Arrggh...aligning minilathe tailstock

[compressor man]

Ok, I know everyone here has been on the edge of their seats waiting for an update on this continuing saga so here it is...

After deciding that one literally could not align one of these tailstocks and minutes before casting it with great force out of my shop I had an idea. You see, when one loosens the bolts that allows the tailstock to be shifted from side to side to align the silly thing, everything and I do mean everything becomes loose. If you are lucky enough to adjust it pretty close to what you feel is accurate then the whole thing is apt to slide around a bit upon retightening throwing it back out of whack. After doing this oh...about a thousand times it occurred to me to make a type of adjusting rod system for it.

I merely took a small piece of key stock and milled out a groove in the center to allow it to sit flush on the tailstock base. I then fastened it with screws to that base and then bored to oversized holes in its vertical face to allow two screws to go through it and then thread into the tailstock. This allows me to screw the thing back and forth whenever it is loosened rather than the tapping and banging I was doing before. This allowed me to finally align the tailstock with some accuracy.

I used Ricks method (thanks Rick!) of turning a shaft and then measuring the taper of that shaft. I was finally able to get my shaft to only 4 thou difference from one end to the other (it was 5.5" long) I know that there are many that will tell me that this is not good enough and I have no doubt that you are correct but I have spent a great deal of time on this and this is as good as I was able to get it.

Yes, I could try some more but once you loosen it back up it goes all ahoo and you are back at square one. I have a fear that I will never get it this close again!!! Anyway, I hope that this little adjusting system will help somebody else that has the same troubles that I have had. Anyone that works in heavy industry may notice that it is almost a miniature version of the system used to align large electric motors on motor bases

 

[rudydubya]

Nice solution Chris. I like your adjustment system much better than others I have seen. Next time I have to align, I'm going to try it out. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the update.

Regards,
Rudy

 

[TarheelTom]

You might want to take a look at youtube.

Tryally, in Brazil, wasn't satisfied with the alignment on his tailstock. So he first cut (if memory serves me) a double ended taper shaft, that would fit into his headstock, then he could slide the tailstock into position around the other end of the taper.

He then cut the top of the tailstock loose from the bottom, and made a new intermediate part which allows him to put the tailstock where ever it needs to be for alignment, then tighten up four screws and nuts to hold it in that position.

Making the morse taper
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=P8LkfC_xiZQ&feature=related

Part 1
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opt7whN4Y3o[/ame]

Tom

 

[radfordc]

After reading this thread I decided to check my mini-lathe tailstock out. I have never adjusted my tailstock, but I've known it needs to be done. As prof65 mentioned, I made a test bar out of a steel rod I took from an old printer. Side to side looks good, but the tailstock seems about 3 thousandths high. What is the best way to fix that problem?

Mini-lathes typically come from the factory with the tailstock a little high. This ensures that there is some material available for fine tuning. You can easily remove material to lower the ram, but it's harder to add material to raise it. Some judious filing of the bottom casting will bring the ram centerline down a few thousanths.

Charlie

 

[zeeprogrammer]

Mini-lathes typically come from the factory with the tailstock a little high. This ensures that there is some material available for fine tuning. You can easily remove material to lower the ram, but it's harder to add material to raise it. Some judious filing of the bottom casting will bring the ram centerline down a few thousanths.

Aha! Thanks Charlie.
Now I just need to develop my judicious skill. ;D

 

[compressor man]

Interesting that you post this video Tom, because I was thinking of doing something very much like this. I would like to make a new base for my tailstock. A base that would allow it to be bolted securely to the ways with bolts 1 & 3 yet still allow adjustment of the tailstock with bolt 2. Just like a "real" lathe allows one to do. I made a quick sketch with paint so everyone can see what I am talking about. My one real problem would be how in the world to machine the aligning groove that runs down the bottom of the base. I have a mill but have had it only for a very short time and have only done 2 very, very simple jobs with it. To be honest I really would not begin to know how to do it. Anyone?

 

[Blogwitch]

If you look at this picture of the tailstock off my old Atlas lathe, it shows that you can fit a gib strip in there to allow you to get a perfect fit into the casting slot.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa102/bogstandard_photos/Tailstock14.jpg

Bogs

 

[Twmaster]

Interesting solutions. It's amazing that the mini-lathe does not have a more 'in control' means of adjustment. Even my creepy old Craftsman 109 has opposing screws to adjust the TS.

The only thing I can think of that might be wrong with that dude from Brazils method would be if the taper cut into the barrel of the TS ram was not aligned with the central axis of the ram.

 

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

All,

One of the "kids" I went to college with has ended up fairly high up the food chain in the Indian Ministry of Industry & Trade. He sent me a prototype minilathe back in the early 1990's. I wrote up an evaluation/critique of it for him and consigned it to a corner of my shop for general deburring type work. My situation changed and it has become my primary lathe as my shop space declined from 2500 sq ft to 880 sq ft. (I have to drive 20+ miles to access a larger and sturdier lathe.) As a result of this, I have:

A) Made a gauge bar and reset the alignment of my tailstock. I also "nailed it down" with screws and dowels to prevent misalignment. I wrote this up for Chris at The Little Machine Shop.

B) Added a camlock driven by an "back side" handle to replace the screw. I have also written this up as a "how to" document.

C) I am in the process of adding a taper turning attachment to the beast. This will almost certainly wait until I have replaced the bed casting with one of the longer ones from The Little Machine Shop. It will also entail rebuilding much of the cross-slide. As my paying work load has picked up, I am unlikely to complete this until the end of the summer.

However, I have PDF's of the gauge bar and camlock operations in hand. Is there a way to post them to the files area here that won't leave them being merely another undifferentiated file in a long list of files?

Irrational minds want to know....

 

[GailInNM]

Lew,
The Uploads/Downloads section is not very user friendly in this forum's software.
An index to it has been created and I am trying to update during the first week of each month. It is available as an attachment to the message at:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=9161.msg99164#msg99164

This message is the first one in the Plans section of the forum. It is organized as an alpha sort on the title that the poster gives the download and the description of the message is also shown. A better method is being looked at but for now that is the best we can do. So, the best thing to do is to make the title descriptive, like "Minilathe Camlock" or something that tells what it is.

I plan to update th index by the end of the week.

Gail in NM

 

[Lew_Merrick_PE]

This message is the first one in the Plans section of the forum. It is organized as an alpha sort on the title that the poster gives the download and the description of the message is also shown. A better method is being looked at but for now that is the best we can do. So, the best thing to do is to make the title descriptive, like "Minilathe Camlock" or something that tells what it is.

I plan to update th index by the end of the week.

Have you heard from the Vatican about your nomination for Sainthood yet? I have managed several files libraries over the years. My rule is to force the people uploading them to fill in an "about" form and fill in all the index categories -- and delete their files if the do not do so...

It was so much easier in FidoNet days...

 

[bazmak]

Hi,read this thread with interest.Did the tailstock alignment first when i got the lathe.Under BAZMAK diary.Its much easier if you bed the tailstock first,then do the forward/backward alignment.Yes the vertical alignment does not affect
taper turning BUT will affect centre drilling Regards Barry

 

[AussieJimG]

If anyone is still interested, here is the simplest method I have found to align a tailstock: http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/QuickTricks/TailstockAlignment/tailstockalignment.html

Jim

 

[chucketn]

When this thread came up today, I tried to find the webpage I used to mod my 7x tailstock for easier allignment.
My problems started when I accidently knocked the tailstock off the bench while it was removed for what, I can't remember.
The sight had great pictures and writeup on turning the base clamp screw upside down as shown earlier in the thread, but also added adjustment screws on the headstock side and opposite side of the TS base to clamp on the wedge. As I remember the lathe in the article was yellow (Clarke?). I was not Mikey's site, at least it's not there now if it was.
I know I have referred other mini lathe users to that site, but if I saved the info, I can't find it now.
Best I can do is take pictures of my Tailstock, if needed.
Chuck

 

[bazmak]

Hi, i did some mods on the lathe under Bazmak diary of a mini lathe
which included the Tailstock.Sounds similar to what you mentioned
Lots of pictures perphaps it may be of help. Regards Barry