Aligning the head of the Rhino/Coronet lathe

So I had the lathe apart for transport and when I reassembled it, I had to do that quite quickly as there were a lot of helpers standing around me and waiting to get other stuff done. But in order to do proper work, the headstock had to be aligned.

A quick and dirty way to do that is by using a (known to be) straight fork leg and zero it at the chuck.

And then move as far as possible away from the chuck and check the alignment error. Tighten the bolts holding the headstock on only fingertight allows you slowly push it into alignment. 

The forkleg in the picture is out of an XT600 and allowed me to work almost at the end of the bed, getting the alignment very close. Just one thing to note: Once you're done, take your reference out of the chuck, put it back in and recheck your measurements. Repeat until the results are repeatable.

It's a fun way to spend a whole afternoon. 😉