Questions about getting a lathe

[ford34/2]

I`ll second everyone's comments on NOT removing the Bed from the Base, Harrison went to great lengths to join the two together. A really nice machine will come with the original test certificate from the Harrison assembly / final inspection with measurements and checks you may be able replicate. But be unable to adjust. So even if it doesnt have its certificate leave the Bed and Base well alone.
Here`s some Harrison checks you can do.

 

[Maker]

Wow, Thanks for the accuracy tests, do they apply to other lathes aswell.

 

[hareng]

That's only Harrison which were a lot dearer than Colchester at the time.

Check any play in beds by forcing saddle off axis watch any coolant/oil move, if so adjust. Now if it gets tight at extremes its probably lead screw and or the slides worn.
Carriage wear is more often than not around the chuck, check slop then see if I will wind back to tail stock. Same with cross slide.
Head stock bearings are dear being Timken so check that as well.

 

[Pete.]

I think that any production lathe selling to the home market now is going to have more wear in the bed and saddle than any error you can generate by un-bolting and re-fitting the bed from the base. The worst I think you could do is raise a burr on one of the corners from clumsy handling.

 

[MrFluffy]

On a practical note, I found that the holding down bolts are a sod to get to on the harrison l5 series anyway.
Plus the original cabinet is flat bottom'd with the aim to skidding it along on rollers or with a pinch bar.
The headstock alone is one weighty lump and that involves resetting alignment to the bed itself to get it back true.
I think its actually easier to deal with it one piece, just slide off the tailstock, empty the random tooling out the cabinet, lock the saddle in position with the two locks and move the rest as a intergral piece than spend time splitting it apart and Ive moved them once or twice myself in the past...