Shop Made Tailstock

Create a review for a woodworking tool that you are familiar with (Shopsmith brand or Non-Shopsmith) or just post your opinion on a specific tool. Head to head comparisons welcome too.

Moderators: HopefulSSer, admin

Post Reply
DLB
Platinum Member
Posts: 1985
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2019 11:24 am
Location: Joshua Texas

Shop Made Tailstock

Post by DLB »

My most recent procurement included this excellent shop made tailstock for M5/V/7. This reduces flex considerably, I suspect it could be further improved with heavier walled tubes. It is made from old-school straight tube SPT mounts and a cut down base arm. The central piece (gray in the pic) is heavy steel plate, drilled and tapped for the connecting hardware:

Custom Tailstock.jpg
Custom Tailstock.jpg (127.27 KiB) Viewed 1667 times

As far as I can tell the stop collars do nothing for this, and I've removed them. The modified Base Arm is also drilled and bolted to the steel plate. Not visible in the picture is another SPT lock handle.

I also noted a similar but less robust approach in an ad. Also note what appears to be a 'dust' collection feature for the lathe:

Lathe Tailstock Idea.jpg
Lathe Tailstock Idea.jpg (384.05 KiB) Viewed 1667 times

- David
Hobbyman2
Platinum Member
Posts: 2660
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 12:52 am
Location: Ohio

Re: Shop Made Tailstock

Post by Hobbyman2 »

interesting , is that block made from aluminum ?
Hobbyman2 Favorite Quote: "If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
User avatar
JPG
Platinum Member
Posts: 34610
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:42 pm
Location: Lexington, Ky (TAMECAT territory)

Re: Shop Made Tailstock

Post by JPG »

Both very robust top side but I believe the weak link is the spt mount itself.
╔═══╗
╟JPG ╢
╚═══╝

Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
DLB
Platinum Member
Posts: 1985
Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2019 11:24 am
Location: Joshua Texas

Re: Shop Made Tailstock

Post by DLB »

Hobbyman2 wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:29 pm interesting , is that block made from aluminum ?
Yes, the block is.
JPG wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 10:36 pm Both very robust top side but I believe the weak link is the spt mount itself.
Yes, there's that. Partially because the SPT lock handle is not in the best axis, though it is pretty convenient. I found a way to improve on that with the heavy walled eccentric mounts, but they are inherently worse to start with. I recall seeing some Bill Mayo posts where he added a setscrew or similar 90 degrees to the SPT lock in both Base Arms and Headrests. That seems pretty logical, you could use them or not depending on what you were doing. Do you recall seeing any testing results for that?

- David
User avatar
JPG
Platinum Member
Posts: 34610
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:42 pm
Location: Lexington, Ky (TAMECAT territory)

Re: Shop Made Tailstock

Post by JPG »

Nope.
╔═══╗
╟JPG ╢
╚═══╝

Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
fredeharley55
Bronze Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon May 16, 2022 10:33 am

Re: Shop Made Tailstock

Post by fredeharley55 »

DLB wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 5:46 pm My most recent procurement included this excellent shop made tailstock for M5/V/7. This reduces flex considerably, I suspect it could be further improved with heavier walled tubes. It is made from old-school straight tube SPT mounts and a cut down base arm. The central piece (gray in the pic) is heavy steel plate, drilled and tapped for the connecting hardware:


Custom Tailstock.jpg


As far as I can tell the stop collars do nothing for this, and I've removed them. The modified Base Arm is also drilled and bolted to the steel plate. Not visible in the picture is another SPT lock handle.

I also noted a similar but less robust approach in an ad. Also note what appears to be a 'dust' collection feature for the lathe:


Lathe Tailstock Idea.jpg


- David
woaaw ! so interesting...
Post Reply