# Tailstock Turret



## tel (Aug 10, 2010)

Something I've wanted for rather a long time is a tailstock turret, so a couple of weeks back I started looking around for a suitable design. Came up with almost an embarrassment of riches! Two on the web (Harold Hall and GH Thomas) and a somewhat vague one in Sparey's book, and, in the current (for Oz) issue of MEW a design by Dave Fenner. The Fenner design looked to fit my needs, so a start has been made.

Cut and machined the head from a slice of 2 1/2" bar





Fenner used a bit of 17mm hex for his pivot bolt, but I had none on hand, so I've used a bit of 3/4" round





The body was roughed out of an old bit of 1" plate I had on hand (which was roughed out of an even bigger bit)





And tidied up, first on the shaper, then on the mill


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## tel (Aug 10, 2010)

A closer look at the pivot pin





And in its final form





A trial fir before whittling any more metal off the body





Almost up to the point of working.





The holes for the lock screws have since been drilled and tapped. Just some tooling adapters to make now, and some cosmetic work - looking very promising!


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## steamer (Aug 10, 2010)

I'll be watching Tel! I am torn between a tailstock turret or a cross slide turret....If the tailstock turret works well enough I would go that route.

Dave


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## tel (Aug 10, 2010)

Yeah, I thought about a cross slide turret as well, but the tail stock version has a lot of advantages - the cross slide is still in use for a turning tool and a parting tool in the rear post, and the turret is constantly centered, with five tools to bring into play - 'Seven at one blow!' Now where have I heard that before?


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## T70MkIII (Aug 10, 2010)

Looking good, Tel - thanks for posting. I've seen the one in Sparey's book, but this is still a down the track project for me.


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## steamer (Aug 10, 2010)

tel  said:
			
		

> Yeah, I thought about a cross slide turret as well, but the tail stock version has a lot of advantages - the cross slide is still in use for a turning tool and a parting tool in the rear post, and the turret is constantly centered, with five tools to bring into play - 'Seven at one blow!' Now where have I heard that before?



Thats just what I was thinking!

Dave


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## deere_x475guy (Aug 10, 2010)

Looking very good tel. Are you going to try to harden the hex head? I only ask this because I have made a few from drill rod before and found that the corners seem to round easily. I am going to have to harden mine going forward.


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## Majorstrain (Aug 10, 2010)

That looks great Tel,
Your way ahead of me. This is as far as I have got. It's the one out of MEW as well.




I didn't have any 1" plate so I headed off to the local scrappy for a bit. 
I asked for a bit of 3" square 1" plate and he came back with a 1 foot square bit of plate that was 40mm thick. Got it for $10AU so i'm not complaining. ;D

The funny thing was when he came back round the corner he didn't have anything in his hands, I thought I was out of luck. 
Then one of these followed him around with the tiny bit of plate in the claw.



Aparently it was still a bit hot from the gas axe and he didn't want to carry it. Rof}

Cheers,
Phil


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## SAM in LA (Aug 10, 2010)

Tel,

That sure looks like a handy tool to have. I'll have to add it to my ever expanding list of future projects.

SAM


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## Stan (Aug 10, 2010)

I used a similar turret when I did small production quantities of one item. When I started in the hobby field, I bought a high quality turret and it has sat on the shelf ever since. I have never had to make a large enough quantity of identical parts to warrant the time to fit all the tools that would be specific to one job.

Having said that, I have made a lot of tooling for one job since I do this as a hobby and get as much self satisfaction out of making the tool as in making the project.


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## tel (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks blokes, I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

Phil - looks like the only reason I'm ahead of you is that I've by-passed all that nice finish work you've done on yours.

Bob - hadn't really considered hardening that hex head 'cos it doesn't get used, it's just nipped down on final assembly and left. If it does look like being a problem I have some Hardite powder here tho'.

Stan - the reason I've been lusting after one is that I make all my own fittings, usually in batches of a dozen or so - typically going from centre drill, drill, countersink, tap, or centre drill, drill, chamfer, die so you can appreciate that this will save a lot of tool changes.


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## Tin Falcon (Aug 10, 2010)

you folks may want to check this guy out plans for turret tools as well as a full blown turret
I spoke with this guy at cabin fever. Neat stuff.
http://www.downrivertools.com/services.html
Tin


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## deere_x475guy (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks Tin, I believe I seen his stuff at NAMES and I forgot about it. I just sent him an email.


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## Blogwitch (Aug 10, 2010)

Very nice indeed Tel, you've made a real good job of it.

I bought one over a couple of years ago, but in those days, I couldn't get my right hand working well enough to use it, so it was given to another model engineer, but I did keep all the tooling and modified them to my own way of working.

If you go for a standard 16mm fitting, there are a few bits that can be bought cheaper than the hassle of making them.

Maybe this will give you a few ideas on what to make for yours.

http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Machines-Accessories/Lathe-Accessories/Tailstock-Accessories


John


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## tel (Aug 10, 2010)

Thanks John, some good ideas there, tho' as the sockets are only 3/8" I fear it will mean making them.

Meanwhile I've been giving it a few sea trials this morning and it is working very well indeed. The lock screws in these pics are only temps, I have some M4 grubs on order for it.


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## d-m (Aug 10, 2010)

Tel thanks for the pic's you beat me to it I was just going to ask you for some final shots. I have a commercial version of this and have never even put it in the tail stock I would like to see some pic's of the tool in use as it may give me some ideals. 
Dave


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## ozzie46 (Aug 11, 2010)

Well done Tel. Filed away for round toit work.  :bow: :bow: :bow:


  Ron


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## arnoldb (Aug 11, 2010)

Good going Tel

There's one on my tools-to-build list as well.

Regards, Arnold


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## Majorstrain (Aug 11, 2010)

Nice work Tel,
That looks great, and thanks for the completed pics. 
Some good ideas for tooling there.
Cheers
Phil


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## SBWHART (Aug 11, 2010)

Good job Tel

How did you ensure the holes in the Turret are on centre line with the lathe head stock ??? .

I'd have made the turret, fitted it in the tail stop, put a drill/Reamer in the lathe chuck then machined the holes this way they must be OK, but that may be a bit long winded.

Stew


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## Maryak (Aug 11, 2010)

Tel,

One very nice "Teltale" stock turret. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## tel (Aug 11, 2010)

> I'd have made the turret, fitted it in the tail stop, put a drill/Reamer in the lathe chuck then machined the holes this way they must be OK, but that may be a bit long winded.
> 
> Stew



Yep, that's how it was done - auto alignment the easy way!


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## Stan (Aug 11, 2010)

tel: If you are making parts by the dozen, it is absolutely great. In looking at your trial setup, I am sure you discovered that to take advantage of the tool, you have to make every tool holder custom. 

The object is to get all the tools the same distance from the tailstock so that you don't have to move the tailstock, or crank the tailstock several inches when you rotate the turret. If you are making repetitive parts, it is best to set up toolholders with the tools installed and save it as set for that job. A drill chuck adds way too much length to the system. The drill bit should be directly in the tool holder.


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## tel (Aug 11, 2010)

Yeah Stan, I agree with you about the chuck, but its a help while I source some suitable stub drills and make holders for them.


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## Tin Falcon (Aug 11, 2010)

here is a pic from Littlemachineshop.com 
the bushings are made from 5/8 drill rod one end knurled and a set screw installed just make up a bunch and drill to fit the tool. 
I too have a commercial one that i have yet to tool up
Tin


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## bp (Aug 11, 2010)

Excellent job, as well as a decent QCTP, I'm looking at one of these. 
Does the turret require any clamping mechanism when being used? It strikes me as being a bit dodgy relying on the detent mechanism alone.
cheers
Bill Pudney
Sunny Adelaide


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## Stan (Aug 11, 2010)

Tin: That picture shows almost a perfect setup (the center drill is too short). You have to make the tool holders to match the length of the tool. If you using the larger sizes of drills, use stub drills so that you don't have to extend the short tool holders so much. 

Ideally, you want to be able to rotate the turret and have every tool just clear the workpiece. Many other ways will work, but you are losing a lot of the advantage of the turret.


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## Deanofid (Aug 11, 2010)

That turned out just great, Tel.
You guys and all your projects are putting ideas in my bean, and making my "to-do" list longer!

Thanks for the pics and words.

Dean


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## d-m (Aug 11, 2010)

Stan  said:
			
		

> Tin: That picture shows almost a perfect setup (the center drill is too short). You have to make the tool holders to match the length of the tool. If you using the larger sizes of drills, use stub drills so that you don't have to extend the short tool holders so much.
> 
> Ideally, you want to be able to rotate the turret and have every tool just clear the workpiece. Many other ways will work, but you are losing a lot of the advantage of the turret.


stan 
Are you saying to get the most out of the turret the tools should be close in length in the pic th center drill is short would you make an extended holder to get closer to the longest tool in the turret ?
Thanks Dave


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## tel (Aug 12, 2010)

> Does the turret require any clamping mechanism when being used? It strikes me as being a bit dodgy relying on the detent mechanism alone.
> cheers
> Bill Pudney



Well that detent locks it up pretty solid Bill, it has quite a deep engagement. It could be arranged to lock up with the centre screw, but that would add another (annoying) step during use. So far there's been no need.


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## Stan (Aug 12, 2010)

d-m: Yes, that is what I meant by saying each tool holder is custom. A tailstock turret is a production tool. If you use the standard method of drill chuck in the tailstock, for every tool change you have to move the tailstock to fit the new tool and change tools. With a turret with unequal length tools you still have to move the tailstock but changing tools is quicker. With equal length tools you achieve optimum efficiency, which is the reason you got the turret in the first place.


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## bp (Aug 12, 2010)

"Well that detent locks it up pretty solid Bill, it has quite a deep engagement. It could be arranged to lock up with the centre screw, but that would add another (annoying) step during use. So far there's been no need."
Thats good news. Just goes to show that sometimes we (I) can worry about things unnecessarily.
cheers
bp


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## Blogwitch (Aug 12, 2010)

You might find that having a lever operated tailstock overcomes a lot of the problems of varying length toolholders and tools.

If you could get hold of a second hand tailstock, they are very easily modified, then you could just swap them over whenever you went into production mode. 

Or maybe you could even fabricate a basic one up out of metal stock, as far as I remember, the Myford bed isn't complicated at all. Then when you bore it using the lathe itself, it would be guaranteed to be spot on. In fact, I would think it could be made accurate enough by using a bar between centres, and tack welding the main tube up while the tailstock support is clamped down onto the lathe bed. With a little more thought, you could even incorporate a set of stops for each turret position.

You have a very controversial post going on here Tel, considering it started off as a relatively simple build. We'll have you getting it under NC by the time it is finished. :


John


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## tel (Aug 13, 2010)

> You have a very controversial post going on here Tel, considering it started off as a relatively simple build. We'll have you getting it under NC by the time it is finished. Roll Eyes



 ;D I'm considering adding a small nuclear reactor to power a work light.


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## tel (Aug 15, 2010)

OK, a last look - loaded with random tooling. The locking lever still needs tidying up a bit, but to all intents and purposes it's finished and in use.


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## steamer (Aug 15, 2010)

Looks great Tel!....What ya think of her?

Dave


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## Stan (Aug 15, 2010)

tel: A fine looking lathe tool. Are you now in the business of making small fittings for other members? ;D


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## zeeprogrammer (Aug 15, 2010)

That looks great tel.
Makes me rethink turret tools (as well as making one's own tools).


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## tel (Sep 9, 2010)

Just a little update - the stub drills I ordered arrived a while back and I have started mounting them in adapters. still got all the smaller sizes to do, but here's the ones from 3/8" down to 1/4", along some other bits of tooling and the rest of the blank adapters, all in a block made from a hunk of crappy radiata pine (I'll have to try & improve on that).

The few times I have used the turret so far, it has been excellent (and very convenient) - well worth the trouble of making.


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## seagar (Sep 9, 2010)

Great work tel, :bow: :bow: :bow:

Ian (seagar)


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## John S (Sep 9, 2010)

I have two of the commercial ones, one is loaded for centre, tapping drill tap in M4 then same in M6
Second one has M5 and M8. I have done it this way as there is a big visible difference in the sizes, putting M4 and M5 together is inviting mistakes.

Certainly speeded things up for me.

John S.


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## steamer (Sep 9, 2010)

OK Tel...this winter.....while in the depths of cold and snow, I'll build me one of them... ;D

Dave


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## tel (Sep 9, 2010)

You'll find it well worth the effort - I love mine already! ;D


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## steamer (Nov 7, 2010)

Hi Tel,

OK I cheated....I bought one from Littlemachineshop.com ;D


MT3 , and then I went to downriver.com and bought plans for the various die/tap/facing/box tools.......

I know I have a bunch of fittings to make this winter for the boiler.....well that's how I'm justifying it anyway 8)

Gotta get some screw machine drills ( I have a bunch, but I'll need more)
and make a bunch of holders ect.

Should be fun!


Dave


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## tel (Nov 8, 2010)

Thm:


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## steamer (Nov 13, 2010)

Hi Guys,

I got the little MT3 turret from Littlemachineshop today!  All in all it is better quality than I expected...I think It might even work! ;D

I have some tooling already, additionally

I got the drawing set from DownRiver.com

I have to say....NICE Drawing package.  Well drawn and explained

The tooling should work just fine in this little turret....If his turret tailstock is drawn and explained as well, it would be a great project for a Minilathe!

Dave


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