Adjustment of Tailstock need advice

Hi 

I have startet to make my self a Tailstock for my Vertex HV 4 and I do need a little advice on the best way to make the adjustment of the unit

Johnny Gleden

Edited By Johnny Gleden on 27/10/2013 13:41:03

Edited By Johnny Gleden on 27/10/2013 13:41:30

Johnny, personally I would re-think your project, why do you need both lateral and vertical adjustment? Why not stick with the lateral adjustment so you can align with the table centre when used as a dividing head but the height need only be the same as your table centre which is easy to ascertain with slips or a height gauge etc.

I would also make a tenon for both the table and the tailstock to suit your mill table T slots thus once set you will rarely if ever need to re-adjust the tailstock except after moving it for some reason. For this adjustment consider fixing a plate on each side of the base block with a tapped hole in the centre for a grub screw to centralise the main pillar similar to that used on many lathes.

When in industry I can't recall using a dividing head with such an adjustable tailstock but many of the imported ones have this type of adjustment.

Just my thoughts. John

Hi

Thank you, thank you very much for the answer and the good advise

Also my question might also have been a little strange and not that clear...English is not my native lanaguage

You are perfectly right, I should not need the vertical adjustment as you say

I will rethink and make the changes, skip the vertical adjustment and only keep the lateral adjustment

I will also look into the idea with the tenon for both teh table and the tailstock

Actualy this where my problem... my silly idea where to complex..stupid me as a greenhorn to the hobby where thinking that I did need a lot of adjustment to make it work well

I almost whent down in the "basement" and had the idea to put all my machines up on ebay and go back to the sofa and the TV

It is not the first "peaces" that will end up in the drawer...waiting on som other clever idea from the back of my head

When this "big" ide hit me...to make an tailstock with lot of adjustments...belive it or not, I where sober

Johnny

I have a tail stock for my 6" Vertex rotary table, I think it's designed to also be used with an 8" table. The main body is basicly an angle plate with a vertical slot that the centre bolts to. The horizontal part is held in place by two bolts, the bottom one is in a curved slot, allowing about 15* to 20* rotation in the vertical direction(don't know why), over the last 20yrs I might have used it three times, but then when you need it, you need it don't you. Ian S C

Hi Johnny and Guys
The one I made as John said . I found centre height with slips ect and fitted a tenon and  sideways adjustment 
 only as you can see it was fabricated using steel .Notice rule and pointer for setting depths and micrometer dial  Keep metal working
Regards Nobby

Edited By Nobby on 30/10/2013 10:16:10

I wouldn't despair Johnny,

Even if you change your design, taht's a neat and ingenious bit of machining.

My dividing head tailstock is just a chunk of bar held to 4mm plate with capscrews, with a hole through for a simple silver-steel centre, locked by another capscrew. As basic as it can get, but it works every time.

Neil

I machined a crankshaft using a Rotary Table with a tailstock supporting one end. The tailstock was supplied with the RT and has height adjustment. This made the setup up quite simple.

The upper and lower halves of the tailstock are effectively wedges, the screw pulls the halves together, causing the centre to rise. The camera has lied about the length of the bed by the way.

Hi

Thank you all for all the help and advice

Finally I am finished with the parts and the unit

Broke a tap..and some other small faults... her and there...the "finish" do not look nice at all, but it it is working and it is my first parts ever made... I will hopefully learn......

I am able to adjust the tailstock sideways ( 20mm away from the knob-10mm against the knob )

Adjustment up/down ( 73mm - 100mm )

Johnny

If that is the first tool you ever made you are doing just fine.

Wish my first attempt at anythig was half as good.

Hello Johnny Gleden

That is a great first project piece, nice to see a piece of original design too. Clearly the quality of your piece shows great skill in working with metal. What machines did you use to make it?

The opposing dovetails that support the slide for vertical movement are an intriguing concept. If I understand the photographs correctly there is a brass screw that clamps the the vertical carriage by pressing against the side of the carriage.
I wonder a little about this? does it have a tendency to push the dovetail that holds the set screw away from the central column? I suspect it might.

If you have not already been there MIT University have a place called purgatory, sort of a dungeon where they keep papers on engineering, some are available to the public. You may find it interesting.

**LINK**
In Particular you may like to read on Kinematic design
Click on the documents link left side of page menu

**LINK**
Some of the papers are heavy reading but the illustrations alone will assist you in future designs.

Also the fundamentals of design page is a must read.
**LINK**

Regards
John Mac

Hi

"John"

Thank you for the links

I do not have any skills in metal work, I am actually a retired Plant Manager from the printing/packaging industri What I have learn is from this website and from Youtube..and of cause by failing/trying, I still have all my fingers where they belong.There are a lot of smart and skilled people on this forum so it is a good place to collect some skills and information .Lot of people on this forum are like an big "engineering manual " online

I did use a Chester DB8VS Lathe and a Chester Champion 20VS mill I did bought late 2011

Terrible machines if talking about quality and accuracy. I have spend months/year adjusting the machines, but the machines are actualy only good for making small garden fence wood poles, if you put them in the back of the house and not in front where everyone can see them

... life is to short to spend time with this type of things......I am now saving money for some other machines to replace the ones I do have.I will give the old machines away to my brother as a mooring for his boat after I have removed the clamping levers from the mill and put them in a box as they can usable for locks on my tailstock

You are right..there is one screw that is moving the tailstock sideways. It moves very easy sideways and there is not much forse needed on the screw( knob) to make it to move ( tread inside the carriage ) , its also is actually very stable in all direction, but the dowtail need to be made very accurate, if not it will make some movment if it does not have a really tight fit or are made to tight to not move easy with the adjustment screw

I actually had a plan to make a lock to lock the part from moving sideways during use as a safety and to pick up eventually som slack in the construction, same as I did on the movment up/down with a lock screw, but I did skip the lock when I found out how stiff it actualy is after the assembling, but it it si clearly a week point if not locked....I do belive, if som heavy force will occure from the mill by heavy usage or by accident. I did test the tailstock with the Vertex table in the mill, but only with som light cut and easy testing to check all the functions....Huummmm..

Your right.....I will start to plan how to make an lock to stop the small movment that the tailstock might have in the sideways construction during use..I also need to order some corner rounding end mills, or to make me one out of silversteel or to make one from an used drill bit for use on the tailstock to improve the look and to get the edges and corner rounded

Johnny

Johnny, who told you the DB 8VS 7 the 20 VS were rubbish, if they were that bad, you should have returned them, and got replacements that are fit for service. Ian S C

Johnny Gledden wrote:

"I did use a Chester DB8VS Lathe and a Chester Champion 20VS mill I did bought late 2011Terrible machines if talking about quality and accuracy. I have spend months/year adjusting the machines, but the machines are actualy only good for making small garden fence wood poles, if you put them in the back of the house and not in front where everyone can see them"

As Ian has said, this is a pretty damning statement. As somebody who is hoping to collect one of these lathes this weekend it really does require a bit of clarification

Though I can say, on the two occassions I have contacted Chester - I still await a reply!

Hi

I have been using a Chester DB7V lathe for several years now and have had no problems with it. As with any new piece of kit it needed fine tuning to get it to the standard I required. I can reliably replicate parts to close tolerances, I don't mean the woodworking variety either, and find that allowing for backlash, as per most lathes, the dials are very accurate. If in fact this series of lathes were as bad as stated above there would be howls of protests on the Chester forum. As this is not the case I leave readers to draw their own conclusions as to the quality of the machines!

Secondly I have had superb after sales service from Chester along with others such as Warco, RDG etc and they have all been willing to rectify any problems that may arise, usual disclaimers etc.

Cheers

Martin

MartinW wrote:

"I have been using a Chester DB7V lathe for several years now and have had no problems with it."

This is very comforting to know because I take delivery of mine (DB7VS) on Saturday ))

I have to say, when I called Chester about something to do with my Century Mill Paul didn't know but went off to find out and came back to me within half an hour. However, their "automated website" system seems to just Black Hole my messages, so I will use the 'phone.

I will also add my endorsement in that all of the small and large companies I have dealt with have been exceptionally helpful. I was just reminiscing the other day (as you do) and remember the days when you actually sent off a hand written note with a cheque and trhen sometime into the future all your order would just appear?

graham.