows past the work and keep the rest lubricated with way oil.

What do you guys think is best?

cheers
T.Alan
Level is level. I'd set the lathe up so that the ways are level across
at both ends and along the length of the ways. Using a precision
level.

"T.Alan Kraus" wrote in message
...
I just moved my Colchester Clausing from one side of the shop to another.
Originally I had it leveled so that coolant on the ways, when working near
the headstock, would slowly flow down the ways to the tailstock and past
and then drip into the pan. My thinking was: thats a good way to keep the
ways lubed, and when using the tailstock, it slides easily. Now I'm
thinking I level it the other way so coolant never much flows past the work
and keep the rest lubricated with way oil.

What do you guys think is best?

cheers
T.Alan

I'm of the opinion that coolant is not to be considered to be way lubricant.

A lathe being level is more critical in the way of eliminating twist than
for the sole purpose of being level. Still, my advice would be to level
the machine and don't be concerned about coolant flowing anywhere in
particular. They're built to be operated in a level condition, which is
likely the best of all worlds.

Harold