Thread: Hercus Turret Attachment 260 lathe

Good thinking, 99. Elegant solution. A question: What do you use the tailstock for? Can a turret not do everything a tailstock can?

A neat trick Bruce and one that I would never have thought of. The turret is heavy and I guess the reason why it resides in a box under the lathe. Do you find accessing the clamp bolt between the ways a pain in the neck? I imagine a socket on a long extension would resolve the problem.

BT

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

A neat trick Bruce and one that I would never have thought of. The turret is heavy and I guess the reason why it resides in a box under the lathe. Do you find accessing the clamp bolt between the ways a pain in the neck? I imagine a socket on a long extension would resolve the problem.

BT

Bob
That was my original thought. However I found the simpest method was to preset the clamp by fitting it & sighting at the end of the lathe, & then making fine adjustments, by fingers, until the cam lever locking arm was correct.
Then I just leave it at that setting.
Spent this morning machining the cast iron clamping piece (under the tailstock) from the "As cast" condition as supplied by Hercus, to an acceptable accuracy including spot facing the underside for a better grip of the clamp screw.
Where does all this stop.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Bryan

Good thinking, 99. Elegant solution. A question: What do you use the tailstock for? Can a turret not do everything a tailstock can?

Bruce might be having his lunch so I will put in my two bob's worth. These comments are based on my minimal experience with the attachment.

Supporting a live or dead centre is not something the turret lends itself to. The turret will get in the way in a number of operations. In my case, having a rear tool post tends to congest the workspace particularly when a drill chuck needs to fit between both toolposts.

Drilling large diameter holes is easier via the tailstock. Whilst the lever looks effective there is not the geared advantage found in say a drill press meaning you have to really lean on the lever. A bit better than the effort required to drill a hole with an electic hand drill.

Still, they are a wonderful bit of kit just to play with.

Bruce will undoubtedly be able to extol the virtues of the attachment given his ownership and use of it to earn a livelihood, better than I.

BT

Bob & Bryan
Correct, just having lunch.
Yes. spot on I agree, with all of the comments.
The tailstock is still the best for holding a centre for turning work, whether it be with the work held in a chuck, collet or between centres, & for larger hole drilling.
However for larger hole drilling & when more leverage is required, I unscrew the plastic knob on the Turret lever arm & slip over a piece of extended steel tube.
Seems to work very effectively
regards
Bruce

I got an extra tailstock with my lathe: a lever operated, but the ram is a special which only takes the unobtainium B24 collet. I was thinking about converting that one to a star-wheel operated tailstock as found optional on some variants of the Schaublin 102.

On edit, the photo is of a Schaublin 150, a true piece of carp that I'd store for anyone as an act of charity only.

Ah! The old pipe trick. Works well with spanners too! A lot of lathe manufacturers offered lever feed tailstocks as optional accessories. I would imagine that they are all limited in the maximum drilling capacity as a result of reduced leverage. Which is most likely the reason that some offered a rack and pinion set up.

BT heading up the shed to try out the Bruce Smith baseplate swap!

Originally Posted by Greg Q

I got an extra tailstock with my lathe: a lever operated, but the ram is a special which only takes the unobtainium B24 collet. I was thinking about converting that one to a star-wheel operated tailstock as found optional on some variants of the Schaublin 102.

On edit, the photo is of a Schaublin 150, a true piece of carp that I'd store for anyone as an act of charity only.

Now, that IS a tailstock!

Bob
I sent you an email this morning about a crotch centre, because of your desire for one recently.
Have a look. Thinking about it, they have mis- made the Vee in the crotch but I think I could set it up on the surface grinder & finish off if you are interested.
Bruce

I was hesitant to respond because I didn't want to be a burden Bruce. If you reckon it's not a problem then I'll raise my hand for one only No. 2 Morse.

I just spent the last hour fooling around with the turret. It's heading back into it's box. There just isn't enough room when the action is close to the chuck. How about some typical set up photos.

It has me stumped why Hercus didn't incline the turret to provide clearance. A drill bit will collide with the compound ball crank without too much trouble. Do you resort to short drills to enable uninterupted turret rotation?

BT

Bob
Sorry to put you through the exercise.
You are right there is very little room, to swing a cat, once all things are in play.
I did juggle things by using shorter drills.
However in the little drive wheels mentioned previously, that I made hundreds off, I machined the OD provided a step for a 3/4" collet to hold onto, then parted off, using the stop on the turret for a dead length.
Set up again with the toolposts front & back removed, for second operation work, on the parted off pieces.
1 Set workpiece in collet to stop on turret.
2 centre drill
3 pilot drill
4 tapping drill
4 csk drill
5 tap
6 reverse component & csk other end
Very good for this type of work, however a dedicated Capstan or Turret lathe totally designed for this work has the longer movement in the turret ram & clearance.accordingly.
I saw a nice Capstan lathe sell on Ebay only 1/2 hr drive from my place about a year ago for all of $20 I should have grabbed it.
Not a big demand for this type of equipment, but they are still great to work, & can perform very well. They just sound like music, when put into full swing.It does take a little time to set them up.
I will persevere with mine for a while.
regards
Bruce
ps I will organise the crotches.

Bob
Its 6.40pm here now & this afternoon was the first time we have seen the sun for a while, just been non stop rain
A few mins ago I was out using my favourite gardening tool a.... Chain Saw. Yes you can probably understand I am not a great gardener The sound of the saw & the memory came back.
I can recall on some other jobs with the Turret instead of using drill chucks I shortened the whole set up somewhat by using machined 3/4" OD split bushes to hold the drills in the turret.
All of this is good if you have a reasonable run of the same components.
regards
Bruce

Whats going on with the photos? I just checked this thread to see that my Schaublin 150 photo has been replaced with something else. Also the smilies have a giant photo of a loupe i,age from another thread. Don't make me call Homeland Security!

Too much mescal Gregory. The 150 is still in place!