THE LATHE BED Back to Index THE LATHE BED The Bed is an exceptionally strong casting of the inverted vee type, with elliptical cross ribbing providing great rigidity. All bed castings are rough machined and naturally aged before finish grinding of all working surfaces. Once or twice a week the bed surfaces should be wiped with a rag soaked in paraffin to prevent oil stains, and then thoroughly covered A strong air stream will also blow off the protecting oil film and cause rust formation. On gap bed lathes the removal of the gap block is an easy matter. Simply release and take out four Alien type screws, and the block is then free to be removed. No dowels are fitted. To replace Gap.
Thoroughly clean both block and gap Location. This is most important. Replace block and locate screws. Bring saddle with a good grade machine oil to prevent rust formation. up to give rough alignment and tighten screws down lightly. Never use air lines for cleaning the chips from the lathe bed. Their use causes the chips to lodge under sliding members and in openings around moving parts with possible damage to the machine. If the location faces are clean the block can then be re-aligned with a few taps in the required direction with a hide or non-ferrous hammer.