Tailstock for Vertex Rotary Table

[Big Shed]

Picked up a 6" Vertex Rotary Table today but forgot to look at the tailstock for this.

Could someone tell me what centre is in these? Is it a MT2 dead centre, if so could one replace it with a MT2 live centre?

[Dave J]

If their like the one's in the link below, their is no MT centre in them, they just have a strait shafted centre in them that can be wound back and forth.
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Indexing-Heads-and-Rotary-Table-Tailstocks
You will have to make something up if you want a live centre in it, but jobs on a rotary table aren't going fast so their is really no need for it.
I could see a MT being handy for something like a pipe centre but again it's something that will need to be made up.
One way to do it would be to buy a MT2 to MT3 and machine down the shank strait to fit the tail stock. The standard centre has a slot cut along one side of the to stop it rotating as well, but it could be done away with as it gets clamped tight by a separate bolt.

Dave

[Dave J]

Just a tip, if you go to buy one, see if you can have a look at a few because some are not machined the best. I have seen them with the 2 slots machine either side of centre and the hold down slots machined off set as well.

Dave

[Big Shed]

Yep, that's the one.

Was rather hoping it would be like this one (http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1802&category=), but I could always buy one of them I suppose.

Have a special application in mind, doesn't really need the live part, but would like to be able some of the attachments in my MT2 live centre set.

[Big Shed]

Just a tip, if you go to buy one, see if you can have a look at a few because some are not machined the best. I have seen them with the 2 slots machine either side of centre and the hold down slots machined off set as well.

Dave

That wouldn't be a problem, the place where I bought my mill, Standaco, has stock and their service is superb and their prices are also better than H&F:2tsup:

[Dave J]

I am not sure how to interpret what that add states.
The picture of it looks like it has a strait centre in it, could it be that it comes with a MT2 dead centre to use in the matching rotary table and not the tail stock?

Dave

[rusty steel]

Hello Big Shed,
I have a tailstock with a removable No.2 Morse centre ,which I imported from China with some other accessories for my mill. It cost $62.00 US about four years ago. The company which I bought it from was "Anhui Chizhou Household MachineTool Co. Ltd." It is very well made but the centre height is not adjustable. I had to machine up a spacer plate and attach it to the base to get the centre height to match my indexing head.
Russell

[Big Shed]

Thanks for that Russell, I did a Google search and found their website but they don't seem to list anything like a tailstock on their website, just whole machines like lathes.

Thanks for responding though, would be interesting to see a picture of your tailstock.

[Dave J]

If you have a lathe with a MT2, you could just make up another base for it to use when you need it on the mill with the rotary table.
After buying my tailstock years ago and seeing it's design, I thought of this as an option to have a MT3 so it was interchangeable with the lathe gear, but after all this time I haven't needed it yet.
One day I will need it for a job, then it will double the time of the job because I will have to make the base.

Dave

[Big Shed]

Don't think I would be too keen to take the tailstock off my lathe, but you got me thinking (always a painful exercise!)

Remembered seeing this (http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1884&category=) on LMS. As this has a centre height of 90mm and the 6" Vertex Rotary Table has a centre height of 100m, it would be a definite possibility.

Price is not bad either!

[Dave J]

If you were just clamping it to a plate it wouldn't hurt you lathe one.
The guy Russell was talking about might be cheaper for one. I am sure I have seen tail stocks on Alibaba.com.

Dave