Lathe Tailstock Quick Lock

[Crusty]

Since I've been on a jag getting around to things I've been meaning to do I made a quick lock for my lathe's tailstock from 2 12" bolts and a piece of 3/8" scrap from my pile. The bolts had the sides of the heads sawn off flush with the shank so they looked like a T from the side, then cross holes were drilled in each one. Then I cut a small piece of 3/8" plate, turned trunnions on each side which go into the lever holes and finally threaded a hole in the center for the long clamp screw which used to clamp my tailstock down. A bit of rounding on the belt sander of one corner of the remnant bolt heads and a cross bar welded to the bolt ends and Bob's my uncle, and if any wear is experienced I can easily adjust the bolt to tighten the locking force again.

In the down position the tailstock moves freely.

And in the up position the bolt heads apply force to the tailstock base, tensioning the bolt and clamping the tailstock to the ways. The geometry is such that the bolt heads cam over in the locked position so that the lock stays put until I want to release it.

I've been on a jag for a couple of days taking care of things I've put off for a while. I balanced and trued my grinder so it doesn't wobble and vibrate anymore, built a wooden box to keep my milling accessories in so they don't rust, worked on my parting tool holder so I can mount the blade upside down and run in reverse for trouble free parting (it works), put new tires and a Starrett blade on my bandsaw, built a lever locking mechanism for my lathe tailstock so I don't have to find the wrench to move it, cleaned the lathe (it was hideous), worked on my TIG foot pedal so that the welder shuts the welding current and HF completely off when I take my foot off of the pedal and finally got some time to practice my TIG welding and I see improvement.

So far today I made a wooden box to store my rotary table in so that it doesn't rust and that went so well I've made two more general purpose wooden storage boxes for yet undetermined uses, and next I think I'll spend some quality time sharpening drill bits.