I have an old lathe that I got from my Dad. I would like to start using the
thing, but for more then just spindle turning. The tailstock has a
non-rotating center (would that be called a dead center?), but no recess to
accept a Morse taper live center, drill check, etc. Does anyone have a
suggestion as to what I can do about a different tailstock? I don't want to
spend a bunch of money on this thing. The distance between the ways is
2-1/16" and the distance from the center to the top of the ways is 3-23/32".
Any ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated.

I would just use it. In high school shop that's all we had. A little wax
and you're good to go.

If the shaft of the tailstock is round and has a flat or a keyway, you might
have a machinist make a slip-over morse taper adapter by welding a round
piece to the butt end of a morse taper adapter and then drill and bore a
hole of the correct size to fit over the tailstock shaft. Then a couple
holes could be tapped for set screws to anchor in the flat or keyway.

Derek

"JayW" wrote in message
.net...
I have an old lathe that I got from my Dad. I would like to start using the
thing, but for more then just spindle turning. The tailstock has a
non-rotating center (would that be called a dead center?), but no recess to
accept a Morse taper live center, drill check, etc. Does anyone have a
suggestion as to what I can do about a different tailstock? I don't want to
spend a bunch of money on this thing. The distance between the ways is
2-1/16" and the distance from the center to the top of the ways is 3-23/32".
Any ideas you may have would be greatly appreciated.

How about the headstock? Is there a morse taper there? What about the
spindle thread/size, is it a standard size, such that you can get
chucks or perhaps make chucks for it?
Before you get into spending on machining, make sure the rest of the
machine is worth it.
I picked up a "lathe" at a garage sale before I knew better, with
non-standard spindle size and no MT. Never was able to use it, but it
got me curious enouth to buy a Delta midi and start turning anyway, and
the motor will be used eventually anyway.

In article ,
"JayW" wrote:

I have an old lathe that I got from my Dad. I would like to start using the
thing, but for more then just spindle turning. The tailstock has a
non-rotating center (would that be called a dead center?), but no recess to

Do not worry about the tailstock. For spindles, lube up the dead center
and go. They worked fine for the first 6000 years or so of known lathe
history.

For faceplate or chuck work, you don't need it anyway. If you need to
drill, you can hand-hold a drill with a bit of practice, and a
center-spot put in with a parting tool to help get it started.
(saftey-crat-notice - if you hand-drill stupidly, I suppose you could
manage to hurt yourself - so don't be stupid.)

If you really truly want a morse-taper tailstock, build one out of wood
- look for articles on building an entire lathe from wood, and borrow
the tailstock part, adapted to your iron bed. This is a pretty small
lathe, so building somethng sturdy enough to suit should not be too
difficult.

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