Variation in Tailstock

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Well after the discussion shifted regarding Bernies idea and the mounting of his bowl and chuck into the tailstock to be able to mount a bowl in the longworth chuck, I though a new thread might be in order.

Here are the pictures of the movement I experience in my tailstock

First the test setuptailstock test  setup.jpg

Then move the tailstock to the leftmovement to the left.jpg

Then move it to the right movemen t to the right.jpg

Sorry the pictures are not the best but you can see the movement on the bed by the point of the mandrel on the caridge bolt head.

Guess none of you with decent lathes get this movement?:( Or am I wrong?
 
Rob, when you tighten the tailstock down, does it always end up in the same position? I'm assuming you're only seeing this lateral movement when it's loose. Is that correct?
 
Sounds like you might need to add some shims to the base of the tailstock. I know it can be done, but I don't know the specifics about actually doing it. Lacking shims, the only other advice I have would be to get in the habit of always pushing or pulling the tailstock to the same side of the bed before tightening it. Sort of like a sloppy miter gauge on a tablesaw...if you always push or pull it to the same side, you can get consistent results.
 
Good idea the shims there Vaughn. Now you get me thinking maybe take it to a friend and weld a bead of welding on the edge and grind it down to a tight fit incrementally. Helps to share a problem. Here i was living with it thinking this is not correct. I am going to go to a decent machine dealer and check out some more up market lathes.;)
 
Top