Thread: Coronet 3 tailstock - live centre stuck

Steve
I am not familiar with this lathe , but make sure the locking lever is unlocked . This should be a small lever near the front of the tailstock just behind where the quill comes out .
Ted

On this lathe its a screw on top that has a small handle to tighten the quill (am I showing off here with flash terminology or just plain wrong) and that was the first thing I checked. The previous owner tells me he always turned outboard (swivelling headstock) so never used or removed it- lots of rust in hollow when I sprayed oil then inserted the correct sized steel rod (big tent peg) and hammered unsuccessfully
Steve

Originally Posted by turnerted

Steve
I am not familiar with this lathe , but make sure the locking lever is unlocked . This should be a small lever near the front of the tailstock just behind where the quill comes out .
Ted

Can you take the quill out and stand it up with the centre downward, and then pour or spray some penetrant inside the spindle and let it soak for a few days, then give it another try with the bar. You could try applying a bit of heat when it comes time to try knocking the centre out to help crack the lock between the two.

Steve
I must have had a brain fade when I posted my reply yesterday . Infact I always tighten up the quill lock when knocking out the live centre . Sorry for the confusion .
Do what Treecycle said.
Ted

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Can you take the quill out and stand it up with the centre downward, and then pour or spray some penetrant inside the spindle and let it soak for a few days, then give it another try with the bar. You could try applying a bit of heat when it comes time to try knocking the centre out to help crack the lock between the two.

I would do the above and apply several heat and cool cycles. Get it as hot as you can with a hair dryer or until the oil smokes with a heat gun or torch. After a couple days of soaking and several heat, let cool, add oil, heat cycles, put it in the tail stock leaving about 30mm sticking out, lock everything down, heat the part sticking out & give it some more sharp whacks with the knock out bar. If that doesn't work, take it to and engineer with a press ahd have it pressed out.

I have not ever had the above method fail me, but it has taken several days of oil, heat, beat on it, cycles before I got things loose.

If it is really scabby rusty as though it has been sitting on the ground or outside for a long time, put the quill in a pot with hand dish washing soap and heat to boiling to get out the oil. Boil in clear water, then cover with white vinegar and heat to boiling, take off and let sit a couple of days. Then pour off vinegar and boil in clear water, take out, let dry and apply penetrating Il, stick in headstock and try knocking out again.

Keep persisting.

In case anyone else has this problem. The Coronet CL3 does not have a hollow head stock (which I knew) but also doesnt have a hollow tail stock so my bashing a bar into the tailstock wasn't doing much good ). After much soaking in lubricant (which come to think of it wouldn't have done any good as it would never have gotten to the stuck MT1) , I was finally able to get the live centre out and have cleaned up the associated MT tailstock - will ensure I remove this frequently so it doesn't jam again.

However thank you everyone for the suggestions which would have been useful in a normal lathe - but I am still enjoying using it and learning (primarily what not to do but that's still learning)

Steve