I'd start from the floor upwards – make sure the stand is firmly supported with as little twist as possible first, then shim the lathe feet if required, as indicated by the usual test of turning someting and checking for taper. I'm sure somebody will bring up the "it doesn't need to be level" argument, but if you have an engineer's level, that's the easiest way to get in the ball-park to start with.

Rob

Hi,

When I boughtt my Myford 254, I loosened the two bolts holding it down to the industrial stand. I fitted jacking feet to the cabinet and "un-leveled" the stand so Coolant flowed towards the drain hole.

I think your Super 7 should have two levelling grubscrews under the headstock and two under the tailstock. After putting some tension on the two hold down bolts, these grubscrews are used to "level" the lathe.

Gordon

ps Hopper types faster. I'm  not familiar with the  Super 7, but if it has grubscrews, I'd try those before considering shiming.

Edited By GordonH on 16/05/2023 09:28:44

There were 2 sorts of raising block, one without jack screws and the other with ! If you have the latter then loosen the main bolts as need be and raise or lower the jack screw, tighten the securing bolt and run a test ! Adjust as found needed until true. You may need a slim spanner to fit between the lathe feet and raising block. The stand should have 4 jack screws to level the cabinet, a spirit level will do this job, first ! Good Luck Noel.

When we got the Atlas 12 x 24, There was a block of aluminium about 40 mm thick and of a good size to raise the headstock end of the lathe. I had two thoughts in mind, to increase the working height a bit for comfort and also to allow levelling adjustment. The tailstock end is now supported on two adjustable supports. The actual levelling has never been carried out and the adjusters are only finger tight as when Rod did some test cuts on large diameter aluminium bar, they greatly exceeded our expectations for accuracy. Just lucky, I presume. This is a sketch of the simple tailstock adjusters which have been posted before, some time ago.

Edited By old mart on 16/05/2023 21:09:31

We always seem to be talking about removing twist when setting a lathe up, surely we should be talking about not introducing twist by poorly installing the lathe. One would hope that a lathe bed was not twisted when it was manufactured and the casting was properly seasoned before it became a lathe bed. Of course many lathes will have a history by the time they reach our hands and previous abuse may have damaged the bed. I often think a three point mounting could avoid the ham fisted harming the bed but if the bed has developed a twist for whatever reason it would be difficult to correct it.

Mike

I agree, Mike. Using a level is simply the simplest way to do that. It also makes it possible to use a level to align parts. But I don't think it makes any difference if the machine is placed at an arbitrary angle (within reason of course).

A level is also unique in that you can calibrate it without any special tools or precision references.

Bear in mind that pouring metal into a mould knocking it out, and cooling will introduce stresses.

The outside will cool and contract, while the middle is still hot.

Machining will remove the skin that holds those stresses, so the casting will distort, and may continue to distort after machining ihas ended

Many years ago, castings were left outside for a couple of years for the stresses to work their way out.

Sometimes heating and cooling under closely controlled conditions is usedx for stress relieving. But that takes time, and costs, so in the interests of economy, is not done. (It is hardly practicable in a high volume environment, such as casting and machining cylinder blocks or cxylinder heads for car engines. ).

As an Apprentice in the Toolroom, I spent a Friday afternoon scraping and blueing a machined casting until it was flat, By Monday morning, It had distorted, and i had to start again!

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 18/05/2023 09:02:25