Hi smntik, as JasonB says, although I use a piece of gauge plate that will just go in.

Regards Nick.

Welcome to the forum. A great idea Jason, But the plate should be as thick as the gap to the end of the stud will allow so that your pressure is on as many threads as possible to avoid the risk of stripping the thread. Noel.

If you want to shock it off there is no need to make up a slide hammer. Just grip a piece of long bar in the chuck that protrudes out the back of the spindle and hit that.

For jacking I prefer a longer piece of metal than Nick shows as once you have cracked the initial grip it can be used as a lever and the nuts don’t need to be wound off any more so stay well engaged with the stud. If you did as Noel says then you would need several different packers as the gap increases as the chuck works it’s way off. More an issue on the larger 250 & 280 Lathes as they have a longer parallel spigot.

This is what I have used on my 280 for the last 16years

Once you have got it off clean teh mating surfaces of the old gummy goo with white spirit, paint thinners, and apply new thin oil.
Don’t use WD40 – anywhere. It dries out to glue-goo. There are some machine oil and ‘way oil’ (sliding surface oil) products from our advertisers.
Progressively you will acquire things like LM40 grease, graphite grease, and a few other specialist items. And don’t eschew Vaseline, good for lots of things you are going to handle and don’t want oil on your skin/clothes.

On 8 May 2024 at 10:13 John Haine Said:

Make sure as you apply Jason’s method that you have something to catch the chuck as it falls off!  Easy way might be a steel bar held in the tailstock chuck and inserted into the chuck bore.  You don’t want the chuck to fall on the ways and dent them.

The nuts are in place so it won’t fall off.

Though a chuck board is always a good idea for actual changing of chucks. More importantly with this type of fixing is the board should catch any nuts or washers that get dropped and save them getting lost in a pile of swarf

Hi John, as JasonB has pointed out, the studs are long enough for the nuts to still be on once the chuck is off the register, however looking at  the OP’s photos, he has a board over his ways.

My chuck will only take two rotations of the chuck, using my piece of gauge plate on each stud, and then on the next stud the third time, the cuck is off the register and is caught by all the nuts from falling off altogether, and all I need to do then is hold the chuck with one hand, and spin the nuts off with a finger with the other hand.

Regards Nick.

If heating a chuck or spindle to loosen a tight part a hot air gun of the type used for paint stripping etc is a safer option than a blowtorch.. The middle of Lidl sometime have a cost effective temperatur controlled one.
The lower contact temperature means you are less likely to overheat things. The lack of open flame means you are less likely to ignite any oil / grease / powered metal / something you didn’t notice behind the thing you are heating….

Robert.

I think you may find that the two small screws that are aligned with the groove can be removed to allow you to remove the tailstock barrel.

The large screw looks to be the lock for the tailstock barrel.

MichaelR

If you are a newbie, try to buy at least one of the books on lathework, by folk such as Stan Bray, Harold Hall, or others.

The basic principle are the same for most lathes; it is just the detail that changes from model to model.

LH Sparey’s “The Amateur’s Lathe” mostly illustrates the Myford 7 Series, but gives the basic principles.

Ian Bradley’s “The Amateurr’s Workshop” covers “levelling” a lathe, among many other things.

David Clark, Dave Fenner and Neil Wyatt have all written books specifically about the mini lathe.

Level.

The sensitivity is determined by the radius of the vial, so not really capable of being “calibrated”. It is what it is!

The technique in setting up a level is to adjust it so that when on a surface (Ideally level; or very close to it) the reading is the same when the level is rotated, end for end by 180 degrees.

If, the reading is the same, say, one division, when facing either way, the level is “level”, i. e. Zeroed, and will show level when placed on a truly level surface. (I was lucky in being able to use a surface table in the Standards Room, to adjust mine).

Although we talk of “levelling” a lathe, mostly, what we are really aiming for is to adjust the fixings of the feet so that there is no twist in the bed; to prevent work being tapered when turning.

Tailstock Alignment

When turning between centres, if the Tailstock centre is not properly aligned with the Headstock centre, the work will be tapered. (Sometimes, Tailstock offset is deliberately used to produce a taper. But most of the time we want between centres work to be turned parallel)

The bed should be free of twist before trying to check and adjust Tailstock alignment.

There should be screws that allow the body of the Tailstock to be adjusted, relative to the base, to bring the centres into line. Often, an alignment bar is used, between centres, and DTI set at centre height, on the Saddle or in the Toolpost, moved to and fro, along the bed, and the screws adjusred, (And locked against each other) until the DTI reading shows no variation when moved from Headstock to Tailstock).

Some lathes, such as the C1 do not have the adjusting screws. When the Tailstock is removed, there is a  screw which clamps the Tailstock to the Base. This should be nipped up enough to prevent easy movement, and the Tailstock replaced, and the Base clamped in place on the lathe bed.

The Tailstock body then needs to be adjusted, until the DTI shows no variation, by using something like a G cranp to adjust, or very careful rapping with a mallet. Parience is a virtue here!

Once “Zeroed”, the Tailstock should be removed and the clamp screw tightened fully, before replacing and rechecking the alignment.

The Tailstock centre should be hardened (Because it is stationary, whole the work is rotating, with gease applied for lubrication.

The Headstock centre will be soft, so if need be, it can be skimmed up by offsetting the Top Slide, (30 degrees, to provide a 60 degree centre).

FWIW, my advice, once you have the lathe set up, is to practice. Then start by making simple tools and accessories, A Tap Wrench, then a Centre Height Gauge (This will save you time when putting tools into the toolpost. PM me if you want to know how to make one and set it to Centre Height)

Then, perhaps, you can make a Tailstock Sliding Die Holder (I cheated and bought a set of Die Holders, but made the body and arbor) You can use a drill chuck sliding on the same arbor to hold Taps.

Basic tools, but usefdul and for gaining experience and confidence.  We all had to start from the beiginning, once.

Howard

Having a test bar with one end the same Morse Taper as the tailstock and centres in either end can make lining things up much easier. Also a bar of aluminium about 6″ long and of a diameter to fit in the chuck to take small skims for measuring. And the mag base with adjustable arms and a lever type indicator. I have just bought another Dasqua product, a mag base which is as good as all the other Dasqua products that Ihave bought.

A lot of things to get, but they will last a lifetime.

On another forum, one wag says “If you want to be a millionare, start with ten million and take up machining as a hobby”