Tailstock alignment

I picked up some MT2 drill chucks and a headstock dead center last weekend, and set up the dead centers point to point, only to discover the points differ in elevation by about 3/32! Yikes. I pulled the headstock and tailstock and very carefully cleaned all the mating surfaces- no luck. The headstock center's point is still about 3/32" higher than the tailstock center's point.

I guess this means something is worn. The bed under the headstock still shows the scraping marks, so I imagine thats OK- so I imagine its a tailstock and/or bed wear issue.

Being a newbie, I'm not quite sure how to test this further. If anyone has any hints wrt diagnostics or what the fix for this might require, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Gregm

Gregm:

A height mismatch is not uncommon, although 3/32 seems like a lot. Can you shim your tailstock?

George

I'll give it a try- actually its more like 3/64- whats 1/64th here and there?...

It seems like both the tailstock and carriage ways are worn in the expected places. In this case the tailstock ways thicken as they approach the headstock, so I suppose this means the tailstock base is certainly worn too.

Thanks,

Gregm

It is unlikly that the tailstock and ways could wear that much since there is no load on the tailstock when you move it.
It is likely that the tailstock is not the original one fitted to the lathe.
Measure the difference and shim between the base and the tailstock

unlikly but true,, my 9 in had about .020 ware on the bottom of the tailstock, so shim to compensate, usind di mounted in chuck .sweep dead center, with tailstock wound in and tightened.. then windout 2 inches and indicate again should have same reading... if not shim to compensate...

It does look like the culprit is wear on the underside of the left-hand leading edge of the tailstock base. You can see it if you look closely. Bed-wear on the tailstock ways isn't noticable except by a tightening of the tailstock clamp as the tailstock is slid towards the headstock. Maybe this is why I've seen wipers installed on the leading edges of some 10L tailstocks- mine has no provisions for them.

I shimmed the tailstock upper unit with a .020 machinists rule, which gets the centers just about right on. I guess I need to figure out how to fix the shim in place. Perhaps some spray adhesive.. or double-backed tape if I can find a good location for it.

Thanks,

Gregm

my SB 10L had noticeable wear on the bottom of the tailstock. Shimming between the tailstock pad and body near the front brought it back into alignment.