Thread: Leveling my hercus model A

Cameron , What type of Chevy trucks do you have ? MIKE

Hi Mike,
Umm they are my dads trucks I am jsut using his shed..lol

One is a 29 Chev bought in family since new.

Other one atm isnt a truck it is a 1930 chev 4 door tourer its all original found ona farm UNDER hay so actually preserved it so its in for clean up atm.

I prefer something a bit newer..lol My project is a 1969 Toyota corolla..lol

Cameron

Also on topic with the leveling had a brain wave I could use a bubble level on teh X and Y axis and mill some wedges from steel as wood would compress and use them like a door stop if one corner needs lifting just slide them under till level and then bolt down.

Cameron,
do a Google search for a document titled "The Installation and Leveling of the Lathe". It's South Bend Bulletin Number H-3. I can't upload it because I'm away and I have a very bad internet connection at the moment. If you can't find it I'll upload it when I get home.

It's very old, but I doubt the basics have changed since it was written. Well, except for the bit about anchoring the bolts into the concrete with molten sulphur!

Chris

Cameron,

I recently restored my ATM260 and installed it in my workshop. I also have a concrete floor so I got the support stand as level as I could using an accurate level and then installed the lathe to the stand. Then using the method given in the Hercus book on basic lathe work, I set up a 30 mm test bar in a three jaw chuck - overhanging about 6" - machined it down in the centre regions to give "collars" at either end about 1/2" wide, and then took light cuts over each collar using the same cutting tool setting. Any differences in collar diameter I took out using the hex head threaded bushes at each lathe bed hold down point. Using this method, I managed to achieve about 0.0002" runout aver the 6" length.

I haven't done a centre-centre setup yet and as my tailstock serial number is different to the lathe serial number, I expect I may have to deal with that as well.

Hope this helps.

David

Hi David,
Thanks for the advice.

As for bench mounting I will get a good level this week and level the bench. I have decided Ill drill some dyna bolts into the slab and make some metal "door stop shaped wedges) and use these to level the bench as good as possible.

Next step I was thinking about today leveling the lathe bed itself. The bench I have I belive is for a 260 originally so its feet bolts are slightly wider. To save drilling and tapping the bench I though of this idea today that will hopefully solve my alignment issues also.

Ill buy some thick steel plate say 30mm thick. Ill get it milled flat on both sides and drill the plate so suit the bench hole position and then drill and tap more holes to suit the lathe.

Then what Ill do is mount the lathes feet and just take a thou or 2 off the feet height while bolted to the plate.

This way feet will be square to each other on plate torqued down then milled again so teh top of the feet will be square adn level. Then its jsut a matter of bolting the bed to the feet that are flat.

This should give me a pretty accurate setup straight away and later if I need to move the lathe I can pull bed down etc as long as I leave the feet fixed to the plate it should stay square and true.

What is everyones take on this idea?

Cameron

Hi Cameron,
I think the heavy plates are overkill for the job.
If your lathe stand is from a 260 it is more than up to the task.I followed the setup instructions from the book and have had great results. My lathe was missing the nylon washers so these were turned up from some Acetal . I put the steel washers between the stand and tray but didn't worry about making them as per the book.I had rung Hercus and they didn't use special washers boards the end of making these lathes.
Does the Model A have the adjusters in the feet of the lathe?
Levelling the stand first is a good idea and a builders level is good enough for that.
Cheers from Micheal.

I came across this article last week that might be relevant:
Projects In Metal, LLC » Blog Archive » Norman Newguy: Are You On The Level?

Cheers
Matt

Originally Posted by localele

Hi Cameron,
I think the heavy plates are overkill for the job.
If your lathe stand is from a 260 it is more than up to the task.I followed the setup instructions from the book and have had great results. My lathe was missing the nylon washers so these were turned up from some Acetal . I put the steel washers between the stand and tray but didn't worry about making them as per the book.I had rung Hercus and they didn't use special washers boards the end of making these lathes.
Does the Model A have the adjusters in the feet of the lathe?
Levelling the stand first is a good idea and a builders level is good enough for that.
Cheers from Micheal.

Micheal
Glad to hear that all is going well.
Did you decide on Imperial or Metric Micrometers. I see a lot of them on E Bay both used & New.
I have purchased a couple of used ones with pleasing results.
regards
Bruce