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Do I have a problem ? Tailstock has some play

PhillH

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Noticed over the weekend that this inherited SIP lathe seems to have a tiny bit of play in the tail stock. It's an 01492 for reference.

Seemed to show up when drilling blanks using the chuck and a brand new jacobs drill chuck on a MT1 in the tail stock. I didn't round off the blanks though.

Hard to describe but with the 7mm drill in, holding the chuck you can wiggle the whole thing about a millimetre or so.

Span up the lathe and offered up the drill at which point the "spike" created a 2-3 mm dia circle implying it wasn't properly centered.

Is it me doing something dumb or do I possibly have a problem with the tail stock ?

It's a long time back to my apprenticeship but I'm pretty sure I did what I was taught in metal turning and drilling with the tail stock.

Thoughts anyone ? :nooidea:
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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Phil is it tailstock play or taper play?
Have you checked that the chuck is firmly home in the taper, a small piece of grit / dust could throw it out.
Does the tailstock travel seem floppy? If so you should have adjustment to take up the slack depending on what lathe you have as to where the adjustment will be.
I doubt you have the wrong MT taper as it would not fit if's wrong.
Is the chuck fitted correctly and firmly to the tapered spline?
All these can throw off center also check the Headstock bearing for play, Four play, Foreplay??? It may not be the Tailstock out of alignment but the opposite.
 

PhillH

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I checked with SIP and they said it's MT1 both ends.

I've just had another fiddle and the live centre has a teeny bit of play as well, now both were brand new and I doubt they both have a problem, so I'm gonna give the inside of the taper a damned good clean.

The chuck seems solid on the arbor.

Wish Dad had kept the damned manual :bwink:

I'll report back later :whistling:
 

PhillH

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Right cleaned out the taper and the arbor fits nicely, was full of what looks like fine mahogany type dust.

Took the tail stock shaft out completely and I think I've found the "issue", the "bored" part of the casting is only about 5/8ths of an inch into the casting, so when you feed out the drill with the leadscrew the thing goes a little floppy as you extend it, as there's only 5/8" holding the shaft, not the full length of teh casting as I had expected.

Maybe my expectations are wrong being a novice, but I'd assumed you'd have a similar ability to a metalwork (engineering) lathe, to mount the drill in the tail stock and use the lead screw to feed into the workpiece, or is it the fact that this is in fairness a small lathe and I'm expecting too much ? :nooidea:

So, I'm guessing this lathe isn't really designed to drill with the tail stock ?

Good excuse to buy that pillar drill then :funny: :funny: :funny:
 

Jim

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Its a good thing to have the blanks as near to square as possible also Phill ...
 

Penpal

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Morning here Phill,

My greatest disapointment in using wood lathes is the phrase its only a wood lathe after all. Then you pay as much as you do for a metal lathe which demands better engineering all round. One time perhaps predudiced we would never from choice seek Japanese, Italian products seeking British or American. Well the world has gone around one too many times to allow that any more however the sad truth is when making the momentous for us choice of a new sewing machine for SWMBO we discovered the new Singer was not made as stated nor from the Singer factory.

All wood lathes with a few exceptions are a compromise in weight, quality, workmanship, detail. I firmly believe a standard sequence of checks would assist new purchases fully outlining a list of checks and balances.
Here in Australia there are two companies using metal skills as applied to metal lathes in their production of dedicated Wood Lathes who honour their products before, after, and importantly during the life of the product.

I made my first lathe as I also made my first enlarger using an old bellows camera I do believe those experiences set me up for life teaching me a lot about what I wanted to acheive and what to look for when buying, prime help in woodwork was to help pioneer our Woodcraft Guild where I live with the diversity of in house equipment, variety of members, experience counts, try before you buy, visit other clubs, compete for excellence in the company of friends.

Now as an average guy with few pretentions left aware of my own capacity all I seek to do is share.

So the bottom line is Phill do not be surprised at the lathes you use they all have limitations drilling blanks on the lathe is not the be all or end game either, cut your cloth and restart in this country you can buy predrilled blanks also to tide you over until you overcome the problems of how to what with, try to sign up with a mens shed, wood group etc visit pro Turners, go to seminars talk to Fitters and Turners etc.

Thinking back that age old story of Aristotle holding the persons head under water then the statement if you want something really important like breathing look around please enjoy the journey, I do and have fun.

Kind regards Peter.
 

Pete B

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Hi,

I have a jet 1270vs and expensive it was too. The tailstock moved from side to side when brand new.
I had to file carefully until i knew that the inside runner that meets the far side of the lathe bed was spot on square, it took a while.
Then i noticed the same thing when drilling blanks. I did as you have done checked everything etc.
The tailstock ram i think its called was about 1 mm or so down, i was quite disappointed but found that the locking handle actually extended into the ram into a channel.
I found that when using the handwheel to extend with the locking handle just about fully tightened raised it up to just about being accurate.
Most of the small lathes can be found on sites like alibaba.com in different colours and different specs but i was disappointed as the lathe was not cheap.
So unless you seem to spend lots of cash on a small wivamac or the like that are made in house with i think only the motors imported quality and accuracy are an issue, i think you just have to get to know your own lathe like i had to in order to achieve accuracy.
Very annoying though.

Regards

Pete
 

Terry

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The last 2 posts by Peter and Pete make very interesting reading and I fully endorse there comments about build quality.
The downside for most of us is the cost. A good quality lathe eg. Wivamac/Vicmarc/Killinger/Oneway etc and your looking at starting prices of £2k. plus.
 

PhillH

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Great input folks, thanks for taking the time to help.

The lathe works fine for the turning aspect, certainly for all I need as a beginner I'm sure. Turned 2 (to me) nice pens with it so far.

I guess I need to find a work around for drilling blanks or upset the wife and buy a pillar drill. (Not a suggestion I want to make right now :whistling: )

I do have a drill stand for my B&D drill, will give that a go, just hope it has enough travel to do what I want.

I hadn't thought about the option of pre-drilled blanks so that's also something to explore, I guess it just cuts down choice of timber.

I'll also have a chat with the guy I'm seeing for a lesson on Friday, who knows there may be some kind soul nearby with a pillar drill I can beg the use of in the meantime.

Thanks again for all your help here, much appreciated.

The journey continues, but at least I'm enjoying it.
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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You could buy a pillar drill with what you are paying for the lesson.
You have already made 2 nice pens what will you learn?
 

PhillH

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You could buy a pillar drill with what you are paying for the lesson.
You have already made 2 nice pens what will you learn?

That's a good point, I'm going to get him to go through tool sharpening and some different finishes for sure, as that doesn't seem to be too well covered on YouTube.

I understand it may be a bit pricey but I really had nothing to compare it to. Besides if he ever needs to hire me (unlikely) he'll pay a damned sight more than that for my hourly rates. :funny:

As much as anything it will be good to establish a relationship with someone nearby when I do have my disasters, which I'm sure will be coming. :whistling:
 
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