Vicmarc lathe bed extension

[davidbrac]

I am getting round to fitting a 1 meter extension onto my vicrmarc 300 shortbed lathe. This has been lying around for two years; moving and renovating a house slowed down the installation.

I only have a temp support to hold the extension, as the plan is to fabricate support when l am happy with the lathe placement.

Does anyone have experience of doing this task, as my first attempt has the tailstock jamming on the join, it looks as if the beds are level however they must be out very slightly. so l am looking for hints and tips of setting this up?

[john taylor]

I have fitted a couple of extensions on lathes and I found the best way to get them level is to partly tighten the bolts that hold the extension on.   Then put the tailstock over the join and tighten the tailstock, this will hopefully level the two beds up, then with the tailstock still in place tighten the bolts.

Hope this helps and works for you.

john

[davidbrac]

Thanks John tried the tailstock trick and still had the issue. So got out a file marked the insides of the bed with a black marker a filed along the inside making sure l was keeping the file straight. Took 5 mins and all is working fine

The forecast tomorrow is for a fine sunny day so it looks as if l am painting, cant wait for another rainy day so l can continue to setup the workshop