Tailstock Turret

[Maryak]

Tel,

One very nice "Teltale" stock turret. :bow:

Best Regards
Bob

 

[tel]

I'd have made the turret, fitted it in the tail stop, put a drill/Reamer in the lathe chuck then machined the holes this way they must be OK, but that may be a bit long winded.

Stew

Yep, that's how it was done - auto alignment the easy way!

 

[Stan]

tel: If you are making parts by the dozen, it is absolutely great. In looking at your trial setup, I am sure you discovered that to take advantage of the tool, you have to make every tool holder custom.

The object is to get all the tools the same distance from the tailstock so that you don't have to move the tailstock, or crank the tailstock several inches when you rotate the turret. If you are making repetitive parts, it is best to set up toolholders with the tools installed and save it as set for that job. A drill chuck adds way too much length to the system. The drill bit should be directly in the tool holder.

 

[tel]

Yeah Stan, I agree with you about the chuck, but its a help while I source some suitable stub drills and make holders for them.

 

[Tin Falcon]

here is a pic from Littlemachineshop.com
the bushings are made from 5/8 drill rod one end knurled and a set screw installed just make up a bunch and drill to fit the tool.
I too have a commercial one that i have yet to tool up
Tin

 

[bp]

Excellent job, as well as a decent QCTP, I'm looking at one of these.
Does the turret require any clamping mechanism when being used? It strikes me as being a bit dodgy relying on the detent mechanism alone.
cheers
Bill Pudney
Sunny Adelaide

 

[Stan]

Tin: That picture shows almost a perfect setup (the center drill is too short). You have to make the tool holders to match the length of the tool. If you using the larger sizes of drills, use stub drills so that you don't have to extend the short tool holders so much.

Ideally, you want to be able to rotate the turret and have every tool just clear the workpiece. Many other ways will work, but you are losing a lot of the advantage of the turret.

 

[Deanofid]

That turned out just great, Tel.
You guys and all your projects are putting ideas in my bean, and making my "to-do" list longer!

Thanks for the pics and words.

Dean

 

[d-m]

Tin: That picture shows almost a perfect setup (the center drill is too short). You have to make the tool holders to match the length of the tool. If you using the larger sizes of drills, use stub drills so that you don't have to extend the short tool holders so much.

Ideally, you want to be able to rotate the turret and have every tool just clear the workpiece. Many other ways will work, but you are losing a lot of the advantage of the turret.

stan
Are you saying to get the most out of the turret the tools should be close in length in the pic th center drill is short would you make an extended holder to get closer to the longest tool in the turret ?
Thanks Dave

 

[tel]

Does the turret require any clamping mechanism when being used? It strikes me as being a bit dodgy relying on the detent mechanism alone.
cheers
Bill Pudney

Well that detent locks it up pretty solid Bill, it has quite a deep engagement. It could be arranged to lock up with the centre screw, but that would add another (annoying) step during use. So far there's been no need.

 

[Stan]

d-m: Yes, that is what I meant by saying each tool holder is custom. A tailstock turret is a production tool. If you use the standard method of drill chuck in the tailstock, for every tool change you have to move the tailstock to fit the new tool and change tools. With a turret with unequal length tools you still have to move the tailstock but changing tools is quicker. With equal length tools you achieve optimum efficiency, which is the reason you got the turret in the first place.

 

[bp]

"Well that detent locks it up pretty solid Bill, it has quite a deep engagement. It could be arranged to lock up with the centre screw, but that would add another (annoying) step during use. So far there's been no need."
Thats good news. Just goes to show that sometimes we (I) can worry about things unnecessarily.
cheers
bp

 

[Blogwitch]

You might find that having a lever operated tailstock overcomes a lot of the problems of varying length toolholders and tools.

If you could get hold of a second hand tailstock, they are very easily modified, then you could just swap them over whenever you went into production mode.

Or maybe you could even fabricate a basic one up out of metal stock, as far as I remember, the Myford bed isn't complicated at all. Then when you bore it using the lathe itself, it would be guaranteed to be spot on. In fact, I would think it could be made accurate enough by using a bar between centres, and tack welding the main tube up while the tailstock support is clamped down onto the lathe bed. With a little more thought, you could even incorporate a set of stops for each turret position.

You have a very controversial post going on here Tel, considering it started off as a relatively simple build. We'll have you getting it under NC by the time it is finished. :


John

 

[tel]

You have a very controversial post going on here Tel, considering it started off as a relatively simple build. We'll have you getting it under NC by the time it is finished. Roll Eyes

;D I'm considering adding a small nuclear reactor to power a work light.

 

[tel]

OK, a last look - loaded with random tooling. The locking lever still needs tidying up a bit, but to all intents and purposes it's finished and in use.

 

[steamer]

Looks great Tel!....What ya think of her?

Dave

 

[Stan]

tel: A fine looking lathe tool. Are you now in the business of making small fittings for other members? ;D

 

[zeeprogrammer]

That looks great tel.
Makes me rethink turret tools (as well as making one's own tools).

 

[tel]

Just a little update - the stub drills I ordered arrived a while back and I have started mounting them in adapters. still got all the smaller sizes to do, but here's the ones from 3/8" down to 1/4", along some other bits of tooling and the rest of the blank adapters, all in a block made from a hunk of crappy radiata pine (I'll have to try & improve on that).

The few times I have used the turret so far, it has been excellent (and very convenient) - well worth the trouble of making.

 

[seagar]

Great work tel, :bow: :bow: :bow:

Ian (seagar)