Tailstock Upgrade

[grauenwolf]

Does anyone make an upgraded tailstock for the Mark V? The one it comes with is great for turning but it has way too much flex for horizontal boring.

Essentially the problem is all the weight from the chuck and drill bit cause it to sag, which in turn means my holes look like funnels.

Jonathan

[rkh2]

Jonathan

I don't believe that the tail stock is meant to be used for boring support. Generally what you need to do is use your table top as a support for whatever you want to bore. Just clamp the material to the table top and then align the stock with the drill bit and run the drill into the stationary material with the quill. If you have the power tool woodworking for everyone book, there is a chapter on how to set up the SS for a boring operation. Also below is a link to the shopsmith website that shows how to use the machine in the boring mode. Hope this info helps you.

http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/hor_borng.htm

[reible]

Hi,

Just to make sure I understand what you are doing... I'm picturing the tailstock with the MT2 to drill chuck adapter and the shopsmith chuck and then some drill bit. At the other end you have a piece mounted for lathe operations that you want to drill. Is that about right?

What I can answer is that I have not seen any replacement tail stock from any company that would fit the shopsmith. I will also say I have done several operations like candle sticks were the base was turned then drilled to except a spindle and things like that and have not noticed any problems such as sagging. I guess I'd say check your setup and let the tool do the work... if you are forcing it maybe things are over stressed. If you are cutting end grain that is tough to do and extra effort in planning maybe required like step drilling or getting a different types of drill bit.

Ed

Does anyone make an upgraded tailstock for the Mark V? The one it comes with is great for turning but it has way too much flex for horizontal boring.

Essentially the problem is all the weight from the check and drill bit cause it to sag, which in turn means my holes look like funnels.

Jonathan

[JPG]

Did you mistype "chuck" as "check" in your initial post??? If so, make sure the adjustable (shiney silver part with red (maybe black) lettering on it for "tapered turning" is tight! If it is loose or miscentered, the tailstock adapter/chuck/bit will NOT be aligned with live center or center of workpiece.

HOPE THIS HELPS!!!:D Do you understand what Ed meant by "Step Drilling"?

[charlese]

Does anyone make an upgraded tailstock for the Mark V? The one it comes with is great for turning but it has way too much flex for horizontal boring.

Essentially the problem is all the weight from the check and drill bit cause it to sag, which in turn means my holes look like funnels.

Jonathan

After a little thought (I need time for that) I Think you are boring a hole into a turned object using the lathe.

This sould work well.!!! Provided you have the drill chuck mounted on the tailstock using the tailstock chuck arbor -(http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... karbor.htm )
and the workpiece is centered on the turning chuck (or faceplate) you should get a straight hole, not a funnel.

If you continuously produce funnel shaped holes - I would guess the side of the hole farthest from the entry point is off center.

What type drill bit are you using?

[grauenwolf]

Just to make sure I understand what you are doing... I'm picturing the tailstock with the MT2 to drill chuck adapter and the shopsmith chuck and then some drill bit. At the other end you have a piece mounted for lathe operations that you want to drill. Is that about right?

That's exactly what I'm doing. It is usually a great technique for getting holes centered, but I'm drilling pen blanks and I cannot afford the 1/16th of an inch slop I'm getting at one end of the blank.

I've been giving it some thought and I think I can get better results if I use a center drill to start the hole. Hopefully that will be enough to get the drill bit back in line long enough to start drilling.

Still, a stiffer tailstock would be nice.

Jonathan

[rkh2]

Jonathan

The link below may be useful to you for drilling pen blanks. I used the tail stock with the drill chuck in it to drill out pepper mills using forstner bits and with the pepper mill mounted in the chuck on the power end. I guess you could do something as small as a pen blank using this method with whatever drill bit you need for the pen blank, but I personally use my table with a jig such as the attached link.


http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=28

[grauenwolf]

If you continuously produce funnel shaped holes - I would guess the side of the hole farthest from the entry point is off center.

What type drill bit are you using?

No, it is the entry point that's giving me problems. The alignment is fine when I check it with centers, its only the long drill bits that are giving me problems.

I'm using a brad point drill bit sold specifically for drilling pen blanks.

Jonathan

[grauenwolf]

The link below may be useful to you for drilling pen blanks...

Yea, I'm thinking about doing that as a fall-back. I learned lathe work on metal cutting lathes, so the very idea of having the drill spin instead of the part just seems so alien to me. Especially when a self-centering chuck usually makes the setup to easy.

Jonathan

[charlese]

Finally I'm beginning to understand, now that we know you are into making pens. Pen making seems to me to be a very specialized sub-set of woodworking. Although I'm not into that activity, I couldn't help but notice quite a few pen turning questions and answers in this forum.

With a bit searching around you will find a bunch of material on turning pens right here. Maybe some of the "Pen Folks" will read this and come to your assistance. From what I've seen pictured, the "Pen Folks" all seem to use the drill chuck on the headstock side.

I just don't know why the entry point of a drilled out tube would become larger than the end point. I have no explanation for this at all. Not even a guess.