Plans for Camlock Tailstock Mod?

Any plans floating around for doing this? Got an email from LMS for a mini-lathe kit and realized how much I could use one for my SB (almost all my work is between centers).

I was thinking about just buying their kit and modifying or machining new parts as needed based on that design...

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Are you certain you want to do this modification? Have you used a lathe with a cam style hold down clamp for the tailstock? I've put in quite a few hours on a "Pacific Basin" lathe which features a cam hold down clamp and I found myself longing to get back to my South Bend machines with a proper bolt and nut as the hold down device.

Despite repeated attempts to adjust the cams on two of those lathes, I could never get the clamping force necessary for heavy feed pressure applications such as drilling. The tailstock would always slip on the bed and there was no way to make it stop.

Just be sure before you pay money for a kit and drill holes in your tailstock.

tobnpr said:

Any plans floating around for doing this? Got an email from LMS for a mini-lathe kit and realized how much I could use one for my SB (almost all my work is between centers).

I was thinking about just buying their kit and modifying or machining new parts as needed based on that design...

Special of the Week - LittleMachineShop.com

Click to expand...

There's a thread or three in the Monarch forum about correcting for wear and adjusting our "factory OEM" ones. Also a current thread on a steady-rest base rework, where Monarch also used an eccentric for clamping. Works a treat when in-adjustment. But, then, a Monarch would do, as both were "designed in" from the outset and sized accordingly to the loads.

What little I've done on 9" and 10" SB's (and Logans..) I never found any issues with just "clocking" the bolt and nut by selecting washers so the wrench-angle was a fast and handy single-action lock/unlock - need not be lifted-off for a fresh bite at the nut.

Where's any alleged gain over a cheap-or-even-free bit of simple shim-washery-foo wear compensation expected to come from?

If the TS still slips? You are already overloading that puny actuating screw ANYWAY. MOST lathes.

Not a good idea, that. A press, it was-never.

2CW

Si senor...it doesn't take much of a turn to release it....especially if you add a small spring to the underside so the clamp doesn't drag when you move it.

I have the stock set-up on my '78 10K and the handle is 'clocked' just as thermite described. No washers either!
The only minor itch is that to work with the carriage close to the tailstock, the wrench handle is in the way of the compound so I have to move the wrench to the rear position. And then forget about it and bung a couple of fingers when the wrench won't go in the unlock direction!!! Aaaggghhhh.

I worked lathes of many sizes and while most were old enough to have the wrench, quite a few had the lever lock. And I can't say that I found any advantage to the lever lock. Oh well....

Keep yer knickers dry,

Pete

More useful to my mind, and on my get round to it list for two of my lathes, is a left hand thread stud and nut for holding tailstock down so the wrench gets pushed away from the carriage and doesn't interfere. Practical imho where a cam isn't for a small lathe.

Lucky7

lucky7 said:

More useful to my mind, and on my get round to it list for two of my lathes, is a left hand thread stud and nut for holding tailstock down so the wrench gets pushed away from the carriage and doesn't interfere. Practical imho where a cam isn't for a small lathe.

Lucky7

Click to expand...

Even less interference to "dedicate" a socket, universal joint, and extension, add a bracket, and just put the wrench swing zone up above the TS ram for not much coin.

Pick your sizes, you can use the chuck key - or one of those "multisize" keys - and give it a place to park as a byproduct.

thermite said:

If the TS still slips? You are already overloading that puny actuating screw ANYWAY. MOST lathes.



2CW

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The plate underneath breaks. Did that to mine. Its a cast iron piece and it just won't suffer too much abuse. The screw isn't the weak point on the South Bend. I have since replaced the plate and it has a shim washer to make the stock tailstock wrench give me a useful lock/unlock range.