My $25 alignment setup

[dmopar74]

Here's my ghetto alignment setup I made, it's a 3/4-16 coupling nut with 3/16 plate I hole sawed and booger welded together, and a cheap camber gauge. The nut threads on the spindle, you do have to remove the cotter pin and retainer to use it, but it works.

 

[Kern Dog]

I did a similar thing awhile back....

 

[67Dart273]

how do you determine that it is plumb/ square/ level?

 

[Kern Dog]

Spin it and see for yourself. You can put a magnetic spirit level and watch the bubble.

 

[Kern Dog]

how do you determine that it is plumb/ square/ level?

It is funny how guys that haven’t been in the trades universally use the word “level” while those of us that are/were Carpenters, plumbers, etc use different terms.
Plumb means perfectly upright. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is not out of level, it is out of Plumb.
Del makes a good point. Is this spindle mounted base plumb and level?
The gauge has bubble gauges in it that operate within 3 channels to register he camber and caster. There is no means to adjust out any error in the screw on base though. You are only as accurate as the nut that screws onto the spindle. Whatever error is there may be so small as to not even matter much but it was a valid question.

 

[dmopar74]

It's within an 1/8 of a degree of true, which is close enough for me. I did hit the back of the nut with a roloc until I got to "true" up,down,left,right. If I had a lathe I could get it perfect, but don't.

 

[dmopar74]

Actually I just tuned the face up until I got dead nuts 0 degrees!

 

[LO23M8B]

I did a similar thing awhile back....


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Did you make these? If not where did you get them from. Thanks.

 

[Kern Dog]

It is crude, but it works.
Yeah, I made this one after seeing a FBBO member post a picture of one that he made. It wasn't my idea so the credit should not go to me.
I did get the help from a friend to tune it up a bit. He put this in a lathe…

He cut it around the edges and the face of it.
It was crude before, ridges like a stop sign!

The ugly on the edges did not affect the alignment, it just looked bad. He cut the face of it too though and that should make a difference. As the mount spun and the lathe cutter made contact, you could see a few thousands of metal came off of one side before the lathe touched the whole face. I’m not sure of the actual error it had but I’m guessing it wasn’t much over a degree. Still, it should be better now.