Tailstock alignment

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sat May 24, 2008 1:27 am

I was just about to do some turning and decided to check alignment of the tail-stock and headstock. When I extend the quill with the drive center and insert a live center in the tail-stock, then set the adjustment ring on the tail-stock to its middle position the two points are 1/4" apart. If I adjust the points to be aligned and adjust the tail-stock height the pointer on the tail-stock is two marks over.

In the configuration everything is aligned butI am not sure something is not wrong.

If this is confusing I can try to post a picture tomorrow.

ldh · Post by **ldh** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:38 am

Paul,
I use a 1/4" router chuck with a 6" piece of 1/4" drill rod mounted on the quill side and a 1/4" router chuck mounted on the tailstock side to align the tailstock. I adjust to the point that I can extend the drill rod into the tailstock mounted router chuck, then I know I have good alignment. I find this easier than trying to align by sight. Do post the pics for others to look at the problem.
LDH

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:40 am

Yeah Paul - Your finding has me buffaloed too! I can understand the vertical difference (related to the collars), but the horizontal off set has me scratching my head. Without playing with my machine, the only causes I can figure are: a canted live center (try another center) or the drive center is somehow off center. If the headstock has not been tightened onto the way bars, it seems any displacement would be real minor.

Ah ha! just had a thought that perhaps your center adjustment ring has somehow gotten off set while tightening the set screws. I suppose that could happen if the set screws have made indentations in the soft ring.

All in all, if the points are aligned, there shouldn't be a problem with your turning. When my centers are aligned the adjustment ring is about half of a mark off of center. That's the way it has been from the get go!

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:56 am

Hi Paul,

I think nothing bad will happen as long as the two points are lined up properly. This is why the tailstock is adjustable.

There could be a couple of things out of wack that can cause this problem.

First, check what I call the tightening bolt that is used to hold/tighten the accessory's tubes to the mounting bracket. If you watch what happens when you turn this, two bolts come out of each side. Sometimes these get out of adjustment and causes one bolt to extend out further than the other while tightening them. This can cause a bind on the tailstocks tubes and move the entire tailstock out of alignment.

Second, check the stop collars on the tailstock and make sure one hasn't moved out of place. Mine did this once and caused the tailstock to mount at a slant and throw it out of alignment.

Finally, if you have done a lot of turning the morse taper could have finally gone out-of-round causing the live center to line up differently. This can happen if you always use a lot of pressure to hold your turnings. The SS tailstock's morse taper isn't as strong as most other lathes because of the way it's made.

Hope these ideas help you.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:29 am

ldh wrote:Paul,
I use a 1/4" router chuck with a 6" piece of 1/4" drill rod mounted on the quill side and a 1/4" router chuck mounted on the tailstock side to align the tailstock. I adjust to the point that I can extend the drill rod into the tailstock mounted router chuck, then I know I have good alignment. I find this easier than trying to align by sight. Do post the pics for others to look at the problem.
LDH

The manual reccommends using the drill chuck and the point of the drive center mounted in the tailstock. Seeing a 1/4" difference does not require anything so fancy though.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:48 am

charlese wrote: All in all, if the points are aligned, there shouldn't be a problem with your turning. When my centers are aligned the adjustment ring is about half of a mark off of center. That's the way it has been from the get go!

1/2 a mark, 2 marks the question is why is this adjustment necessary?

Which part is causing the misalignment that necessitates the adjustment? Is there some part that is worn and needs replacement or do all machines have this issue to some degree?

I find it interesting that the adjustment ring is labeled, I think for turning tapers so I would have assumed that the zero means something.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat May 24, 2008 8:16 am

Isn't that why the tailstock is adjustable?

I have always had to adjust the ring and I doubt if it has ever been right at zero.

To be dead on, even after the machine has been reconfigured and moved around the shop and loaded into the truck and setup at the grand kids house and moved back to the shop, doesn't seem very likely.

Thus, an adjustable tailstock......and main table, and extension table, and ... etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

This might be a different story if one uses the Shopsmith as a lathe and once setup it remains setup. Does anyone with a Shopsmith do that?

If the answer is yes, why do you have a Shopsmith?

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Sat May 24, 2008 1:13 pm

Paul
Let me understand your observation. When first mount the tailstock you notice the live center was off both horizontally and vertically. You aligned it horizontally and then attempted to align it vertically. But when you raised it up you noitce it was now out of horizontal alignment. Is that correct?

If it is. I would say you SS is sitting on something not totally level and the way tubes are twisted slightly. That would twist the holder so as the tailstock is moved up or down instead of moving perfectly vertical it is moving in a slight off vertical plane. It would move the center slightly to the left or to the right as you raise it.

My guess the floor is not level or your casters are have the shopsmith twisted. I would throw a level on the floor, if it is level then I would throw the level accross the way tube. The are probably out. If the floor is level I would guess your casters need to be slightly adjusted to make the way tube level. Once you get the whole thing level you will probably have to redoe all your adjustments since the tube set was racked when you originally did them. My best guess.
Ed

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:30 pm

Paul,

I had problems with my tail stock being out of alignment when my 520 was new from the factory. When I attended a traveling academy it was pointed out just as Dusty suggested that the "0" mark on the tail stock is not a true measurment of being in line. I had to remove that ring and reinsert it rotating it until it was inline with the head stock. Once completing that adjustment all lines up perfectly and turning is a pleasure. Jim

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sat May 24, 2008 5:59 pm

dusty wrote:
This might be a different story if one uses the Shopsmith as a lathe and once setup it remains setup. Does anyone with a Shopsmith do that?

If the answer is yes, why do you have a Shopsmith?

Because it is a world class variable speed lathe and for the price hard to beat.

My real point if it is just an adjustment ring why label it when the values will never be correct?