# steamboat willie's lathe mods.



## MCRIPPPer (Aug 8, 2013)

these are steamboat willie's mods. i am posting the pics for him. hopefully he will join in and describe some of these mods.


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## steamboat willie (Aug 8, 2013)

Hello! Firstly, a BIG thankyou to MCRIPPer for his help in allowing me to share these mods with fellow Forum members.
The tailstock of the small lathe that I have is poorly designed and did not facilitate ready access to locking the tailstock in place. There have been other suggestions as to how to do this, but they involved drilling through the web of the tailstock, something that I was not keen to do. While the words may confuse, I hope the pictures are clear to show what I have done.
My solution was to transfer the rotational requirement to lock the tailstock from underneath to the top of the tailstock. I purchased a cheap socket and welded to it an arm with a right angle bend in it. I covered it with a short length of plastic tube to prevent marking the paint of the tailstock. I threaded the top of the arm to allow for height adjustment for a bottom lock nut and a top nut to hold the arm in exactly the right place.  
The top pivot is exactly above the lower bolt - thus transferring the moment of turning exactly. Into a piece of brass I milled a register the width of the tailstock, drilled 4 securing holes in it, and drilled and tapped 4 corresponding holes into the tailstock. This is the ONLY intrusion into the integrity of the lathe for this mod.  Directly above the tailstock locking nut into this piece of brass I tapped a hole for the top shaft (a countersink bolt), and secured it from below into the plate with Loctite. This provided the top axis around which the top handle would rotate. I rough assembled it together and recorded where the arm needed to be attached to the top bush to effect the clamping action in the quadrant of movement that I wanted. I fitted the  lower nut and arm, dropped the top arm over the shaft, adjusted the height (hence the thread) and tightened it all up. It was all disassembled and the arm and the top lever to which a knob was fitted brazed into position. The unwanted threaded part of the vertical shaft was cut off and a dome nut fitted. (pretty).
Thus, the quarter turn needed to lock the tailstock was transferred through the lever, the shaft and the socket from below to above the tailstock, and believe me when I say I has transformed the ease of use of this lathe.
The other mod shown is the fitting of a Chinese copy of the MultiFix tool post to this lathe. All this took was a bushing to suit the pin on the top slide and BINGO! I purchased my tool post from Create Tool in China and have had no troubles with it. The aA size fits this small lathe, but larger sizes are available for larger lathes.
Both these mods have made my lathe MUCH more user friendly and easier to use.
It is often hard to accurately convey in words what one has done, but hopefully the pictures will give a good indication. If you have any questions PM me, Steamboat Willie , and I will try and help make it clearer.
Bill.


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## robcas631 (Aug 8, 2013)

I like the quick release on the tailstock! Sweet!


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