12” x 37” Lathe Tailstock Clamp Improvement

[Paul Jones]

C-Bag, thank you for the feedback. I have been thinking about doing this improvement every since the used lathe arrived last January but I was thinking in terms of milling the part. Then I remembered how I built a small metal lathe when I was a teenager using various rectangular shapes of stacked steel bars joined together with machine screws and no milling required.

I too thought the clamping bolt was centered in the tailstock and had already marked the center of the plate for drilling during layout. I decided to double-check the tailstock locking bolt position before drilling. I found the tailstock has a machined ring opening at the top of the locking bolt that slides on an eccentric cam. The ring is used for up-down unlocking-locking but the ring doesn't slide all the way over to the exact side-to-side center due to the way the cam is machined. The locking bolt is slightly closer to one side of the tailstock and the 9/16" hole was positioned to accommodate the offset.

Thanks for asking