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Tailstock interchangeability
- Thread starter maynah
- Start date
- Replies 6
- Views 1,818
michiganbuck
Diamond
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2012
- Location
- Mt Clemens, Michigan 48035
Question does not seem clear and don't know if you are talking about one brand of lathe. Some older and some still today lathes were and are made like guns with all parts made to exact match to that one lathe.. Some modern made lathes the parts are made to exact numbers so might match another machine if that machine is still like new.
daryl bane
Titanium
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2002
- Location
- East Texas
As far as I have experienced, the tops of both round dial and square dial tailstocks are the same, with all parts, ram, clamps, leadscrew, being similar and interchangeable. The difference as noted was in the thickness of the base. As far as the years...not a clue.
rimcanyon
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2002
- Location
- Salinas, CA USA
What Daryl said. To which I would add, there are at least two varieties of square dial upper castings, the early ones are the same as round dial, but the later ones use a larger dia. ram, which is big enough that it can be machined for MT3. Russ Kepler posted about that a few years ago, he made two rams one MT2 and the other MT3 for the larger tailstock. The advantage of the larger dia. really is that it will last longer without drooping since it has more contact area.
One minor difference between the upper castings is the location of the center point lube dabber. I think I have seen that in at least three different places.
-Dave
RC99
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2005
My tailstock was factory fitted with a 1/4" spacer to make it a 12.5" swing model, no doubt so old height tailstock base castings could be used up.
