Jim rosen suggested continuing my measured data under the head, following is that data, all looks reasonable, the bed is unworn at the ends and most badly worn near the headstock on the front V way, up to 0.025". There is up to 0.005" of wear on the tailstock ways so they would not have been great as a reference surface. This is all measured from the flat surfaces that are between the ways and they were not perfect.
I looked over a couple of old posts on PM "where are all the metal planers around North America" and "Large capacity grinding company in USA". Initially I was unable to find anyone locally that was interested in machining the bed. I called several grinding shops around the country and got estimates of between $500 and $4500 for the 48" bed not including shipping. Some included scraping, others suggested that scraping is not required on a ground bed.
Thanks to Richard King and Warren Jones I was directed to Rees Acheson in Alstead NH, (
[email protected]) he has a planner and is only a 2.5 hr drive away. I am very happy with the job. He planed all the way surfaces on the bed for $250 and provided lots of free advice. The surface finish is exceptional, almost looks like a ground finish to me. It is a way better finish than anything I have been able to obtain with my milling machine. I had never seen a working planer before so I felt like a kid in a candy shop. He removed 0.026" from the ways, he said it was about the worst he had seen on this small of a lathe.The ways are now straight and parallel now so I can use a shorter SE to scrape in the bearing surfaces. After just a couple of passes I think it is looking pretty good.
Rees also planed the bottom surface of the bed, I scraped in the support pedestals that bolts to the bottom so nothing will get distorted when bolted down.
I decided I need to prioritize the work some, I want to get the cabinet and larger parts painted before it is too cold in the unheated garage. I removed the underdrive motor to do some welding repair to the cabinet. There were 5 layers I scraped off. The first looks like mill scale, then light green, dark green, yellow and finally grey. Next onto sanding and painting.
The apron and gearbox need to be rebuilt. Then I can finish scraping the bed and start assembling the lathe in the basement workshop where I can work on it in the winter. The saddle (or carriage) needs to have the V ways machined and have Rulon glued in then scraped for alignment. With a little luck I will be making chips on this machine a year from now LOL.