4-station tailstock turret

**threesixesinarow** · Nov 22, 2018, 11:38 AM

This is an attachment for the bigger tailstock on my watchmaker lathe. I mostly copied a Schaublin accessory, but added features from a more complete Lorch turret tailstock.

It just advances by hand but the stop shaft rotates with the turret, and fully retracting the ram disengages the indexing pin which then resets with a spring when it advances.

The sockets are 1/2”.

4-station tailstock turret-turret01_faceloaded.jpg

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4-station tailstock turret-turret06_schaublin.jpg

4-station tailstock turret-turret07_lorchtailstock.gif

**rossbotics** · Nov 24, 2018, 05:05 AM

Nice work, good job, came out well

Doug

**threesixesinarow** · Nov 24, 2018, 10:07 AM

Thanks, Doug - I’m still learning how to set it up and use it, but it works, and hopefully it’ll be durable. I made the stop shaft journal and bearing tapered so they can be adjusted, and a lot of the parts in it are hardened, including drill bushing inserts in the indexing holes.

4-station tailstock turret-c9de92e7-a807-4445-a7b2-1b90b75d7780.jpeg

**threesixesinarow** · Dec 13, 2018, 07:16 AM

A Boley I hadn’t seen before, with a more compact stop arrangement.

From Watchmakers Lathes at lathes.co.uk

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**Walkman** · Mar 8, 2019, 10:08 PM

Very slick setup. Guess I'll have to put on the thinking cap and see if I can't round up something like this on the old Grizzly I've got.
Nice job!

Walkman

**threesixesinarow** · Mar 9, 2019, 05:22 AM

Thanks, Walkman,

mars-red has a couple videos on youtube showing the construction of a very nice 6-station turret with the same kind of flat design, on about the same scale.

It’s a good choice there, and here because it doesn’t take much extra room lengthwise - my lathe is only something like 5 or 6” between centers. It’s less flexible, too, the ram on mine can retract completely and its front end is very close to the tool shank sockets.

Even with four stations it’s a tight fits for tools, though, and some tools and combinations won’t work at all.

**old_toolmaker** · Mar 11, 2019, 07:12 PM

threesixesinarow,

You have done a very nice looking job on the turret! You are also a very productive builder!
Keep up the good work.

**threesixesinarow** · Mar 12, 2019, 05:58 AM

Thanks, Dick,

It’s a few years old. It’s nice to use even just with a center drill and a dead center.

I considered getting a cheap morse taper tailstock turret for my mini lathe for a long time but hesitated because of the combination of their big overhang with the unreliable tailstock, as well as the extra steps for indexing the turret and stops. Now that I have a better tailstock for it, I plan to rebore the old one and convert it to a simple lever feed like what’s on a Taig but I’m still not sure whether it’ll be up to the task.

**old_toolmaker** · Mar 12, 2019, 04:09 PM

threesixesinarow

How do you intend to set the tailstock up for boring to ensure perfect alignment?

**threesixesinarow** · Mar 13, 2019, 06:38 AM

The new longer bed profile’s a bit different than the old one so I’ll at least need to fit the tailstock base to it - but I’m not sure how adjustable that will need to be for drilling.

To bore it, between centers, I’ll probably just push or drag it with a pad between it and the carriage. Maybe with a weight on top?

Mine will probably be solid but South Bend, and I think Atlas, made lever tailstock turrets with stops on the back like on the Lorch, but with the stop shaft running through the center of the ram.