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Step 19The tailstock (part 1 - the sliding base)
The tailstock will slide along the rails of the lathe bed. This way you can accommodate different sizes of wood between the centres. I used some more scrap alu angle to make fixing runners.
I got a bit carried away and decided to attach a leadscrew to my tailstock base - this just allows you to move the base along the lathe bed by turning a screw (or peace of threaded rod in this case. My plan was that I could make this movable base a multi purpose item - being capable of carrying a tailstock, but also a tool that could be accurately moved across the work piece, in the style of a metal lathe, but for wood.
Here I made three mistakes - 1) attempting to make a monster leadscrew-nut from perspex, which obligingly snapped my extra long self-fabricated tap; and 2) using a leadscrew that was only 6mm diameter. to much flex mean a lot of faf, making sure it was always under tension from both ends (it can pull well - but does a bad job of pushing). 3) It was relativity pointless complication, which introduced more bits that might go wrong.
It works ok now, but was quite challenging, and required some borrowing of tools.
Whatever you plan to do, the tailstock base will want to be a snug fit to the lathe bed, with little or no play in the joints. Mine is a VERY snug fit and was nearly impossible to push up and down the rails by hand - which is partly why I wanted the lead screw.
I got a bit carried away and decided to attach a leadscrew to my tailstock base - this just allows you to move the base along the lathe bed by turning a screw (or peace of threaded rod in this case. My plan was that I could make this movable base a multi purpose item - being capable of carrying a tailstock, but also a tool that could be accurately moved across the work piece, in the style of a metal lathe, but for wood.
Here I made three mistakes - 1) attempting to make a monster leadscrew-nut from perspex, which obligingly snapped my extra long self-fabricated tap; and 2) using a leadscrew that was only 6mm diameter. to much flex mean a lot of faf, making sure it was always under tension from both ends (it can pull well - but does a bad job of pushing). 3) It was relativity pointless complication, which introduced more bits that might go wrong.
It works ok now, but was quite challenging, and required some borrowing of tools.
Whatever you plan to do, the tailstock base will want to be a snug fit to the lathe bed, with little or no play in the joints. Mine is a VERY snug fit and was nearly impossible to push up and down the rails by hand - which is partly why I wanted the lead screw.
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Looked like a good instructable. Loving the solid state speed control. My lathe has a belt but the two pulley don't match so I'm constantly having to adjust the motor mount to get an appropriate tension when changing speed. Tedious.
I guess now you need a nice tailstock to turn between centres and you'll be totally versatile :)