Straightening a lathe feed rod

[Paul Jones]

Olderdan,

I know and don't worry because I did have a big laugh about "having a cow". That is exactly the way I started to feel after the first time I bent the lathe feed rod way beyond the 0.055” runout in the process of straightening the shaft. At first I had this bad feeling that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all but then I could see the immediate improvements and remembered how much Keith Fenner had to flex a shaft during the alignment process.

I would not recommend doing this "in place" straightening to the finely made lead screw that is just above the feed rod. The lead screw would have to be removed and carefully protected before doing any strengthening work off the lathe.

I finally removed the lathe feed rod and lead screw when I made the thrust bearings for these parts (see http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/l...7792#post37667 ). I almost accidentally bent the rods again when removing the two roll pins from the bearing block at the right end of the lathe before removing the two cap head screws. The block is approximately one inch thick but the lathe builder used 3" long roll pins set 2" into the lathe bed casting as guide pins to correctly align the bearing block. Removing the bearing block by clearing the long roll pins was not easy (potential of bending the lead screw, feed rod and motor control rod) and I later replaced the long roll pins with much shorter versions when replacing the bearing block.

Regards, Paul