After devising a design on how a portable bed grinder should work, and coming up with the theoretical tolerances a home build solution would yield, it became apparent, this is a perhaps a bit ambitious. And if I want to restore the lathe to better than "factory" specification, this might be the risky route.
The Machine tool re-seller, from whom I bought my Eagle Surface grinder, named a very reputable company they use for rebuilding. I contacted the owner and after some negotiating, he agreed to regrind the bed only, although they specialize in complete rebuilds. Henning a very knowledgeable gentleman with a wealth of experience in machine tool rebuilding from Atlantic Enterprises situated in Johannesburg, assisted me in regrinding the bed on their Churchill lathe bed grinders.
When inspecting, it immersed that the two v-ways where aligned, but the flat ways were not in alignment, most likely a factory defect, which probably is not a big issue if the tail stock and head stock are custom fit to the machine.
This misalignment gives me indication, the head stock is custom fit. So now my next problem how to measure the error of the head stock on the surface plate. Here I will have to come up with an accurate technique to establish the spindle center height front and back. the problem is the spindle surface is not freshly ground.
