I noticed while turning this holiday that my tail and headstock were out of alignment. I noticed it while drilling a piece with a Jacobs Chuck in the tail stock. The bit seemed to struggle finding the center and that caused me to investigate.
I don’t know what the formal technique for measuring this misalignment is but here is what I came up with. It uses standard shop tools and materials. Nothing fancy!
Donnie
| This is a picture of the misalignment.The vertical is out of alignment and the horizontal is nearly perfect. |   |
| Cut a 2×3 inch piece of Plexiglas with square sides (the slide) and hold it between the tail and headstock centers . We will mark each side of the glass and use its transparency to measure the error. I hold the slide by hand lock the tail stock down and then using the quill drive the centers into the plastic making a mark on both sides. |  |
| Mark the holes made by the centers with a Sharpie by scribbling over it and then wiping it off, leaving the indent highlighted. Hold the slide up to the light and with a knife and small square scribe a line (on one side) through the center of each mark. |   |
| Now using a caliper measure the distance between the two lines. |  |
At this point if you rotate the spindle does the point bob up and done a little bit? (checked with dial indicator0
The one in the tail stock looks like it is a live center. These have some play in the bearings with out load on them.
I will take and send a pick of my set up.
Walter.