Cue lathe tailstock alignment

thestickman

thestickman

New member
Hi. I am new to the cue lathe game. I bought one second hand so that I could do my own tips, and maybe help out local players with it since no one else has one in this area. Fast forward 6-7 months and I'm not so bad at it now. The lathe is a cue smith midsize, but it has some mods. Everything is on some kind of riser so that it sits at the same height as the deluxe cuesmith would be at. Everything works great, except I have a tailstock alignment issue. Part of that problem is the tailstock is one the previous owner made, it's not the cuesmith stock lever style. I'm at a crossroads where I either buy the correct tailstock from cuesmith, or I figure out how to do an alignment and just keep using this.

Can someone explain how to do it?
 
There is an alignment tool called The Edge (about 50 dollars when I bought mine) that is a major timesaver. You’ll need 2 dead centers and a good dial indicator to make it work. I think there are videos on YouTube that will give you an idea how it works. You may want to contact Chris (Cueman) about the accessories need to attach your dial indicator to the cross slide. I use mine before any work on a shaft to make sure I’m in alignment. Good luck.
 
thestickman said:
Hi. I am new to the cue lathe game. I bought one second hand so that I could do my own tips, and maybe help out local players with it since no one else has one in this area. Fast forward 6-7 months and I'm not so bad at it now. The lathe is a cue smith midsize, but it has some mods. Everything is on some kind of riser so that it sits at the same height as the deluxe cuesmith would be at. Everything works great, except I have a tailstock alignment issue. Part of that problem is the tailstock is one the previous owner made, it's not the cuesmith stock lever style. I'm at a crossroads where I either buy the correct tailstock from cuesmith, or I figure out how to do an alignment and just keep using this.

Can someone explain how to do it?
Click to expand...

Three things can be the problem.

First you can be once off in height. That means either shimming the tailstock or milling the riser.

Second, you can be off horizontally. This is generally the easiest fix if there is adjustment in the tailstock. There are a couple of ways this is traditionally done.

Finally, your tailstock can be out of parallel, this is generally tougher to fix and diagnose as the center may be correct in over position and off when the quill is extended or retracted.

You will need some decent measuring devices. Photos would be useful, as would a better description of what exactly is going on.
 
Also, you need to make sure your bed is true.

There are many things that can be a problematic, it would be difficult to diagnose without someone who really knows how to set up machinery and had the necessary tools.
 
I will take some more detailed pictures tonight.
 

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Thays
kling&allen said:
Interesting. That’s a tail stock from a 6060/6090 CNC that someone crudely fitted to a riser. I’ve thought about doing the same thing because it’s not a bad tailstock. But I’ve avoided doing so because I was worried about alignment
Click to expand...
Absolutely what was done. It's actually decent other than being slightly off. I'm going to get a dial indicator from cuesmith and see what I can do.
 
After seeing your pix, the Edge alignment tool should still do the job for you. It’s designed to align tailstock to headstock. It’s by far the easiest way to accomplish this task I’ve tried. Again, good luck.
 
Tom1234 said:
After seeing your pix, the Edge alignment tool should still do the job for you. It’s designed to align tailstock to headstock. It’s by far the easiest way to accomplish this task I’ve tried. Again, good luck.
Click to expand...

I second this recommendation. There are other similar alignment tools but the edge is cheap and easy.

I would bet the 6060 tail stock (sitting on two different risers) is canted and off height.
 
You can quickly check the alignment by putting a dead center in the tailstock chuck and another dead center in the headstock chuck. Move the centers together to pinch a utility blade between them. If the centers are aligned, the utility blade will be suspended vertically and will be perpendicular to the centers. You can check tailstock parallel by repeating the check with the tailstock extended versus retracted.
The midsize head and tailstock risers are required when a taper bar is added. They are required because the spring loaded cross slide is taller.
 
thestickman said:
Hi. I am new to the cue lathe game. I bought one second hand so that I could do my own tips, and maybe help out local players with it since no one else has one in this area. Fast forward 6-7 months and I'm not so bad at it now. The lathe is a cue smith midsize, but it has some mods. Everything is on some kind of riser so that it sits at the same height as the deluxe cuesmith would be at. Everything works great, except I have a tailstock alignment issue. Part of that problem is the tailstock is one the previous owner made, it's not the cuesmith stock lever style. I'm at a crossroads where I either buy the correct tailstock from cuesmith, or I figure out how to do an alignment and just keep using this.

Can someone explain how to do it?
Click to expand...
Buy a tail stock from Cueman.
 
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