Thread: About a low cost Tailstock Turret...

Cba,
It looks like the Chinese still know how to get every last bit of metal out of the pot into a job.Good to see that you were able to recover the the turret as they sure do look like they would save you a lot of time,bending that arbour must have taken a bit of effort as well.
Bob

Chris,

I've often wished I had a tailstock mounted turret such as yours. I've toyed with the idea of a home madey but have gotten bogged down with the indexing mechanism which I would think is the key to the turret's accuracy. I have a Hercus capstan attachment. Setting its spring loaded gibbed indexing finger is a real prick of a thing ( I think Hercus revised the design for the 260 version, mine's a 9 ) Too much tightness on the gib causes sticking of the finger and no indexing. Too loose and the turret moves. Less than a whisker between the two. How well does the indexer work on yours and could you imagine any improvement? Tapered pin and seat?

Bob.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Chris, I've often wished I had a tailstock mounted turret such as yours.

Send me an email - we might be able to work something out. Assuming I can find the one I know I have (MT2 BTW), and was last seen in 2002..... PDW

MEW had one in a couple of years ago, can find it if anyone is interested in making it. Was going to make one for my wood lathe but the metal one died, still waiting on a motor for it
Kryn

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Chris............ How well does the indexer work on yours and could you imagine any improvement? ........

Bob, this tapered pin indexer does actually a very accurate job. I would say it is the most positive feature of this design. It does at times require strong finger force on its actuator lever to release the revolver. Especially if not used for a while. I guess that is the downside of using a tapered pin. But engagement is always crisp and positive, just rotate the revolver until it "clicks in". That said, such a turret is I think not intended for highest precision drilling, but for occasional repetition work where average tolerances will do. I believe the indexing itself can repeat to 1/100 mm, but to work there is also some play needed in the revolver mount, probably another 1-2/100mm. Then there is the toolholder that goes into the revolver, add another 1/100mm. At the end, its a repetition accuracy of about 1/20mm all up. Good enough to work reliably to say +/-0.1mm, which certainly represents the vast majority of tasks done from the tailstock.

I have wondered why they use such a small taper to attach the head to the arbor. It is almost a JT1, but not exactly, I tried a JT1 I has and its just a tad too small. That is probably the weakest point in this design. I used a "blank" MT2 arbor (some years ago Chronos had an irresistible special and I bought half a dozen MT2 and 3 blanks each for exactly such projects).

L H Sparey in his book the Amateur's Lathe has a Tail Stock Turret which is quite a easy one to make ,and I made mine back in the early 80s , quite a strait forward job to do, I had only a lathe and milling attachment so with a mill it would be much better to do, there is a drawing in the book but it is on the small size but will put it up if any one want it.

Eddie.
I forgot to mention this has a 3 mt for the tail stock.

For anyone still considering making a tailstock turret then my three way turret may be worth considering. It can be found here-http://www.homews.co.uk/page413.html

The page describes the turret but then provides a link to another website for whom I initially provided the article. The article contains the drawings and an explanation of the manufacturing methods.

As this is primarily a woodworking forum some may like to look at my cabinet making pages. http://www.homews.co.uk/page14.html

If unaware of my website, then the book style index for the metalworking pages (now about 550) would be a good place to start. http://www.homews.co.uk/page463.html

Harold Hall