changing lathe swing while keeping alignment?

[curtis rosche]

i wish to add about 6 inches of riser to my current lathe to make it able to turn a 26 inch peice. it is a "custom: lathe that some one somewhere local built in a metal shop. the bed is 3/8x3'' angle, the bearings are mounted on a thick steel plate which i cant remember the measurement of right now.
my question is, whats the best way to add extra height to the spindle on this lathe and keep the alignment of the spindle and the ways?

i was thinking either unbolting the bearings and adding blocks of steel and then just using longer bolts, or cutting off the headstock at the angle iron and welding new vertical peices in that are larger. im not sure how to go about either of these methods and keep the alignment, or if there is other options.

whats your opinions?

[curtis rosche]

heres the pictures of the headstock

[Bruce Page]

Curtis, that’s an interesting lathe, do you have a tailstock for it? As far as raising the swing, if the plate under the pillow blocks is reasonably flat I would just add a hardwood block and longer bolts to achieve the desired height.

Without a tailstock to use as a reference I think the best you can do is make an upside down cross (the cross would need to be square to itself) that would fit snugly into the gap between the front & rear bed plates and then stand back 5-10 feet from the end and sight down to align the head. Of course a lot depends on how square everything was put together originaly..

[curtis rosche]

there is a tailstock on the lathe, but im working on aquirring a new one