Improvements to a lathe tailstock

[tonyfoale]

a lot of people dont uderstand that the center may be in the right position for center but not realy moving the right direction to keep it there through the full trevel of the tailstock quill....or what ever it's called. it may be centered at the point hear or there but go up down or sideways or both when screwed in or out.

You are quite right on this point. It is very easy to clock that and I would advise anyone to do it. A way around that problem when you want it for turning between centres is simply to check and set your alignment with the quill close to the planned 'in-use' position and locate the tailstock at the planned 'in-use' position also. of course this does not fix that sort of problem when drilling but in most cases that is less critical.

My lathe has hardened ways and there is imperceptible wear on those but the base of the tailstock is worn thus lowering the centre, and I have shimmed that.

these china lathes that are wacked with a chizzell to get close and...

This is an elderly JET and is pretty well built, no complains there. When I had a business making motorcycle chassis for a living I had some 'brand' name lathes and although the JET is lightweight in comparison, I have few complaints with it.

I bought it from a poor unfortunate bloke who was restoring and modifying it for his upcoming retirement. He made quite a few nice modifications including fitting a larger headstock spindle and better bearings. I say that he was unfortunate, because his wife decided that on his retirement they would move to Florida to a house without a basement for his workshop. He was in NH at the time where everyone has a basement.
My wife has enough sense to know that she would be moving alone if she tried that.