Reducing tailstock play

Reducing tailstock play

Post by David Han » Sat, 30 Oct 1999 04:00:00



Depending on the morse taper, it could be a little to long.  The chuck I bought
had to be trimmed, and I can use the whole throw of the quill.
Quote:

> What is the recommended way to reduce tailstock play on a lathe that
> has cast iron bed and tailstock ?
> I'm pretty happy with my Jet minilathe except when it comes to drilling
> holes using a Jacob chuck in the tailstock. I guess there are 2
> ways to go about it: You either 1) lock the tailstock and use the quill travel
> to drill the hole, or 2) you lock the quill and push the entire tailstock
> forward.
> 1) doesn't quite work for me because the Jet mini uses a short taper
>    so I already have to crank the quill out to have a good lock on the
>    taper. So quill travel is then limited.

> 2) is what I want to do and on the few $3,000 lathes I've played with
>    doesn't seem to be a problem.
>    On the Jet mini, (at least on mine) there is a little bit of play
>    between the bed and the tailstock. Seems that the part of the tailstock
>    that goes between the bed is machined a bit too narrow. Maybe a bit
>    less than 1/32nd. I'm not sure because I don't have a guage.

> So anyway, my questions:

> - what material to use for a shim.
> - where to find shim of a particular thickness.
> - how to attach it to the cast iron.

> thanks,

> bruno.