# South Bend 10K Tailstock Issues



## Mosey (Jan 17, 2012)

Some of my dead centers, chucks, etc., do not eject from the tailstock as they should. They obviously do not extend back into the tailstock enough to be ejected by the shaft when the spindle is retracted all of the way. Anyone have a suggestion about how to fix this annoying problem?


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## Blogwitch (Jan 17, 2012)

Mosey,

This is a fairly common problem, especially if you use the threaded tapers off your mill, there is not enough backwards reach to hit the ejection system.

We are fairly lucky here in the UK as we can get screw in tangs to cure that problem. Right at the bottom of this page.

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

What you could do is just screw a bolt into the end and adjust for length. For others that have no holes in the end, either drill a small hole and stick a bit of rod the correct length in there, or thread them and put in a small bolt, or just epoxy something on the end to make them the same length as a normal tanged one.

You don't want to go playing about with the eject length actually inside the tailstock, you could very easily find that tapers might not seat correctly.

Hope this helps a bit.

John


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## GailInNM (Jan 17, 2012)

I had this problem with a lathe I had years ago.
The taper shank is normally soft so it does not tear up the machine tool taper if it spins. So, it is easy to drill out the end of the taper with a 5/32 or 3/16 for a short distance, say 1/4 inch or so. In most cases there is a center hole that can be used and that makes the job easier. If you screw up a taper enough that it has to be reground then it is probably better to replace it anyway. 

Put a short rod in the hole and secure with Loctite Stud mount grade, epoxy or what ever your favorite is. Leave the rod long and then cut it down until you still have about a 1/4 or 1/2 turn left on the tailstock crank when it ejects.

Gail in NM
I noticed that John posted the same thing while I was typing.


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## Mosey (Jan 17, 2012)

I will give it a try, but I think most of my MT2 centers are hard as can be. Maybe I weld a little tit on the end and then turn to suit?
Thanks for the good ideas.


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## rkepler (Jan 17, 2012)

Instead of modifying all of the tapers that go into the tailstock quill modify the end of the screw in the tailstock. Drill & tap the end to take a SHCS whose head is about the same diameter of the screw end. Put in a SHCS and you should have extended it enough to eject most everything, if not then simply make a little extension to screw in that's long enough to ensure ejection.

(Only problem is that you might need someone else's lathe for the drill/tap operation.)


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## Groomengineering (Jan 18, 2012)

I have the same problem with the live center on my 9"SB. The way I've solved it (i.e. the lazy way ;D ) is to cut off a bit of 5/16" allthread about 3/4" long (could be anything, small toolbit, bit of steel rod, whatever). Then just toss the bit in the barrel before inserting the center. I have a small electronics screwdriver I use to set the collars that happens to have a magnet on the back. Works great for retrieving the bit when I'm done with the center.

If I had more MT2 tooling with this problem I might try to come up with a better solution, but for just the center it seems to work fine.

Cheers

Jeff


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## MarioM (Jan 18, 2012)

I had the same problem with my 10K. One of the centers had threads for a draw bar so made a bolt. On others made little pieces of brass and stick them with epoxy using a little hole as a guide. They work perfect.

Mario


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