"Arch" wrote in message
...
Geoff,
Boring & confusing without a pic, but I'll try to explain. Ask privately
if you wish.

I turned a MT2 for the hollow tail ram of my N3k and drilled a hole to
feed a 3/8" lamp bit through, only to find that I didn't have the
strength to push the long bit into the lamp blank held in the head
spindle.

To use the mechanical advantage of winding the tail stock ram instead of
pushing the bit, I cobbled a 'split collet' to hold the bit and fit
into my Nova chuck. Then I put the lamp blank between tail center and
bit and fed the blank into the spinning bit in increments of the tail
ram's travel.

A little tedious, but winding the tail ram was easy on my arms &
shoulders. As usual, I did things the wrong way, but it worked for me.
Hope thiis helps or at least, doesn't hurt.
=============

Arch,
He doesn't have the hollow tail ram that you do, so it will have to be
something either between the tailstock and his lamp base or something
without the tailstock at all. Maybe a fabricated tailstock replacement to
facilitate feeding a drill through to the base, or a steady rest in front of
the tailstock to guide the drill chucked in the tailstock. Haven't done it,
but that's the ways I'd try.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX.