Tailstock question

bluearc · Oct 28, 2012

The live center locks in and won't release by cranking back on the dial, it sticks and needs to be encouraged out with a leather mallet.
there is a screw on the back end also.
Here is a pic of the rear of it.

Here is another pic of it mounted in the tailstock.

Do I need to add something like a sleeve or what.

thanks,

maxmartnl · Oct 28, 2012

Hi,
You can carefully turn out the screw in the back of the center to see if this is for covering a needle bearing(third bearing) in the taper of the center. In this case try to make a short covering-screw and a longer setscrew to push the center out when the barrel is almost fully reversed.
If there's no needle bearing the screw is a setscrew to extend the back end. When yoy turn it out, you should get a length where the center is forced out of the barrel when it has been almost completely reversed.
You might also clean up the taper a bit, and grease the dial-bearing if it is running dry. These centers should be pushed out by the compressed air when reversing the barrel completely, a clean fit is a must.
Regards,
Max

traditional-tools · Oct 28, 2012

FWIW I wouldn't get in the habit of laying any metal objects across your ways. Even though it's just a live center in your first pic, it's not a good habit to get into IMO. Always put a board under the chuck when removing so it doesn't drop on your ways also. You probably know this, but just wanted to remind you.

IronReb · Oct 28, 2012

Inside of most tail stocks I have worked with there is a pin in there that pushes the tool out of the taper when you retract the quill all the way.If the tooling has a tang on it like on a tapered drill and most live centers there is not a problem.On your model of livecenter there is no tang to be pushed against.
One of our small lathe live centers needed a small plug inserted into the end of it that stuck out about a half inch,problem solved.

I see your is a different model than ours so that is not as easy an option.You could make a replacment plug with a tang on it that sticks out about a half inch or so past end of taper as Max hinted on.
Or simply find some scrap plate/flatbar laying around and make a tapered fork that slips between back of live centers head and end of TS to remove it...think drill drift.

lazarus · Oct 28, 2012

You might regret using a pickle fork between the center head and barrel. Not sure what you would do to the bearings putting thrust in a direction it wasn't intended for.

Ben

IronReb · Oct 28, 2012

lazarus said:
You might regret using a pickle fork between the center head and barrel. Not sure what you would do to the bearings putting thrust in a direction it wasn't intended for.

Ben

Very true depending on how the livecenter is assembled,I could be way off but from the pictures it looks like the back of the center is one peice with the shank so there wouldn't be an issue of shoving it off the bearings.A fork making contact right at the shank (closer to center) has got to be better than pounding it out with a soft hammer as he currently is.

iwananew10K · Oct 30, 2012

i just use a tool holder between the casting and back of the center, and unscrew the handwheel as normal.

vandis · Oct 30, 2012

Pounding with mallet? Pickle forks? Yikes!!

If the tapered piece, whatever it is, won't eject when you back the tailstock ram all the way in, then the best solution is to run the ram out all the way and pull it out of the tailstock. Take a piece of brass or aluminum rod an stick it down the threaded hole from the back of the ram and tap it with a hammer and the taper will get ejected.

I've found this to be a fairly common problem with #2 morse taper products I've purchased recently. They don't seem to sit down into the taper as far as some of the older, original South Bend tooling.

For a permanent solution, you could ream the tapered hole in the tailstock ram a little larger but I really do not recommend this. A rather crude but very effective short-term solution would be to just drop a small slug of brass, maybe 1/2" diameter by 3/8" long down into the tapered hole in the ram and just let it live in there. It will effectively lengthen the tailstock screw and make sure the taper gets ejected when you back the ram into the tailstock.

Some folks drill and tap the end of the tapered appliance and put a small machine screw into it, giving it a little bit of extra length.

The deluxe solution is to make a new tailstock screw that's about 1/4" longer than the original and thus fix the problem permanently.

yachtsmanbill · Oct 30, 2012

Couldnt you remove the quill and mill an ejection slot for a drift like an American Pacemaker has? I guess Im lucky as my SB does eject all the tooling Ive got but I sometimes wonder. ws

mcruff · Oct 30, 2012

vandis said:
Pounding with mallet? Pickle forks? Yikes!!

If the tapered piece, whatever it is, won't eject when you back the tailstock ram all the way in, then the best solution is to run the ram out all the way and pull it out of the tailstock. Take a piece of brass or aluminum rod an stick it down the threaded hole from the back of the ram and tap it with a hammer and the taper will get ejected.

I've found this to be a fairly common problem with #2 morse taper products I've purchased recently. They don't seem to sit down into the taper as far as some of the older, original South Bend tooling.

For a permanent solution, you could ream the tapered hole in the tailstock ram a little larger but I really do not recommend this. A rather crude but very effective short-term solution would be to just drop a small slug of brass, maybe 1/2" diameter by 3/8" long down into the tapered hole in the ram and just let it live in there. It will effectively lengthen the tailstock screw and make sure the taper gets ejected when you back the ram into the tailstock.

Some folks drill and tap the end of the tapered appliance and put a small machine screw into it, giving it a little bit of extra length.

The deluxe solution is to make a new tailstock screw that's about 1/4" longer than the original and thus fix the problem permanently.

I just silver solder a plug on the back of the offending taper to lengthen by about 1/4"-3/8".
Please do not cut a slot in the south bend quill, these things are soft and after a couple of times of using a drift your quill will not pull back in until deburr'd.

kitno455 · Oct 30, 2012

I would not silver solder on something that might contain a bearing. Just superglue a little brass cylinder to the end of the center. Easy to knock it off later.

allan

mcruff · Oct 30, 2012

kitno455 said:
I would not silver solder on something that might contain a bearing. Just superglue a little brass cylinder to the end of the center. Easy to knock it off later.

allan

Do it upright and pinpoint the heat and the bearing never got warm to the touch.
Have done it twice now with no problems.

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