Michael,
Printer bars come in various diameters up to 1/2" - most are metric diameters but a few are imperial. My town's transfer station allows residents to pick through the metal pile so I took near 100 printers home over the years to remove the rods and various other parts (then returned the remainder to the metal pile on a subsequent trip). Initially it took a while to extract the rods etc. but once you realize it's OK to destroy some parts to extract others it gets quicker and easier. My stash of printer rods gets used for lots of things because the material generally turns nicely.
I used a 1/2" printer rod for my initial exploration of 7x12 alignment as detailed here: MiniLathe Alignment
The 1/2" diameter rod I used was marginal in that it sagged slightly; I suspect the smaller rod you have wouldn't work well for this. In fact, I eventually purchased a 3/4" Thomson linear shaft (about $12) for use as a test bar, specs here: 60 Case Standard Shafting | Thomson
The linear shaft is hardened so it isn't as easily damaged as a printer bar or drill rod. Either drill rod or printer shafting can be used as a test bar, where lapping can be used to improve the surface and remove any lobing of the surface. Unlike the linear shafting, these don't have a straightness spec; I use RDM for spindle alignment so test bar bend is accommodated by the calculation .
I use a short test bar made from line printer rod to align the tailstock. It takes some fussing to get the ends of this test bar center-drilled accurately but again, a variation of the RDM concept can be used to accommodate the small errors that occur in the real world. See: http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/Lathe_Align.html#Tailstock_Align
John
Posted by: John@GadgetBuilder.com
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