Headstock/tailstock is crooked.... I think.

[sachbvn]

Alright guys - I am fairly determined that I have over tightened my tailstock creating a bend in my pen mandrel - no big deal, get a replacement shaft right? Just to be sure - I took took sharp center points and stuck them in the tail/head stock and brought the two together.... they don't match up. No way these could be bent or messed up - they've BARELY been used.... see pictures and let me know what you think.

Is there a way to adjust the tailstock? I know my head stock will rotate - but I honestly don't think I've done a single thing to it, never even tried moving it.




Second picture is with pen mandrel and the cone live center.




Thanks!
Zac

[Ruffnek]

That's how my 1236 aligns if I depend on the detents after rotating the head stock. There is that much slop in it.

What I'd do is loosen the headstock just enough to align it with the tailstock and then tighten it down...really tight! I use a short length of conduit as a cheater pipe to tighten mine.

It should be fine then unless you need to move the headstock for outboard turning or something..

[TDHofstetter]

Also... try to "clock" the tailstock before you lock it down. There's a little play there, so it'll rotate a titch.

Here's a quick test: Withdraw the tailstock quill as far as it'll go without pooping the live center out. Check the headstock/tailstock alignment. Now back off the tailstock & extend its quill as far as it'll go and check the alignment again. If it's the same, all the misalignment is in the headstock. If it's much worse, all the misalignment is in the tailstock.

[sachbvn]

Check and Check - thanks Cody and Tim - I'll check those both out tomorrow!!


Zac

[Doug B]

I agree with Cody. My HF lathe allows the headstock to be rotated, which I have done when turning bowls. You have to match it back up with the tailstock when returning the headstock back to it's regular position. I had to learn that the hard way.

It is an easy fix to do once you realize what has happened. That would be my very first thing to try.

Also, turning a single barrel at a time negates the mandrel problem if it is a little bent. I am on my 3rd pen mandrel now because I can't seem to keep from bending them, even knowing that I need to be careful with them...

[sachbvn]

Hey guys - I just checked, somehow the bar that tightens the headstock got knocked the other direction.... not sure what happened but when I turned it the opposite direction, you could see the headstock move into place - matching up perfectly - pen mandrel and live center on tailstock.

Duh!

Oh - Doug - have you checked out the new PSI cataloge that has come out, there is a tailstock center you can put in that doesn't push on the mandrel at all - it actually allows the mandrel to pass through it, not making any pressure contact until it reaches the bushings - and then presses on them, so it be dang hard to bend one's mandrel! Pretty cool, I may look into getting one - I think it's like 15 or 16 bucks.

Zac

[Doug B]

Yeah Zac, I have seen that and been very tempted. I actually forgot about it or I probably would have ordered it already. Right now PSI seems to not be answering their phone messages...inventory time I guess...I'm going to go take another look at that new mandrel thingy and see if I need one of those

OK, I just check on it...out of stock until late January. For fifteen bucks, it is certainly worth trying...I'm going to order one with my next order.

[TDHofstetter]

Dang, you guys - here I was quickly visualizing what it'd take to MAKE a center that'd DO that... and then I read "fifteen bucks". Crap. Another thing not worth making 'cause they're cheaper to buy than to build.

[Doug B]

Ain't that the truth Tim! Unfortunately everything made in China is so much cheaper that we are losing all our manufacturing capability here in the USA. I honestly don't know how they can make things that cheap, even if they are using (practically) slave labor.

I have noticed that quality seems to suffer, but man for the price you can throw out anything bad and still be way ahead cost wise. I get some pen kits for less than half what they used to cost when they came from Taiwan instead of from China!

It is going to cost us dearly someday I'm afraid. I just hope we stay friendly with China...

[TDHofstetter]

Yeah, I figure a war with China right about now would wipe us completely out...

It'd help if our unions hadn't gone waaay overboard... back when we were earning six bucks an hour & feeling good about it, our manufacturing unions were earning twenty-five & yelling about it. If they'd been a little less greedy, we'd still have a lot of manufacturing here.

Don't get me wrong - the unions did some GOOD stuff, too... workplaces got safer (they maybe went a little overboard there, too, but pre-union it was BAD)... but ya know.

[Doug B]

I agree Tim, Unions were very necessary once, but have completely gone overboard.

If you can believe it, they tried to unionize professional employees where I used to work. Did not go over, but I cannot imagine belonging to a union as a computer software engineer!

They did manage to unionize the hourly employees, but that turned out to be a big mistake for the employees. They still have to pay their union dues, but the union is completely useless. At a public University, the legislature determines pay increases...period. Unions be damned.