How To Align Tailstock On Rockwell 14x40

What "Black13" said is very true. Always check the condition of the MT3 taper socket, keep it clean. Treat it like a delicate part.
If the MT does not have about 75% engagement between the socket and male taper, you are in danger of damaging the socket.

I have a RD 14x40.
I just bought the lathe about 9 months ago and I have been "going though" it to clean and so forth. I have no gross issues with the lathe.
I am now trying to correct a problem with the MT3 taper socket on my tailstock. Supposition: It must not have been clean and had a metal burr in it. The previous owner
must have allowed a taper mounted accessory to "spin" in the socket thereby causing ineffective "mating" of a taper in the socket.
All this to say, I have been researching the best approach to remedy the problem and read an article on this forum
concerning correcting tailstock problems. There are guys "Richard King" and "Forrest Addy". You can take their advice "to the Bank".
King is a professional machine re-builder. I remember your problem being addressed by him in a topic.
here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/repairing-a-tailstock-taper.14798/#post-114587
 
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One way a lathe tailstock base gets worn this bad is using for repetitive work sliding the tailstock incorrectly. If you loosen tailstock and push from rear of tailstock, with your hand on the wheel, you end up tilting the tailstock forward and down, wearing the front of the base. I have seen a couple lathes that needed upward of .015 shims to make up the difference. It is because of this wear tendency that the major US manufacturers set the tailstocks a couple thou high when they were built.

Long story short, if want to limit wear on your tailstock do not loosen excessively and push from the top, gently loosen and push from middle. In general tailstock bases are not hardened or hardened to the extent of the ways, they wear pretty easy IMO.

Took me two years of on and off fiddling around with my base and tailstock to get to the point where I could hold a tenth or two turning between centers. Your wear is likely inclined towards the front, my guess is you will want to maintain that tilt to a small degree and have the tip actually above center a thou or two, but slightly tilted down, this usually puts the tip in a position that allows you to do some accurate work. Trying to get rid of the tilt and still have the tip on center means a lot of scraping IMO. Others may disagree, but I find the method I just mentioned the easiest, if not most perfect fix.

michael
 
Mount a Dial Indicator in the chuck and indicate around the Tailstock spindle. With it fully retracted and again fully extended That will determine if the tailstock is tipped up or down. Also, how much sideways. Use the result to determine how much to adjust it sideways or shim required. With the Tailstock in different distances from the chuck you may get different readings. That's a Way issue. You can mount the indicator on a piece of stock in a steady rest to reach further. It will still rotate around the centerline. If you can put a tool in the tailstock with a straight surface you would be reading the Morse taper in the spindle which would be more reflective of your problem. The inside and the outside may not have the same centerline. Good luck.
 
I've rebuilt several lathes over the years along with other machinery. I'm not a professional rebuilder by any means, but have learned from many experts in my past including my dad, and consider myself very knowledgeable of issues and fixes that arises. Here's my two bits, the way I see things, for what it's worth.

The problem with tail stocks is, people do not clean and lubricate the ways it rides on. They always slide it on a dry, dirty filthy bed ways, period! No offense to anyone, but it is a fact with most. (We H-M take care of our stuff much better than this, don't we?) And over a period of time the ways of the tail stock base wear down and show indications as in Timgunner's pictures show. The "quick fix" is to shim up the tailstock as Robert has mentioned. The ideal method would be to re-scrape the tail stock base back to the ways of the lathe bed provided they are not worn. They will have some wear even if the bed is harden and ground, too. There are alignment issues you have to deal with when re-scraping the base to the bed ways, too. Once the tail stock has been raised up to the correct height plus a couple of thousandths, then you have to work on your side-to-side alignment.

Everyone has posted good thoughts, and they all are valid good points to check, too.

Ken
 
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