-- Another way to center the tool bit on centerline of lathe is to use a
surface gage. Assuming the headstock and tailstock are in alignment, place
the surface gage along the ways of the lathe and place the tip on a live
center in the tailstock. then simply move the surface gage along the ways so
that its tip is near the tool bit tip. This works quite well with a qctp.
don paolino
"Vince C" wrote in message
...
I picked up a used medium size hobby type lathe but the tooling is the
wrong size. The bit is about .045" above the center line of the chuck.
I searched the web and couldn't find any info on the placement of the
tooling. Should the cutting edge be level with the horizonital center
of the chuck, slightly below? Right now it doesn't cut steel well at
all.

"desperado" wrote in message
....
-- Another way to center the tool bit on centerline of lathe is to
use a
surface gage. Assuming the headstock and tailstock are in alignment,
place
the surface gage along the ways of the lathe and place the tip on a
live
center in the tailstock. then simply move the surface gage along the
ways so
that its tip is near the tool bit tip. This works quite well with a
qctp.
don paolino

It's a lot less trouble if you have a magnetic base for the surface
gague and stick it to a metal rolling shop cart, especially on a very
long lathe bed...

JHbs ;-}