Universal lathe tool rest with lift assist

[Matanuska]

Update:

When I checked my lathe center point alignment on my single tilt 520 using the drill chuck & a brad point bit I found the horizontal alignment was close, but off by 1/16" when the taper alignment was set to zero. The large set screw on the tie bar was flush (not doing anything). Raising it would have pushed the alignment in the wrong direction so I couldn't adjust things that way. I confirmed the way tubes were firmly seated against the stops on both ends and that the bench tubes were all the way in on the hinge end. I was surprised to find that there weren't any stops for the bench tubes on the non-hinged end, but both tubes seemed to have similar overhangs past the clamp. Then I realized my tailstock only had a single setscrew for anchoring the taper alignment wheel. Loosening it allowed me to correct the alignment so I drilled and tapped a second hole on the other side, installed a second setscrew, and fiddled with both to get alignment. Problem solved. Not a bad misalignment before the fix, but now my alignment is spot on when the taper is set to zero.

[JPG]

Care must be exercised when tightening the set screws. The rotating mt2 ring is soft and the set screws easily deform it.

[chapmanruss]

I can't tell you when the change occurred but older Tailstocks had only one set screw (seen in first picture below) to hold the eccentric center in place. Later Tailstocks have two set screws as seen in the second picture below.

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single set screw r.jpg (35.2 KiB) Viewed 17 times

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double set screw r.jpg (43.79 KiB) Viewed 17 times

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It sounds as though you have changed yours to look like the later two set screw Tailstock.

Do follow JPG's warning above.

[Matanuska]

Yes, that’s exactly what I did. I purchased mine new in 1984 and the tail stock was the one screw variety.