tailstock alignment
- Thread starter BHQ
- Start date
Yeah,BHQ said:
That is in the "guide to buying pool cues" to check for things like even points, glue lines around inlays, searching for yur...eh..nevermind! LOL!
Chris
Poulos Cues said:
Depending on the measuring lense in the loupe, they are also great for checking angles on hand-ground tool bits, and for measuring little things that are hard to measure with calipers/micrometers. And for the price (they're inexpensive) everyone should have a few !
Dave
Kenny said:
Just a quick note, but getting true flat with a file is extremely difficult, which is why precision mating surfaces are often (hand) scraped true. Taking a file to a scraped surface is asking for problems imo. Removing a burr is one thing, but 'adjusting' the ways of a tailstock with a file is a good way to mess it up entirely, again imo.
Of course you can easily test the surfaces using Prussian Blue or Hi-Spot indicator fluid, or even a felt pen (in a pinch) .... coat one surface, rub across it's mate, and look for the wear pattern ... a good 'fit' will have well over 1/2 of the ink removed randomly over the entire surface.
Dave
this lathe is an old sheldon from 1942
it was a war lathe
there's even a dudley doright bomb in the serial numbers
tailstock could possibly be from another lathe
who knows?
the man i bought it from, bought this lathe when he retired from the military
he's been making gun barrels as a hobby on it for years
i'd think it would have to pretty accurate to do that
it was a war lathe
there's even a dudley doright bomb in the serial numbers
tailstock could possibly be from another lathe
who knows?
the man i bought it from, bought this lathe when he retired from the military
he's been making gun barrels as a hobby on it for years
i'd think it would have to pretty accurate to do that
Hard to say how much wear the lathe has. Alot of the war era ones put in alot of hours. Gunsmiths are known to really tighten down their tailstocks, so could have caused some wear. I have a 1930 ish southbend that had the tailstock shimmed. I don't want to count the hours I spent shimming it, and then if you offset the tailstock, bang! gone!. I use it as a sanding lathe now. I can't force myself to part with the old warrior.
Best solution I can think of is if you have a quick change tool post, get a morse taper holder and use that to hold your drill chuck. You can get that one dead nuts.
Best solution I can think of is if you have a quick change tool post, get a morse taper holder and use that to hold your drill chuck. You can get that one dead nuts.
cutter said:
it's ok now. i'll just keep an eye on it. like you say, i think when i was jerking around on tailstock offsetting back & forth & back & forth is when the shims moved. i have taper bars but i was doing something else with lathe that required a lot of offset.
i'd love to be able to find an extra tailstock, haven't had much luck with that though.
i'd love to be able to find an extra tailstock, haven't had much luck with that though.
DaveK said:
That is a good advice, but in his instance
1942 Sheldon lathe, 2 piece tailstock casting, remove upper tailstock housing and check between that and the lower casting which rides on the ways. There is a pinch block inbetween the 2 adjustment screws on front and back, a gib adjustment inbetween the ways. Usual place for a gaul is on the pinch block, the top casting will not sit down properly and when you loosen the tailstock pinch bolt, the tailstock castings actually will seperate slightly. Throws everything off any time you move the tailstock.
Introduction to machining 101,
take 6" long piece of 1" diameter hex stock, double cut bastard file and turn the first 3 inches round measured at 8 points within .001 +-.0005. When done, file it back to hex within same measurements. You will quickly learn to use a file. Took me 3 days the first time I had to do it, got quicker the second time around. That was my introduction to machinest school in the Navy way back when. Now a days people dont use files much, they can really remove allot of metal quick and can polish on a lathe very quickly. Can really hurt if they get kicked back at you too!!!
cutter said:
Steve,
Great lathes, the real down fall of the southbend was that the headstock was mounted to the bed and then align bored with the tailstock of the lathe. Only one tailstock fits the lathe. If it is gone, you got allot of work to make another one fit up properly.
You have my head spinning trying to figure out how you could bore the headstock with the tailstock. I could see them boring the tailstock with the boring tool chucked up in the headstock as it has power and can spin. The bearings give the headstock spindle alignment and I can't figure out how a tailstock that does not have power could bore the bearing holes.Kenny said:
cueman said:
Hi Chris,
They used an align bore jig, brought up the tailstock to align it in the bare headstock casting. It has a long boring bar that runs throught the headstock bearing housings held by mounts front and rear. They mounted the outer retainers on the headstock using the tailstock for alignment, removed the tailstock, attached a driver and the boring bar will slide back and forth through the headstock casting and cut the bearing cavities like a boring bar. Remove the align bore jig and install the spindle and bearings. Headstock and tailstock are aligned.
Safe turning,
Kenny
follow up..........
i spoke with a man in chicago that worked for sheldon for many years
he told me where to find a set of numbers on tailstock to verify that it is the ts made with my lathe
as it turns out, mine is not
that explains the shims
he said that was very common in military use lathes
scavenging & such
he told me where to find a set of numbers on tailstock to verify that it is the ts made with my lathe
as it turns out, mine is not
that explains the shims
he said that was very common in military use lathes
scavenging & such
Tooljunkie
Registered
Check out the January/February issue of The Home Shop Machinest. They did a real nice article called "Line Boring a South Bend Lathe Headstock"
DaveK said:
I agree 100%, but Brent I noticed that you said your drilled holes were sometimes good and sometimes not so good. You should always drill undersize and then bore the hole to size using a boring bar on the tool post.
This is the ONLY way to ensure that your hole will be centered and round.
If the boring bar does not go deep enough, you can use the correct sized drill bit at that point and the bored hole will guide the bit in correctly.
It goes without saying that your bits need to be sharp.
Some people have difficulty boring to a certian size blind, (inside a hole with the tool coming out), refer to the 10 cent DRO document I attached here...it will help a lot!
Mike
OOOOPs, not sure why the attachment didn't work...if you want to see the 10 cent DRO document, try this link.
http://behindthecue.com/images/10 cent DRO.pdf
Cheers,
Mike
http://behindthecue.com/images/10 cent DRO.pdf
Cheers,
Mike
BHQ said:
There could be other reasons for not drilling straight, the main one being a wore out or cheap chuck in the tail stock. There is a reason that Chinese chucks cost 10 or 15.00 and a good Jacob's chuck is 150.00 or more and it's not just name. Cheap drill bits can be bent easily and if a bit has slipped in the jaws once then chances are there is a slight burr somewhere. The drill head may not be perfectly aligned to the Morse shaft or there can be a little burr, dirt or wear on the inside of the tail stocks barrel or shank. Just start with the easy stuff to check ruling them out and continue until the problem is corrected. Drilling holes into wood is never a precision technique as the wood grain often deflects the tracking of the bit. If using a spur bit it must be a good one as if the spur is not exactly centered on the bit with a concentric shape, it can deflect a bits travel. I use the proper size spotting bit to start all holes that I drill if I'm not intending to come back and bore.
Dick